⏪ What Is the Past Tense?
2nd Grade ✏️ Language Arts
The past tense tells about something that already happened. Most verbs just add -ed: walk → walked.
Regular verbs
For most verbs, add -ed: play → played, jump → jumped. If the verb ends in e, add only -d: bake → baked. Some double the last letter: stop → stopped.
Irregular verbs
Some verbs are rule-breakers: go → went, eat → ate, see → saw, run → ran, have → had. You learn these by practice and reading.
Clue words
Words like yesterday, last week and ago are clues that a sentence needs the past tense: "Last week we visited Grandma."
Quick quiz
What is the past tense of "jump"?
What is the past tense of "go"?
Which word is a clue that the sentence is in the past?