The past simple is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for past habitual actions: The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g.
the ball was lying on the sidewalk), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all, typically verbs of mental states (know, believe, need), of emotional states (love, dislike, prefer), of possession (have, own), of senses (hear) and some others (consist, exist, promise) – see – and in these cases the past simple is used even for a temporary state: ::The dog
was in its kennel. ::I
felt cold. However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use
could see in place of
saw,
could hear in place of
heard, etc. For more on this, see
can see. If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the past simple: ::Your mother
called while you
were cooking. The past simple is often close in meaning to the
present perfect. The past simple is used when the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past (i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events). ::I
was born in 1980. ::We
turned the oven off two minutes ago. ::I
came home at 6 o'clock. ::When
did they
get married? ::We
wrote two letters this morning. ::She
placed the letter on the table,
sighed, and
left the house. These examples can be contrasted with those given at . Also, for past actions that occurred
before the relevant past time frame, the
past perfect is used. Various compound constructions exist for denoting past
habitual action. The sentence
When I was young, I played football every Saturday might alternatively be phrased using
used to (
... I used to play ...) or using
would (
... I would play...). The past simple form also has some uses in which it does not refer to a past time. These are generally in
condition clauses and some other
dependent clauses referring to hypothetical circumstances, as well as certain expressions of wish: :: If he
walked faster, he would get home earlier. :: I wish I
knew what his name
was. :: I would rather she
wore a longer dress. For more details see the sections on
conditionals,
dependent clauses and
expressions of wish in the article on uses of English verb forms. For use of the past simple (and other past tense forms) in indirect speech, see . An example: ::He
said he
wanted to go on the slide. ==Pronunciation of -ed==