The past simple

Regular verbs add -ed for a finished past action: I walked, she played. A verb ending in e only adds -d: hoped; after a consonant, y becomes ied: studied.

A short vowel before one final consonant doubles it: stop, stopped; plan, planned. Many common verbs are irregular: go, went; see, saw; buy, bought; write, wrote.

Questions and negatives use did, and the verb goes back to its base form: did you see it?, I didn't go. The -ed is barely heard in speech, so listen for words like yesterday.