一般过去时描述在已经结束的时间里完成的动作:昨天、上周、2019 年。
规则动词:加 -ed
work → worked, play → played, want → wanted
拼写规则:
- 以 -e 结尾 → 加 -d:like → liked
- 辅音字母 + -y → 改为 -ied:study → studied
- 短元音 + 辅音字母 → 双写辅音字母:stop → stopped
-ed 有三种发音
拼写不变,但发音会变。读错马上就能听出来,会暴露学习者的身份。
| 发音 | 出现条件 | 例子 |
|---|---|---|
| /t/ | 清辅音之后:k, p, s, sh, ch, f | worked, stopped, watched |
| /d/ | 浊辅音和元音之后 | played, called, lived |
| /ɪd/ | 只出现在 t 或 d 之后 | wanted, decided, started |
只有最后一组会多出一个音节。Worked 是一个音节,不是两个;wanted 才真的是两个音节。
不规则动词
这里没有规律可循——只能靠记忆。最常见的几个是:
| 原形 | 过去式 | 原形 | 过去式 |
|---|---|---|---|
| go | went | give | gave |
| have | had | find | found |
| do | did | think | thought |
| say | said | tell | told |
| see | saw | leave | left |
| take | took | feel | felt |
| come | came | buy | bought |
| make | made | write | wrote |
| get | got | run | ran |
| know | knew | begin | began |
还有一小部分动词完全不变:put, cut, let, cost, hit, shut, read。时态只能靠语境判断——不过 read 虽然拼写不变,发音却会改变(/riːd/ → /red/)。
好消息是:过去式在所有人称中都是一样的。I went, she went, they went.
用「did」构成否定句和疑问句
这里实义动词要回到原形——这是一个经典的错误来源。
- ✅ I didn't go.(不是「didn't went」)
- ✅ Did you see it?(不是「Did you saw」)
为什么要用原形——过去时的全部含义已经体现在 did 上了,实义动词不需要再重复一遍。一句话只需要一个时态标记。
带疑问词的问句也是同样的道理:Where did you go? · What did she say?
但当主语是 who 或 what 时,did 又会消失:Who told you?(不是「Who did tell you」)
Was 和 were
be 动词又一次表现得不一样——它不需要 did。
- I / he / she / it was
- you / we / they were
- I wasn't at home. / Were you there?
表示时间的状语
一般过去时通常搭配已经结束的时间段使用:yesterday, last night, two days ago, in 2019, when I was a child。
请注意:ago 放在时间段之后——three weeks ago,而不是「ago three weeks」。
如何讲一个故事
一般过去时是任何叙述的主干,过去进行时为这些事件提供背景,而连接词能带领听者理清事件的顺序:first, then, after that, a bit later, in the end。
How was the weekend?
A: We went to the coast on Saturday. The train was late, so we missed the boat.
B: Oh no. What did you do?
A: We waited for two hours, then we found a café and had lunch. In the end it was a nice day.
所有动词都用一般过去时,每件事都已经结束,而 did 只出现在疑问句里。
自我检测
下面的测验重点考察「didn't went」这个陷阱,以及 was/were 的区别。