The rule for forming the Past Simple with examples, after which you will forget about mistakes. Questions in the past simple, how to ask and answer correctly

Good day, dear ladies and gentlemen! We are already devoting the seventh audio lesson to the study of the past tense of verbs in English language. And today we continue to study the features of special education English questions in past form. We have devoted more than one audio lesson to this topic, since it is when asking questions in the past tense that most beginners make many speech errors. Special questions in English in simple past tense form

You already know that special words are used at the beginning of special questions - Which, Who, When, Why, Where etc. You also already know that a mandatory requirement for forming questions in English in the past tense is the use of the semantic verb “ do" in the past time - " did»: Which newspaper did you subscribe to? — Which newspaper did you subscribe to? What else do you need to know about past form questions?

English speakers use simple form past tense both for one-time phenomena and for repeated, multiple ones. Therefore, when translating a verb, pay attention to all the other words in the sentence that surround it. Compare the following sentences:

• Did he like Russia? — Did he like Russia?
• Did you go to Moscow with him? — Did you go to Moscow with him?
• Did they tell you anything about Moscow? — Did they tell you anything about Moscow?

As you can see, " did"may refer to the word " he", and to " you", as well as to " they", that is, to all persons, regardless of their gender and number.

Remember how questions are asked in English in the present tense - Learning to ask questions

So that you can easily carry on a conversation on any topic in English, asking any questions, listen to an online audio lesson of spoken English for beginners. Repeat after the native speaker all the expressions you hear, memorizing the translation. This way you can easily overcome the language barrier when communicating with local residents in an English speaking country. /wp-content/uploads/2015/09/RUEN086.mp3

And only listening to English speech, regular communication practice and correct pronunciation. That is why spend most of your time audio recording the lesson and repeating all the questions out loud after the speaker, as close to the sample as possible. Practice as many times as necessary.

Questions in English in past form

For complete mutual understanding with native speakers, study not only the audio version of the lesson, but also its text table of key English questions in past form with translation into Russian. Visualized vocabulary is remembered many times faster than any other delivery method new information. Therefore, when voicing a question, mentally draw the image that arose when you uttered this phrase.

The answer to a question in the past tense, as always, can be negative or affirmative. Moreover, “ did" in the answer rightfully replaces the semantic verb. And negation, as you remember, is formed using the particle “ not»:

• Did you see him? -Have you seen him?
• Yes, I did. - Yes, I saw it.
• No, I didn't. - No I did not see.

Remember also the audio lesson you completed in spoken English on the topic

Exercise 1
Make the sentences interrogative.

1. He made some mistakes.
2. Ted turned on the radio.
3. They visited Moscow one month ago.
4. Anna talked to me last Sunday.
5. I did my maths homework yesterday.

6. You called Kate.
7. Mark didn’t work today.
8. She traveled to Japan last year.
9. They lived in Texas.
10. She saw a movie yesterday.

Correct answers to exercise #1

1. Did you make any mistakes?
2. Did Ted turn on the radio.
3. Did they visit Moscow one month ago?
4. Did Anna talk to me last Sunday?
5. Did I do maths homework yesterday?

6. Did you call Kate?
7. Did Mark work today?
8. Did she travel to Japan last year?
9. Did they live in Texas.
10. Did she see a movie yesterday?

Exercise 2
Say these sentences in Russian.

1. Did she shy as a child?
2. Did it rain yesterday?
3. Did you have dinner last night?
4. How long did you wait for the m?
5. Did Tom repair the car?

6. Did they meet their friends?
7. Did Sarah write a letter?
8. Did you drink coffee this morning?
9. Did you have classes today?
10. Did he eat his breakfast?

Correct answers to exercise #2

1. Were you shy as a child?
2. Did it rain yesterday?
3. Did you have dinner yesterday?
4. How long did you wait for them?
5. Did Tom fix the car?

6. Did they meet their friends?
7. Did Sarah write a letter?
8. Did you drink coffee this morning?
9. Did you have classes today?
10. Did he have breakfast?

Exercise #3

Make up a question sentence from the words.

1. you / in New York? / to be / when.
2. David / by plane / to America / go.
3. the cat / the dog / after / run.
4. something / say / she.
5.like/" Star Wars"/you/the movie.

6. you / when / arrive.
7. have / tickets / two / you.
8. him/love/you.
9. your hat / where / buy / you.
10. in "Apple" / work / you.

Correct answers to exercise #3

1. When were you in New York?
2. Did David go to America by plane?
3. Did the dog run after the cat?
4. Did she say something?
5. Did you like the movie “Star Wars?”

6. When did you arrive?
7. Did you have two tickets?
8. Did you love him?
9. Where did you buy your hat?
10. Did you work in ‘Apple’?

Exercise #4

Write interrogative forms. Regular verbs.
Example: You called —> Did you call

1. Not stopped
2. Anna played
3. They enjoyed
4. We liked
5. He danced

6.David carried
7. You visited
8.Kate changed
9. She used
10. They tried

Correct answers to exercise #4

1. He stopped —> Did he stop
2. Anna played —> Did Anna play
3. They enjoyed —> Did they enjoy
4. We liked —> Did we like
5. He danced —> Did he dance

6. David carried —> Did David carry
7. You visited —> Did you visit
8. Kate changed —> Did Kate change
9. She used —> Did she use
10. They tried —> Did they try

Exercise #5

Write from interrogative forms - narrative. Irregular Verbs.
Example: Did he come —> he came

1.Did your father tell
2. Did we say
3. Did Igor buy
4.Did she get
5. Did they make

6. Did you sell
7. Did mom have
8. Did he sleep
9.Did your friends think
10. Did a child do

Hello, friends. Many people are faced with the fact that composing a question in English is a very difficult task, especially if a person is just beginning to actively master English grammar. In our article we will take an overview 5 types of English questions and learn how to compose them in temporary form Past Simple. This time is one of the most common and has its own characteristics, which we will pay attention to in our article.

Watch the video lesson about 5 types of questions in English:

Let's repeat general information about 5 types of questions in English.

Let's list 5 types of questions in English:

General question
A question that requires either “yes” or “no” as an answer.
Special question
Used to obtain additional information, always begins with a question word.
Question to the subject
A question that begins with the word WHO or WHAT.
Question with "or"
A question that asks you to choose between two alternatives and contains the word OR.
Separated question
Consists of 2 parts separated by a comma. Part I is a statement, Part II is a question about this statement, the so-called “root”.

The word order in the most complete interrogative sentence is:

Note:
1. Not all questions have question words.
2. In questions to the subject, word order is used, as in a statement.

Read more about the 5 types of questions in our article:

5 types of questions in Past Simple

Grammar help:

informs the interlocutor about facts and events that took place in the past, and this past is gone forever. As a rule, the sentence contains an indication of when exactly the described event happened in the past.

In interrogative sentences in the Past Simple an auxiliary verb appears DID.
It is not used only in a subject question (who/what?), because it uses the word order of an affirmative sentence.

Note:
When DID appears, the semantic verb is in its initial form (as in a dictionary).

Simplified outline of the question inPastSimple:

Using the example of a verb manage
Did I manage?
Did you manage?
Did we manage?
Did they manage?
Did he manage?
Did she manage?
Did it manage?
Let's learn to ask 5 types of questions inPastSimple.
The students wrote the test last week. –Students wrote test on last week.

Many foreign language learners have a problem with how to ask questions correctly. But, in fact, it is simpler than it seems at first glance. is a simple past tense formula in English. In this article we will look at how to construct questions in the past simple, give examples and try to figure out all the incomprehensible points.

First, let's remember the marker words that are characteristic of this grammatical tense. These are words such as yesterday, the day before yesterday, last year, last week, and so on. First, let's look at a few examples.

Examples of questions in the Past Simple:

Did you play the piano yesterday? Where did you go last week?

That is, we ask about specific actions that were performed in the past and are not related to the present moment. This is what distinguishes this grammatical tense from other past tense forms that exist in modern English. Here we are talking about actions that took place once and have already ended, since they have nothing to do with reality. Therefore, this tense is actively used in fairy tales, stories, and essays when we talk about something that happened a long time ago.

How is the Past Simple question formed?

The past simple interrogative form is formed according to the following scheme. We take the auxiliary and semantic verb in the infinitive form (i.e. in the initial form), adding a question word if necessary. The assistant is placed at the beginning of the sentence, and only after it comes the semantic verb. Let's see how this happens with an example:

We have a sentence: She ate a lemon pie - she ate lemon pie.

Based on this sentence, we will ask the question in the past tense. Don't forget about our interrogative assistant, which is moved to the beginning of the sentence. We get the following construction:

Did she eat a lemon pie? – did she eat lemon pie?

Both regular and irregular verbs in interrogative sentences remain in the initial tense form because the past tense marker moves to the auxiliary verb did.

Interrogative sentences and their types

Interrogative sentences in past simple There are two types – Past Simple general and Past Simple special questions. These questions are formed according to the same principle, but there are certain differences, although they are insignificant. However, these subtleties need to be known. A general question in the past simple is asked using an auxiliary verb. A special question is asked with the help of an assistant and question words. Let's look at examples of past simple questions:

General issues:

Did you come home? Did you go for a walk?

Special:

Where did you go? Where did she live? The most common question words are when, where, why, how many, how much, how. We will look at questions with the word who below; this is a special case.

We looked at the basic rules for composing general and special questions in the past simple. Now let's talk about how to ask a question to the subject.

How to pose a question to the subject?

A question to a subject in English is created by using the word who, without an auxiliary verb. For example: Who played hockey? In this case, the sign of the past tense remains with the semantic verb, and we do not need an auxiliary verb. For example: Who flew to Australia last year? Who skied last winter? We take the verb in the second form, for regular verbs it ends with ed, and for irregular verbs it is in a special form (see the table of irregular verbs). As for the incorrect ones, it is advisable to know the most basic ones by heart, since they are used very often.

As you know, verbs in English are divided into. Since in interrogative sentences the sign of the past tense is carried by an auxiliary verb, the semantic verb will always be in the initial form, with the exception of a question to the subject, as mentioned above. Example with a regular verb – Did you play football last week? Example with irregular verb– Did she go to Madrid last year?

Thus, constructing interrogative sentences in the past simple is not particularly difficult. The main thing is to remember the basic rules and clearly understand the algorithm; everything else is a matter of technique and work.

General issues

Did + subject + semantic verb

Special Issues

Special questions begin with the question words What (color, size, kind, flavor..), Where, When, Who, How (much/long), which are placed before the phrase with did.

What did you do yesterday? - What did you do yesterday?

What color dress did you buy? – What color dress did you buy?

What size did you buy? – What size did you buy?

What kind of book did you like? – Which book did you like?

What flavor ice-cream did you buy? – What flavor of ice cream did you buy?

Where did you go yesterday? -Where did you go yesterday?

When did you go? - When did you go?

How did you go? - How did you get there?

Who did you go with? -Who did you go with?

How much did you pay? - How much did you pay?

How long did you stay? - How long did you stay there?

English Joke

The very convivial gentleman left his club happy, but somewhat dazed. On his homeward journey, made tackingly, he ran against the vertical iron rods that formed a circle of protection for the trunk of a tree growing by the curb. He made a tour around the barrier four times, carefully holding to one rod until he had a firm grasp on the next. Then, at last, he halted and leaned despairingly against the rock to which he held, and called aloud for succor:

"Hellup! hellup! Somebody let me out!