Simple past tense adalah salah satu dari tenses dalam bahasa Inggris yang paling sering digunakan. Hal ini karena tense ini merujuk pada masa lampau dan mengungkapkan segala kejadian yang terjadi di dalamnya. Berikut akan dipaparkan pengertian, rumus, fungsi, dan contoh simple past tense.

Pengertian Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense adalah bentuk tense yang digunakan untuk menyatakan fakta, kebiasaan, atau kejadian yang terjadi di masa lampau (past). Sehingga kegiatan atau rutinitas kita di masa lalu dapat diungkapkan dengan tense ini. Demikian pula dengan keadaan atau kondisi kita, seperti:

I skipped my morning coffee yesterday. It rained slightly two days ago. In 1999, the city changed its name.

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Rumus Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense memiliki dua rumus. Yang pertama disebut verbal dan dipakai ketika terdapat verb (kata kerja), sementara yang kedua disebut nominal dan digunakan tatkala tidak terdapat verb. Sebagai gantinya, be (was, were) perlu ditambahkan di rumus kedua ini.

A. Dengan verb (verbal)

	Pola	Contoh
(+)	I/you/we/they + V2 She/he/it + V2	I/you/we/they liked meat She/he/it liked meat
(-)	I/you/we/they + did + not + V1 She/he/it + did + not + V1	I/you/we/they did not like meat She/he/it did not like meat
(?)	Did + I/you/we/they + V1? Did + she/he/it + V1? – Yes, she/he/it + did – No, she/he/it + did + not	Did I/you/we/they like meat? Did she/he/it like meat? – Yes, she/he/it did – No, she/he/it didn’t

Keterangan:

1. Dalam kalimat positif, semua subjek + V2
2. Dalam bahasa Inggris, V2 bentuknya ada yang beraturan (regular) dan tidak beraturan (irregular).
3. Regular verbs: V1 + d/ed
   

   look = looked bake = baked visit = visited

   correct = corrected deliver = delivered fund = funded

4. Irregular verbs: lihat kamus atau LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS
   

   put = put write = wrote come = came

   go = went have = had make = made

5. Dalam kalimat negatif, semua verb kembali ke V1.
6. Did + not = didn’t

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B. Tanpa verb (nominal)

	Pola	Contoh
(+)	You/we/they + were + pelengkap I/she/he/it + was + pelengkap	You/we/they were thin I/she/he/it was thin
(-)	You/we/they + were + not + pelengkap I/she/he/it + was + not + pelengkap	You/we/they were not thin I/she/he/it was not thin
(?)	Were + you/we/they + pelengkap? Was + I/she/he/it + pelengkap? – Yes, I/she/he/it + were – No, I/she/he/it + was + not	Were you/we/they thin? Was I/she/he/it thin? – Yes, I/she/he/it was – No, I/she/he/it wasn’t

Keterangan:

1. Pronoun “I” menggunakan was dalam pola ini, sejajar dengan she/he/it.
2. Was + not = wasn’t
3. Were + not = weren’t

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Fungsi dan Contoh Simple Past Tense

Secara garis besar, fungsi simple past tense dalam bahasa Inggris adalah sebagai:

1. Untuk menyatakan kejadian di masa lampau yang waktunya jelas

   yesterday five minutes ago an hour ago three days ago last night

   last week last month last year this morning in 2010

   Contoh:

   Last year, I traveled to Japan. (Tahun lalu, saya pergi ke Jepang.)

2. Untuk menyatakan fakta di masa lalu

   Contoh:

   It was the worst storm to hit London this century. (Itu adalah badai terburuk yang menghantam London abad ini.)

3. Untuk menyatakan kebiasaan di masa lampau (used to)

   Contoh:

   He used to call me last week. (Dia terbiasa/ sering menelponku minggu kemarin.)

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Daftar Materi di English Tenses

1. SIMPLE PRESENT
2. PRESENT CONTINUOUS
3. PRESENT PERFECT
4. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
5. SIMPLE PAST
6. PAST CONTINUOUS
7. PAST PERFECT
8. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
9. SIMPLE FUTURE
10. FUTURE CONTINUOUS
11. FUTURE PERFECT
12. FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS
13. SIMPLE PAST FUTURE
14. PAST FUTURE CONTINUOUS
15. PAST FUTURE PERFECT
16. PAST FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS