Your three from the episode
Read out the three past-simple questions you copied from The Good Place. Exactly as written.
Look at the main verb in each. Is it in the past form, or the base form?
Three sentences, one error each, all the same error. Fix them.
1. Did you saw him?
2. I didn't went out.
3. Where did she bought it?
One story, three ways
Positive, negative, question
Positive: I went to the market on Saturday. I bought vegetables and a chicken. I spent about twenty euros. I saw my neighbour there.
Negative: I did not go to the market on Saturday. I did not buy anything. I did not spend a cent. I did not see anybody.
Question: Did you go to the market? What did you buy? How much did you spend? Who did you see?
Compare the three versions line by line. Every answer is visible on the page.
1. In the positive version the verbs are went, bought, spent, saw. What are they in the other two?
2. So where is the past marked in the negative and the question?
3. Why does the positive version not use did?
4. This is the same rule as which earlier unit?
The whole system, in one table
Past simple — all four forms
| Form | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | past form of the verb | I went out. |
| Negative | didn't + base verb | I didn't go out. |
| Yes/no question | Did + subject + base verb | Did you go out? |
| Wh- question | Wh- + did + subject + base verb | Where did you go? |
| Short answer | Yes, I did. / No, I didn't. | never the main verb |
The exception: be. Be does not use did at all. It inverts on its own, exactly like the present.
Were you tired? ✓ · Did you be tired? ✗
I wasn't there. ✓ · I didn't be there. ✗
Same exception as Unit 1's frequency adverbs, and Unit 2's there is/are. Be is always the verb that behaves differently.
One word per gap. Some gaps need an auxiliary, some need a bare verb, some need be. Decide which before you write.
— you go out on Saturday? — No, I . I too tired. — What you do instead? — Nothing. I not even cook. I ordered something. — it any good? — Not really. — Why you order from there, then? — Because everywhere else closed.
Match each sentence to the form it uses. Two of them are the be exception.
All four forms, fast
Seven sentences, seven errors. Rewrite each one in full.
1. Did you went to the party?
2. I didn't saw anybody.
3. What time you arrived?
4. Did you be at home?
5. She didn't was there.
6. Where you did go?
7. No, I didn't went.
Put the parts in order to make one Wh- question.
What you did not do
Task card · Speaking
Last weekend, told in the negative.
Ninety seconds on everything you did not do last weekend, and why. At least six negatives with didn't, and two with wasn't.
- I didn't go out. I didn't see anyone. I wasn't in the mood.
- Every negative needs a reason after it, so the ninety seconds has somewhere to go.
- Then your teacher asks five questions about what you did do.
Two decisions.
1. You want to say you did not leave the house. Which?
2. You want to say you were not well. Which?
Where it broke
Your teacher logged the ninety seconds and the five questions.
1. Did you add a past ending after didn't anywhere?
2. Which was harder — the negatives, or answering the questions?
Before the false friends
One question.
1. After did or didn't, what form is the main verb in?
Before Lesson 4. Next lesson is false friends — English words that look exactly like Portuguese words and mean something else.
Tonight, write down three English words you have assumed the meaning of because they looked familiar. You may find you were right about all three. You may not.