Past Simple verb tense practice worksheet for students.

Let’s go step by step to fill in the past simple form for each verb.

We have 4 rules shown on the worksheet:

1. Base Form: Add + ed → Just add “ed” to the end of the verb.
2. Verbs that end in -e: Add + d → If the verb already ends with “e”, just add “d”.
3. Verbs that end in -y: Remove -y, Add + ied → If the verb ends with “y”, take off the “y” and add “ied”.
4. Verbs that end with vowel & consonant (2x): Double the consonant, Add + ed → If the verb ends with a short vowel sound followed by one consonant, double that last letter before adding “ed”.

Now let’s solve each group.

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Group 1: Base Form — Add + ed

- listen → listened
- cook → cooked
- look → looked
- act → acted
- walk → walked
- play → played *(Note: even though it ends in “y”, “play” has a vowel before “y”, so we don’t remove “y” — but wait! Actually, according to standard grammar, if the “y” is after a vowel, you still just add “ed”. So “play” → “played” is correct under this rule too. But note: the worksheet separates “verbs ending in -y” as a different rule — so maybe they want us to follow their grouping strictly. Let’s check the next group.)*

Wait — looking at the worksheet again, “play” is listed under “Base Form: Add + ed”, not under “ends in -y”. That means for this worksheet, they are treating “play” as regular — which is correct because “ay” is a vowel sound, so no change needed beyond “ed”.

Same with “open”, “watch”, “paint”, “jump”, “brush”, “follow” — all get “ed” added directly.

So:

- listen → listened
- cook → cooked
- look → looked
- act → acted
- walk → walked
- play → played
- help → helped
- open → opened
- watch → watched
- paint → painted
- jump → jumped
- play → played *(again? Maybe typo — probably meant another word, but we’ll do as written)*
- brush → brushed
- follow → followed

*(Note: “play” appears twice — maybe a mistake in the worksheet, but we’ll answer both as “played”)*

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Group 2: Verbs that end in -e — Add + d

These verbs already end in “e”, so we just add “d”:

- close → closed
- like → liked
- live → lived
- share → shared
- use → used
- save → saved
- love → loved
- move → moved

All straightforward.

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Group 3: Verbs that end in -y — Remove -y, Add + ied

Only apply this if the “y” comes after a consonant. Looking at the list:

- cry → cried
- fry → fried
- try → tried
- dry → dried
- study → studied
- carry → carried
- marry → married
- copy → copied

Yes — all these end in consonant + y, so remove “y”, add “ied”.

*(Note: “play” was earlier — it ends in vowel + y, so it doesn’t go here — good, it’s in Group 1.)*

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Group 4: Verbs that end with vowel & consonant — Double the consonant, Add + ed

This applies to verbs where the last syllable is stressed and ends in vowel+consonant (like “stop”, “hop”, etc.). From the list:

- skip → skipped
- stop → stopped
- plan → planned
- clap → clapped
- hop → hopped
- zip → zipped

All these have a short vowel sound followed by one consonant — so double the last letter, then add “ed”.

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Now let’s write all answers clearly in order as they appear on the worksheet.

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Final Answer:

Base Form: Add + ed
- listen → listened
- cook → cooked
- look → looked
- act → acted
- walk → walked
- play → played
- help → helped
- open → opened
- watch → watched
- paint → painted
- jump → jumped
- play → played
- brush → brushed
- follow → followed

Verbs that end in -e: Add + d
- close → closed
- like → liked
- live → lived
- share → shared
- use → used
- save → saved
- love → loved
- move → moved

Verbs that end in -y: Remove -y, Add + ied
- cry → cried
- fry → fried
- try → tried
- dry → dried
- study → studied
- carry → carried
- marry → married
- copy → copied

Verbs that end with vowel & consonant: Double the consonant, Add + ed
- skip → skipped
- stop → stopped
- plan → planned
- clap → clapped
- hop → hopped
- zip → zipped