A selection of English ESL past simple regular printables

Five pages where students can practise the Past Simple of regular and irregular verbs. The first page is a grammar guide to the formation of irregular verbs. The next 4 pages are a variety of grammar exercises.

Grammar Guide & Exercises - Past Simple of Irregular Verbs - 5 Pages

Here , young learners have to put the regular verbs in the past simple, affirmative form, good to learn or revise vocabulary with the  pictures; goes with yesterdday's worksheet

What a day yesterday: past simple oF regular verbs

A text plus some activities I created for reading comprehension and revising the past simple. The story is fairly simple. It may be used with A2  students. The handout  includes a vocabulary task, a speaking task (comprehension questions), and a grammar task (regular and irregular past verbs). 

Spiral Reading - Romantic Tale - Comprehension + Grammar

This is a reading comprehension activity. Students read a short passage and answer the questions in full sentences. Then, they write the verbs at the past simple from the text in the grid as requested. Revision of the past simple of both regular and irregular verbs.

Easy reading - A holiday in a lighthouse

past simple verb BE ;:-) ,;:-)

introduction regular verbs ;:-) ;: -)

dates ;:-) ;: -) 

was born ;:-) ;:-)

speaking or writing activity ,;:-)

hope you like it ,;:-)

Icons from the past - Who were they ? 

This is a great song by U2 to present or practice PRESENT PERFECT TENSE. It has different verbs, regular and irregular and on the worksheet you can also find some pictures to trigger speaking. There are also verbs in the past simple and present simple to make a contrast.

U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For - Song Gap Fill

Filling-in exercise for Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate adult students. Only Past Simple, both regular and irregular forms. It is a story to first fill in with proper Past Simple form, then to learn and retell in order to learn correct past forms and memorise vocabulary and collocations. 

Storytelling - Jo's Bad Luck Day - Gap Fill and Speaking Exercise

Quick explanation of the past simple tense (Regular and Irregular verbs) + verb to be in 3 simple steps.



1. when it is used.

2. clues to recognize this tense in a sentence.

3. rules for regular and irregular verbs.

4. rules for verb to be (was / were).



Thank you!

Grammar Guide - Past Simple Verbs + Verb To Be

worksheets for the use of simple past for those who would like to practice or have trouble with this tense. Individual learners or groups can use it. My students love it, with the help of it they can remember the use of simple past and the regular, irregular verbs

Homework Handout - Past Simple Tense - All Forms

regular and irregular verb tables ,present simple tense, present continuous and past simple tense form. t's really helpful if you include the solutions in the resource as it makes it easier for us in class to check the answers. Also, the solutions make the resource suitable for self-study.

Charts + Exercises - Verbs - Indonesian Students

This worksheet / lesson plan (90-120 mins) is based on the classic Cinderella fairy tale. The students review all the forms of past simple while practicing their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills.

1. Students write down the past simple verbs they hear as the story is dictated. 

2. Students read the story and check the verbs 

3. Students form groups and complete a grammar table for the past simple affirmative, negative and interrogative forms of be verb, regular verbs and irregular verbs. 

4. Students also populate a table with the present simple and past simple forms of the verbs in the story, categorizing them into be verb, regular or irregular. 

5. Each student practices writing these structures for a particular paragraph in the story. 

6. The written sentences are then handed to the teacher who conducts a fun quiz competition.

Cinderella - Grammar Guide - 4 Pages Grammar Exercises

Gap-fill exercise in which students must write the past simple form of the verb indicated.  Page 2 can be distributed for students to check their own answers.  The worksheet can be used for all levels for pronunciation practice of the three endings of regular verbs in the past simple.

A Day Out in the Park - the Past Simple Tense

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

531 Past simple regular English ESL worksheets pdf & doc