introducción
El Past Simple es uno de los tiempos verbales más importantes en inglés, ya que se utiliza para
expresar acciones que ocurrieron y finalizaron en un momento específico del pasado. Este
tiempo verbal nos permite narrar experiencias, hechos históricos, rutinas pasadas o situaciones
que ya no ocurren en el presente.
Los verbos en pasado simple pueden ser regulares o irregulares. Los regulares siguen una regla
fija, ya que solo necesitan añadir “-ed” a la forma base del verbo (por ejemplo: play → played).
En cambio, los irregulares no siguen un patrón definido y su forma en pasado cambia de
manera particular (por ejemplo: go → went).
Aprender a diferenciar entre verbos regulares e irregulares en el Past Simple es fundamental
para comunicarse correctamente en inglés, ya que este tiempo verbal se emplea con
frecuencia tanto en la vida cotidiana como en los textos narrativos.
the past simple tense
In the past simple tense, regular verbs form their past tense by adding "-ed" to the base
form (e.g., talk becomes talked), while irregular verbs do not follow a standard pattern and
have unique past forms that must be memorized, such as go becoming went or eat becoming
ate.
2.1. Uso del Past Simple
El Past Simple se emplea para:
Acciones terminadas en el pasado: I visited London last year.
Hábitos o rutinas pasadas: She always walked to school when she was a child.
Hechos históricos: The Wright brothers invented the airplane.
2.2. Verbos Regulares
Los verbos regulares forman el pasado añadiendo -ed a la raíz del verbo.
Reglas ortográficas:
Verbo + -ed: work → worked
Verbo terminado en -e: love → loved
Consonante + y → ied: study → studied
Verbo corto (CVC) → doblar consonante: stop → stopped
Ejemplos:
She played the guitar yesterday.
They watched a movie last night.
Oraciones afirmativas con verbos regulares
1. She worked at the library yesterday.
2. They played football last weekend.
3. We visited our grandparents last month.
4. He watched a movie last night.
5. I cleaned my room yesterday morning.
Oraciones negativas con verbos regulares
1. She did not (didn’t) work at the library yesterday.
2. They didn’t play football last weekend.
3. We didn’t visit our grandparents last month.
4. He didn’t watch a movie last night.
5. I didn’t clean my room yesterday morning.
Oraciones interrogativas con verbos regulares
1. Did she work at the library yesterday?
2. Did they play football last weekend?
3. Did we visit our grandparents last month?
4. Did he watch a movie last night?
5. Did you clean your room yesterday morning?
2.3. Verbos Irregulares
Los verbos irregulares no siguen una regla fija. Su forma en pasado cambia completamente y
debe memorizarse.
Ejemplos comunes:
go → went → They went to the park.
eat → ate → He ate pizza last night.
have → had → I had an exam yesterday.
see → saw → We saw a beautiful sunset.
2.4. Estructura gramatical del Past Simple
Forma afirmativa:
Sujeto + verbo en pasado
→ I worked / She went
Forma negativa:
Sujeto + did not (didn’t) + verbo en infinitivo
→ I didn’t work / She didn’t go
Forma interrogativa:
Did + sujeto + verbo en infinitivo
→ Did you work? / Did she go?
3. Ejemplos comparativos
Infinitive Past Simple (Regular) Past Simple (Irregular)
play played –
work worked –
study studied –
go – went
eat – ate
see – saw
have – had
Lista de verbos regulares más usados (Base → Past Simple)
1. accept → accepted (aceptar)
2. ask → asked (preguntar)
3. call → called (llamar)
4. change → changed (cambiar)
5. clean → cleaned (limpiar)
6. close → closed (cerrar)
7. cook → cooked (cocinar)
8. dance → danced (bailar)
9. enjoy → enjoyed (disfrutar)
10. help → helped (ayudar)
11. like → liked (gustar)
12. live → lived (vivir)
13. look → looked (mirar)
14. need → needed (necesitar)
15. open → opened (abrir)
16. play → played (jugar/tocar)
17. start → started (empezar)
18. talk → talked (hablar)
19. use → used (usar)
20. work → worked (trabajar)
[Link] de verbos irregulares más usados
Infinitive (Base form) Past Simple Español
be was / were ser / estar
become became convertirse / llegar a ser
begin began empezar
break broke romper
bring brought traer
build built construir
buy bought comprar
choose chose elegir
come came venir
do did hacer
drink drank beber
eat ate comer
fall fell caer
feel felt sentir
find found encontrar
get got obtener / conseguir
give gave dar
go went ir
have had tener
Infinitive (Base form) Past Simple Español
hear heard oír
know knew saber / conocer
leave left salir / dejar
make made hacer / fabricar
meet met conocer / encontrarse
read (se pronuncia red) read leer
run ran correr
say said decir
see saw ver
sit sat sentarse
sleep slept dormir
speak spoke hablar
take took tomar / llevar
teach taught enseñar
tell told decir / contar
think thought pensar
understand understood entender
write wrote escribir
conclusiones
El Past Simple constituye un tiempo verbal indispensable en la comunicación en inglés, ya que
permite narrar acciones y hechos del pasado con claridad. La diferencia esencial entre los
verbos regulares e irregulares radica en su formación: mientras los primeros siguen la regla del
sufijo -ed, los segundos requieren memorización.
Para un estudiante de nivel superior, comprender y practicar este tiempo verbal no solo facilita
la producción oral y escrita en inglés, sino que también abre la puerta al análisis de textos
narrativos, conversaciones académicas y contextos profesionales donde la referencia al pasado
es frecuente.