Past simple: -ed verbs

Yesterday's grammar: add -ed and any verb travels back in time. The regular half of the past, taught first because it is fair.

From age 7Cambridge level: A1 Movers

Age: Ages 7–11
Level: A1
Skill: Grammar
Format: Teacher guide

The pattern

Saying it: I played. She helped.
Saying no: I didn't play.
Asking: Did you play?
Short answer: Yes, I did. / No, I didn't.

Printable worksheet Presentation (PPT)

Sentences a child can say

Tap any sentence to hear it. Every one uses words from a topic pack you already have.

Mini exercise: choose the right word

Five sentences from this page, each with a word missing. A child taps the word that fits and, once it is right, hears the whole sentence.

I blank football yesterday.
She blank her mom.
He blank into the pool.
I didn't blank the soup.
Did you blank to school?

What you will actually hear

The mistakes that come up in every class, and what is behind each one, with a tag on those a first language makes typical.

I didn't played.I didn't play.

Did already carries the past — the main verb hands the -ed over and goes back to its base form. One past marker per sentence.

I play football yesterday.I played football yesterday.

Yesterday demands a past verb. Train the pair: hear a time word, check the verb's tail.

Typical for Arabic speakers

Yesterday I was play football.Yesterday I played football.

Arabic often tells a story about yesterday with «⁧كنت ألعب⁩» (was + a present verb), so children put was in front of the bare verb. The past simple needs no was: one past word, played.

How to teach it

1
Anchor it to a real yesterday: Monday's lesson starts with 'What did you do at the weekend?' — the question that will open lessons for the next ten years.
2
Teach the three sounds of -ed by sorting: played /d/, helped /t/, visited /id/. Clap the syllables of visited — hearing the extra beat prevents 'help-ed'.
3
Keep a class diary: one sentence after every lesson ('We played bingo. We sang.'). Reading last month's page IS the past simple, self-demonstrating.

Topic packs that pair with this

Same structure, words your class already knows — no new vocabulary needed.

Actions Sports School Daily routines Summer holidays

Questions teachers ask

Regular or irregular verbs first?

Was/were first, then -ed, then irregulars in small famous handfuls (went, saw, ate). The -ed rule gives forty verbs for one lesson's work; irregulars are a collection children build for years.

My students say every -ed as a full syllable. Bad habit?

A harmless stage — Russian and Spanish both love full vowels. Model the short forms without correcting, and the extra syllable evaporates with exposure.