The past tense revisited

            

         THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE 

   http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html

USE 1 Completed Action in the Past

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

Examples:

• I saw a movie yesterday.
• I didn't see a play yesterday.
• Last year, I traveled to Japan.
• Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.
• Did you have dinner last night?
• She washed her car.
• He didn't wash his car.

USE 2 A Series of Completed Actions

We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

Examples:

• I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.
• He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at 10:00.
• Did you add flour, pour in the milk, and then add the eggs?

USE 3 Duration in Past

The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

Examples:

• I lived in Brazil for two years.
• Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
• They sat at the beach all day.
• They did not stay at the party the entire time.
• We talked on the phone for thirty minutes.
• A: How long did you wait for them?
  B: We waited for one hour.

USE 4 Habits in the Past

The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to." To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

Examples:

• I studied French when I was a child.
• He played the violin.
• He didn't play the piano.
• Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?
• She worked at the movie theater after school.
• They never went to school, they always skipped class.

USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations

The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression "used to."

Examples:

• She was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.
• He didn't like tomatoes before.
• Did you live in Texas when you were a kid?
• People paid much more to make cell phone calls in the past.

     A VERB LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS 

                        http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html

        AN ONLINE PRACTICE EXERCISE 

                   http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html

O QUE É PAST TENSE?

O past simple ou simple past tense (passado simples) indica algo que começou no passado e que já terminou também no passado. Ou seja, não tem continuidade no presente.
A maioria dos verbos em inglês é dividida em verbos regulares (regular verbs) everbos irregulares (irregular verbs). Os irregulares são os verbos que não são conjugados da mesma maneira que os regulares e para os quais não existe uma regra geral; para cada verbo irregular há uma regra. Clique aqui caso deseje ver uma lista dos verbos irregulares.

Essa diferença, no entanto, vale apenas para a forma afirmativa. Os verbos irregulares, como mencionado, não possuem uma regra fixa, e cada um tem a sua conjugação. Veja alguns exemplos NO LINK ABAIXO.

http://inglesparaleigos.com/2012/08/simple-past-tense-passado-dos-verbos/