🕒 Simple Past Struggles? You’re Not Alone!
Something I notice a lot, even with intermediate English learners, is how tricky the simple past can be, especially in the negative form.
In positive sentences, it’s intuitive:
✔ I knew about the meeting.
✔ We watched a movie.
✔ She called me yesterday.
But in the negative… suddenly it changes!
❌ I didn’t knew about the meeting. ← Oops!
✔ I didn’t know about the meeting. ✅
❌ I didn’t watched the movie. ← Oops!
✔ I didn’t watch the movie. ✅
❌ She didn’t called me yesterday. ← Oops!
✔ She didn’t call me yesterday ✅
Even though the action is in the past, after “didn’t,” we go back to the base form of the verb (think of the infinitive form).
🕰️ didn’t know (to know)
🕰️ didn’t watch (to watch)
🕰️ didn’t call (to call)
Today, this clicked for one of my students. It’s such a simple rule, but easy to miss!
💬 How about you? Have you ever mixed up past tense negatives?
Drop an example below (correct or incorrect) and let's chat about it. 😄