Negative Past Tense

Past tense verbs can be tricky! Take a look at the explanation below, and then try the quiz to test your knowledge!

To form a negative simple past tense verb we use didn’t + verb.

I didn’t go to the party last night.
We didn’t eat pasta for dinner.

The only exception is the be verb. With wasn’t and weren’t we don’t use didn’t.

I wasn’t happy last week.
They weren’t late to the game.

Make sure to pay attention to the differences between affirmative and negative verbs:

She went to work yesterday.
She didn’t go to work yesterday.

We wanted to have cereal for breakfast.
We didn’t want to have cereal for breakfast.

Try the quiz!