英语过去时，其实就是这么几个套路
过去时总是让人头疼。明明中文里说"我昨天吃了饭"就完事了，英语却要把动词变来变去。今天我们就把过去时的规则彻底搞清楚。
过去时的作用很简单，就是表示过去发生的事情。当你想说"我昨天看了电影"，英语就是"I watched a movie yesterday"。这里的watched就是watch的过去时形式。
规则动词的变化套路
大部分英语动词都是规则动词，变过去时有固定套路。我们先看看最基本的几种变化规则：
| 变化规则 | 原形 | 过去时 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 直接加-ed | work | worked | I worked yesterday |
| talk | talked | She talked to me | |
| play | played | We played football |
这个规则覆盖了绝大多数动词。但是有些动词结尾比较特殊，需要稍微调整一下：
| 变化规则 | 原形 | 过去时 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 以e结尾，只加-d | live | lived | He lived in Beijing |
| hope | hoped | I hoped for the best | |
| dance | danced | They danced all night |
还有一种情况是动词以辅音字母加y结尾，需要把y变成i再加-ed。但如果是元音字母加y结尾，就直接加-ed：
| 变化规则 | 原形 | 过去时 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 辅音+y，变i加-ed | study | studied | I studied English |
| try | tried | She tried her best | |
| carry | carried | He carried the bag | |
| 元音+y，直接加-ed | play | played | We played games |
| stay | stayed | I stayed at home |
双写字母的特殊情况
有些短动词在变过去时需要双写最后一个辅音字母再加-ed。这个规则主要适用于重读闭音节的单音节词：
| 变化规则 | 原形 | 过去时 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 双写+ed | stop | stopped | The car stopped |
| plan | planned | We planned a trip | |
| prefer | preferred | I preferred coffee | |
| 不双写的例外 | show | showed | He showed me the way |
| fix | fixed | I fixed the computer |
不规则动词的记忆方法
英语里有很多不规则动词，它们的过去时变化没有固定规律。下面是一些常见的不规则动词：
| 类型 | 原形 | 过去时 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 完全不同 | go | went | I went to school |
| see | saw | She saw a movie | |
| buy | bought | We bought some food | |
| 元音变化 | sing | sang | He sang a song |
| ring | rang | The bell rang | |
| begin | began | The class began | |
| -d变-t | send | sent | I sent an email |
| build | built | They built a house | |
| spend | spent | We spent two hours | |
| 原形不变 | cut | cut | I cut the paper |
| put | put | She put it on the table | |
| hit | hit | He hit the ball |
过去时在句子中的运用
掌握了动词变化规则，还要知道怎么在句子里正确使用过去时。下面是不同句型的对比：
| 句型 | 结构 | 例句 |
|---|---|---|
| 肯定句 | 主语 + 过去时动词 | I watched TV yesterday |
| 否定句 | 主语 + didn't + 原形动词 | I didn't watch TV yesterday |
| 疑问句 | Did + 主语 + 原形动词 | Did you watch TV yesterday? |
注意在疑问句和否定句中，主动词要用原形，因为did已经表示了过去时。
常用的过去时间状语
过去时通常配合这些时间状语使用：
| 时间状语 | 例句 |
|---|---|
| yesterday | I called him yesterday |
| last + 时间 | She visited us last week |
| 时间 + ago | We met two hours ago |
| in + 过去年份 | He graduated in 2020 |
| this morning/afternoon | I saw her this morning |
过去时的语感培养
光知道规则还不够，还要培养语感。平时多读英语文章，特别是故事类的内容，里面会大量使用过去时。慢慢地，你就能感受到什么时候该用过去时，什么时候用其他时态。
另外，可以试着用英语描述自己昨天做的事情，或者讲一个简单的故事。刚开始可能会犯错，但通过不断练习，过去时的使用会越来越自然。
