learn english: Lesson 30 - The Simple Past Negative

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The Present Simple Past

In spoken English, the following contraction is often used:

Without Contraction	With Contraction
did not	didn't

Without Contraction

With Contraction

did not

didn't

For example:-

I/he/she/it/you/we/you/they	did not	did not have	did not read	did not like	did not eat	did not drink
I/he/she/it/you/we/you/they	didn't	didn't have	didn't read	didn't like	didn't eat	didn't drink

In order to change an affirmative statement into a negative statement, did not is placed after the subject, and the form of the verb is changed to the bare infinitive.

Positive statement	Negative statement
I worked.	I didn't work.
You worked. (singular 1 and plural 1+)	You didn't work.
He/She worked.	He/She didn't work.
It worked.	It didn't work
We worked.	We didn't work.
They worked.	They didn't work.

What Mr Bean did and didn't do yesterday.

		On Saturday Mr Bean didn't wake up at 6.00 am. He woke up at 8.00 am.
		He didn't get up at 6.15 am. He got up at 9.00 am.
		He didn't go to the office. He went to the bathroom.
		He didn't have a shower. He had a bath.
		After his shower he didn't have a cup of coffee. He had a shave and brushed his teeth.
		He didn't eat breakfast at about 7.00 am. He ate breakfast at about 10.00 am.
		After breakfast he didn't read the newspaper. He went for a run.
		After his run he didn't go to work. He went to meet his friends.