Past Simple: Regular Verbs (-ed)
To talk about a finished action in the past, add -ed to a regular verb: "I worked yesterday." The form never changes by person, so it is the same for I, you, he, she, we and they. Watch the spelling: a final -e takes just -d (live to lived), a consonant + y becomes -ied ("She studied all night"), and you double a final consonant after a short stressed vowel ("We stopped at a cafe"). The -ed ending is pronounced three ways depending on the verb: /t/ in worked, /d/ in played, and /id/ in wanted.
Examples
- I worked yesterday. the speaker worked the day before
- She studied all night. she studied through the night
- We stopped at a cafe. the group stopped at a cafe
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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Want to tell someone what happened yesterday? In English, that almost always means adding just two letters: -ed. But those two letters hide two spelling traps and three different sounds.
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Here's the good news first. For a regular verb, the past simple is wonderfully simple: you take the base verb and add -ed. And it's the same for every person — I, you, he, she, we, they. No changes.
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Take the verb work. Yesterday, I worked. He worked. They worked. One form covers everyone. I worked yesterday.
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So the base rule is just plus -ed. But the spelling has three small adjustments, and once you know them, you'll never write studyed or stoped again. Here they are.
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First tweak: if the verb already ends in -e, you don't add e-d, you just add d. Live becomes lived. Like becomes liked. The e is already there. We lived in Rome.
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Second tweak: a consonant followed by y. You change the y to an i and add -ed. Study becomes studied. Try becomes tried. Be careful, though — this is only after a consonant. Play ends in a vowel plus y, so it just takes -ed: played. She studied all night.
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Third tweak: when a short, stressed vowel is followed by a single consonant, you double that consonant before -ed. Stop becomes stopped. Plan becomes planned. The double letter keeps the vowel short. We stopped at a cafe.
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Let's put the plain rule back to work with a clean example — no spelling tweak needed here. Play just takes -ed, because the y comes after a vowel. They played football.
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Now the part most learners miss. The spelling is always -ed, but the sound is not. That ending is pronounced in three different ways depending on the sound right before it. Let's hear all three.
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Sound one: a /t/. After a voiceless sound — like the k in work — the ending snaps to a sharp t. So it's not work-ed, it's workt. Listen. worked
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Sound two: a /d/. After a voiced sound — like the vowel in play — the ending is a soft d. Play-d. The voice keeps running straight into it. Listen. played
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Sound three: a full extra syllable, /id/. This one only happens after a t or a d sound — because you can't say two t's or two d's together. Want becomes want-ed. Need becomes need-ed. Listen for the extra beat. wanted
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So here's the trap to avoid. Don't add an extra syllable where there isn't one. Worked is one syllable — workt — not work-ed. Save the extra beat for verbs ending in t or d, like wanted.
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And the spelling trap. It is never studyed and never stoped. Consonant plus y turns the y into i — studied. A short stressed vowel doubles the consonant — stopped. Get those two and your past tense is clean.
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One last thing worth knowing. This rule is for regular verbs only. A big group of common verbs — go, see, take — are irregular and don't use -ed at all. That's a separate lesson, but for everything regular, -ed is your friend.
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Let's lock it in. Regular past is base plus -ed, same for everyone. Watch the spelling: just -d after e, y to ied, double after a short vowel. And listen for the three sounds: t, d, and the extra id.