Hedgie's English Quest
Map › Ch 10 · Tenses: Simple Present and Simple Past
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Chapter 10 · Book pages 33–35

⏰ Tenses: Simple Present and Simple Past

Every-day habits, true facts and stories from yesterday: the two tenses you use most.

By the end of this lesson, you can…
  • use the simple present for habits and facts, adding -s / -es with he, she, it
  • use the simple past for things that are finished, like yesterday or last week
  • change regular verbs (walk → walked) and remember irregular ones (go → went)
  • use do / does / did in negatives and questions, with the verb in its base form
  • spot time-signal words (every day, always, yesterday, last month) that tell you which tense to pick
Start the story →Jump to quiz
Tick-tock! Verbs can tell us WHEN something happens. Let's learn to time-travel with words! ⏰
📖 Story time

The Diary That Got Its Days Mixed Up

Every evening, Hedgie writes in his diary under the old oak tree. Tonight he proudly reads it out to Ollie the Owl.

HedgieListen! “Yesterday I go to the river. I see a big fish and I catch it with my paws!”
🦉
Ollie the OwlHoo-hoo! A lovely adventure, Hedgie. But the word yesterday is a time clue. It tells us the story is finished. It's in the past.
HedgieSo I just add -ed? Goed, seed, catched…?
🦊
Fizz the FoxHa ha! Goed! Even my little cubs know that one is wrong, Hedgie!
🦉
Ollie the OwlSome verbs are rule-breakers. We call them irregular verbs. go becomes went, see becomes saw and catch becomes caught. Regular verbs like walk simply take -ed: walked.
🐢
Tara TortoiseNow my diary, please. I am very careful. “Every morning I eat clover. My brother eat dandelions.” Hmm, something feels wrong.
🦉
Ollie the OwlGood ears, Tara! Every morning means a habit, so we use the simple present. But with he, she, it or one person, the verb gets an s: My brother eats dandelions.
🐿️
Nutty SquirrelOoh! So he eats, she runs, it snows… and he watches, she goes with -es!
HedgieI've got it! “Yesterday I went to the river. I saw a big fish but I didn't catch it.” After didn't, the verb goes back to its base form!

Ollie gave Hedgie a golden star. And from that day on, Hedgie always checked for time clues before he wrote.

💡 Big ideas

Let's learn it

Read each card, try the example sentences out loud (tap 🔊), then answer the Quick check.

1

🔁Simple present: habits and facts

The simple present tells us about things that happen again and again (habits) or things that are always true (facts).

  • Habit: I brush my teeth every night.
  • Fact: The sun rises in the east.
  • Timetable: The train leaves at 7 a.m.

With I, you, we, they and plural nouns, use the base verb. With he, she, it and one person or thing, add -s or -es.

RuleBase verbHe / She / It
most verbs: + sread, play, baskreads, plays, basks
-sh, -ch, -s, -x, -o: + eswash, watch, go, dowashes, watches, goes, does
consonant + y: y → iescry, fly, studycries, flies, studies
vowel + y: just + splay, buyplays, buys
specialhavehas
  • Riya reads a book every evening. Riya = she, so read + s
  • The twins go to their nani's house every summer. twins = they, so no s
  • The washerman washes clothes by the river. wash ends in -sh, so + es
Hedgie's trickHedgie's trick: “One gets the S.” When the doer is just ONE (he, she, it, Riya, the dog), the verb grabs an s. When there are many (they, the dogs), the verb has no s.
Olympiad trap!Don't add an s to the noun AND forget it on the verb! The dogs bark (many dogs, no s on verb) but The dog barks (one dog, s on verb). Also: I and you never take the s: I play, not I plays.
Fun factHedgehogs sleep through the cold winter. That's a fact, so we say: A hedgehog hibernates in winter. 🦔💤
🧐 Quick check
Kabir always ______ his homework before dinner.
2

⏪Simple past: regular verbs (-ed)

The simple past tells us about something that started and finished in the past. Most verbs just add -ed. Good news: the past form is the same for everyone (I, he, she, they all use played).

Spelling rulePresentPast
most verbs: + edwatch, play, startwatched, played, started
ends in e: + ddecide, realize, typedecided, realized, typed
consonant + y: y → iedcry, study, carrycried, studied, carried
short verb, 1 vowel + 1 consonant: double itstop, spot, clapstopped, spotted, clapped
  • We watched a cartoon together yesterday. watch + ed
  • Meera spotted a peacock on the hill. spot → double t → spotted
  • The baby cried all night. cry → y becomes i → cried
Hedgie's trickSay the word out loud. You'll hear the -ed as 't' (walked), 'd' (played) or 'id' (started), but you always write it as -ed.
Olympiad trap!Don't use was + verb for a simple past action. The passenger was asked the driver to stop is wrong. The passenger did the asking, so it's simply asked.
🧐 Quick check
Zoya ______ her whole story in just one hour last night.
3

🦹Irregular verbs: the rule-breakers

Some verbs don't follow the -ed rule. They change in their own way, so we must learn them by heart. The Olympiad tests these a lot!

PresentPastPresentPast
gowentseesaw
buyboughtgetgot
wakewokeleaveleft
wearworedrinkdrank
eatatecatchcaught
cutcuthithit
is / amwasarewere
  • Dev's father bought him a new cricket bat last week. buy → bought (not buyed)
  • Anaya cut her finger with a knife yesterday. cut stays cut in the past!
  • While we were climbing, the weather was perfect. we → were · the weather (it) → was
Hedgie's trickMake silly sentences to remember: “I went to see a saw, then I bought a thought.” Some verbs never change: cut, hit, put, shut, let. Hedgie calls them the lazy verbs. 😴
Olympiad trap!Watch out for seen, gone, worn, woken. These are NOT simple past. They need a helper: I have seen. For a plain past sentence, pick saw, went, wore, woke.
🧐 Quick check
The chefs ______ red caps at the party last night.
4

🙅do, does, did: negatives and questions

To say no or ask a question, we bring in a helper: do, does (present) or did (past). The helper carries the tense, so the main verb goes back to its base form.

PresentPast
Yes ✔She plays.She played.
No ✘She doesn't play.She didn't play.
Question ❓Does she play?Did she play?
I/you/we/theyThey don't play.They didn't play.
  • Ishaan's mother didn't pick up the phone. didn't + base verb (not didn't picked)
  • Does Bela like carrots? does + like (not likes)
  • We don't play outside when it rains. we → don't
Hedgie's trickHedgie's trick: “Only one can wear the hat.” The tense is a hat. If does or did wears it, the main verb must take its hat off: did + go, does + go.
Olympiad trap!The most common Olympiad error: didn't picked, doesn't likes, did you went? The past or -s is shown TWICE. Remove it from the main verb.
🧐 Quick check
Which sentence is correct?
5

🕵️Time-signal words: your tense clues

Before you choose a verb, hunt for the time clue in the sentence. It tells you which tense the sentence wants.

Simple present cluesSimple past clues
every day / every summeryesterday
always, usually, oftenlast night / last week / last month
sometimes, never, dailyago (two days ago)
on Sundays, at 7 a.m. dailyin 2020, last Sunday, this morning (over)
  • Last Sunday, his elder brother came to drop him. last Sunday → past, not comes
  • Mrs. Rao teaches in a school in her hometown. a fact about her job → present, he/she + es
  • The children played carrom all evening yesterday. yesterday → past
Hedgie's trickIn a story passage, the first sentence often sets the time (Last weekend…). Then every verb that follows stays in the past, like a train on one track. 🚂
Olympiad trap!A sentence with -ing needs a helper: Rajni leaving her kids… is wrong. With every day, we say Rajni leaves. Never leave an -ing verb all alone!
Fun factSome clues hide in the meaning, not a word. “Jenny cooked food because her friends visited her”: visited is past, so cooked must be past too. The verbs keep each other company!
🧐 Quick check
Which word is a clue for the simple past?
🗺️ Mind map

The whole chapter on one page

Tap a branch to focus on it. Can you explain each bubble to someone at home?

🃏 Flashcards

Flip & remember

Say the answer in your head before you flip. Be honest — "not yet" cards go to your Review Burrow for later.

📘 Book mission

Now practise in your workbook

Use a pencil. Do each set, then check with the answer key and tick it off here.

📗 Open the answer key
🎁 Wrap-up

Remember these

  1. Simple present = habits and facts. With he, she, it (one person or thing), add -s / -es / -ies: reads, washes, cries.
  2. Simple past = finished actions. Regular verbs add -ed (watched, decided, spotted, cried), and the form is the same for everyone.
  3. Irregular verbs must be learnt: go → went, see → saw, buy → bought, wake → woke, leave → left, cut → cut. was for one, were for many and you.
  4. In negatives and questions, do / does / did carries the tense, so the main verb stays in base form: didn't pick, Does she like?
  5. Always hunt for the time clue: every day, always → present; yesterday, last month, ago → past.

🦔 Teach Hedgie!

Hedgie wrote: “Yesterday I goed to the park and I didn't saw Fizz.” Explain to Hedgie what the two mistakes are and how to fix them, in your own words.

Explaining something in your own words is the best way to make it stick.

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