Past Simple Tense: Exercises & Free Worksheets with Answers (PDF)

These past simple tense worksheets offer a clear and structured way to practice the Past Simple tense through a variety of exercises, including fill-in-the-blanks, sentence rewriting, matching activities, and error correction. The worksheets cover both regular and irregular verbs and are suitable for beginner and elementary learners.

To strengthen your understanding before or after doing the exercises, you may find these reference articles helpful:

• Past Simple Tense
• Past Simple and Present Perfect

Download Past Simple Tense Worksheets

Worksheet 1: Fill in the blanks

Fill in the blanks with the correct past simple form of the verbs in parentheses.

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Worksheet 2: Negative sentences & error correction

Rewrite each sentence using the past simple negative form. Then, find the mistakes and correct them.

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Worksheet 3: Verb forms

Put the verb into the sentence and write the correct past simple form.

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Worksheet 4: Verb tables and matching

Write the past forms of the verbs, complete the sentences, and match questions with their answers.

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Worksheet 5: Sentence rewriting

Change the verbs into the past tense and rewrite the sentences using the Simple Past.

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Worksheet 6: Complete the sentences

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

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Worksheet 7: Negatives and questions

Change statements into negative sentences, write questions based on answers, and complete the sentences.

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Worksheet 8: Mixed practice

Fill in the blanks with the correct past simple form, rewrite sentences in the negative, and practice sentence transformation.

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Download Past Simple Tense Worksheets PDF

Past Simple Tense Exercises

Exercise 1: Fill in the Blanks

Use the past simple form of the verb in parentheses.

1. She __________ (visit) her grandparents last weekend.
2. I __________ (watch) a movie yesterday.
3. They __________ (not/go) to school on Friday.
4. We __________ (have) a great time at the party.
5. He __________ (buy) a new phone two days ago.
6. The baby __________ (cry) all night.
7. I __________ (read) that book last month.
8. You __________ (not/see) the message.

Answer:

1. visited
2. watched
3. did not go
4. had
5. bought
6. cried
7. read (pronounced “red”)
8. did not see

Exercise 2: Rewrite the Sentences

Rewrite the following sentences using the past simple tense.

1. I play football every weekend. →
2. She eats lunch at 12 every day. →
3. We go to the beach every summer. →
4. He drives to work every morning. →
5. They study English every day. →

Answer:

1. I played football last weekend.
2. She ate lunch at 12 yesterday.
3. We went to the beach last summer.
4. He drove to work yesterday morning.
5. They studied English yesterday.

Exercise 3: Choose the Correct Verb

Circle the correct past form of the verb.

1. I (run / ran) to the store.
2. She (see / saw) a bird on the tree.
3. They (build / built) a sandcastle.
4. We (take / took) a lot of photos.
5. He (write / wrote) a letter to his friend.

Answer:

1. ran
2. saw
3. built
4. took
5. wrote

Exercise 4: Match the Sentence Halves

Match each sentence beginning with its correct ending.

Answer: 1D, 2C, 3A, 4B, 5E

Exercise 5: Correct the Mistakes

Each sentence contains one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.

1. She goes to the market yesterday.
2. We was happy with the results.
3. They don’t came to the meeting.
4. I eat dinner at 7 p.m. last night.
5. He buyed a new jacket last week.

Answer:

1. She went to the market yesterday.
2. We were happy with the results.
3. They didn’t come to the meeting.
4. I ate dinner at 7 p.m. last night.
5. He bought a new jacket last week.

Exercise 6: Complete the Story

Fill in the blanks with the past simple form of the verbs.

Last Saturday, we (1) __________ (decide) to go hiking. My brother (2) __________ (pack) the snacks, and I (3) __________ (fill) our water bottles. We (4) __________ (leave) the house at 6 a.m. and (5) __________ (arrive) at the mountain an hour later. The weather (6) __________ (be) perfect. We (7) __________ (climb) for three hours and finally (8) __________ (reach) the top. It (9) __________ (feel) amazing to see the view!

Answer:

1. decided
2. packed
3. filled
4. left
5. arrived
6. was
7. climbed
8. reached
9. felt