Past simple tense

Past simple

We use the past simple to talk about actions and states which we see as completed in the past.

We can use it to talk about a specific point in time.

She came back last Friday.
I saw her in the street.
They didn't agree to the deal.

It can also be used to talk about a period of time.

She lived in Tokyo for seven years.
They were in London from Monday to Thursday of last week.
When I was living in New York, I went to all the art exhibitions I could.

You will often find the past simple used with time expressions such as these:


Yesterday
three weeks ago
last year
in 2002
from March to June
for a long time
for 6 weeks
in the 1980s
in the last century
in the past