Pengertian Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense adalah suatu bentuk kata kerja sederhana untuk menunjukkan bahwa suatu
kejadian terjadi di masa lampau.
Pada simple past tense, waktu kejadian (yesterday, last two days, last year) atau periode
waktunya (for two months, for a day, for an hour) dapat disebutkan secara spesifik. Simple past
tense juga dapat digunakan untuk membentuk conditional sentence tipe 2.

Rumus Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense dibentuk dari verb-2 (past tense) berupa kata kerja biasa atau verb “to be”.
Verb-2 merupakan bare infinitive (bentuk dasar verb) dengan tambahan -ed, -en, -d, -t, -n, atau -
ne untuk regular verb atau bentuk yang tidak konsisten pada irregular verb, sedangkan pada
verb “to be”, verb-2 berupa was dan were.
Lihat juga:

 Regular dan Irregular Verb

Was yang merupakan singular verb digunakan pada singular subject berupa singular
noun (seperti: Andi, book, dan cat) dan singular pronoun (seperti: I, she, he, dan it) kecuali
“you”, sebaliknya were yang merupakan plural verb digunakan pada plural
subject berupa plural noun (seperti: cats, people, books), plural pronoun (seperti: you, they, we,
dan cats), compound subject dengan kata hubung “and” (seperti: you and I, Andi and Susi),
dan you.
Lihat juga:

 Subject-Verb Agreement
 ru
mus simple past tense

Tabel Contoh Verb-2

bare
S verb-2
infinitive

I / you / she / he / they / we / Andi / people / you and I / Andi study studied
and Susi
buy bought

it break broke

I / she / he / it / Andi be was

you/ they / we / people / you and I / Andi and Susi be were

Berikut rumus simple past tense untuk kalimat positif, negatif, dan interogatif.

Rumus Simple Past Tense Contoh Simple Past Tense

kalimat positif (+) The teacher came

 S + Verb-2 (past tense) I was a stamp collector

 S + be (was/were)
 kalimat negatif (-) The teacher didn’t come

 S + did + not + bare infinitive I wasn’t a stamp collector

 S + be (was/were) + not

kalimat interogatif (?) Did the teacher come

 did + S + bare infinitive Was I a stamp collector

 be (was/were) + S

Time Expressions pada Simple Past Tense

Berikut beberapa time expression (keterangan waktu) yang dapat digunakan pada simple past

tense.
 yesterday (kemarin)
 last night/week/month/year/time (semalam / minggu lalu / tahun lalu / waktu yang lalu)
 this morning (pagi ini)
 one hour/day/week/month/year ago (satu jam/hari/minggu/bulan/tahun lalu)
 in January (di bulan Januari)
 in 1999 (pada tahun 1999)
 on Saturday (pada hari Sabtu)
 when + S + verb-2 (when he arrived, when I was stuck in traffic jam)

Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

1 A friend of mine was here yesterday.

(Teman saya disini kemarin.)

2 He ignored my call last week.

(Dia mengacuhkan telepon saya minggu lalu.)

3 I met my client this morning.

(Saya bertemu klien tadi pagi.)

4 My sister was born in 1999.

(Saudara perempuan saya lahir pada tahun 1999.)

5 The water heater stopped working on Saturday.

(Pemanas air itu berhenti bekerja pada hari Sabtu.)

6 I rolled down the window and took a breath when I was stuck in the heavy traffic
 jam.
(Saya menurunkan jendela dan menarik napas ketika saya terjebak di kemacetan berat
itu.)

Fungsi dan Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

1. Simple past tense untuk membicarakan aksi yang terjadi dengan durasi waktu tertentu di
masa lampau. Preposition “for” dapat digunakan untuk menyatakan periode waktu kejadian.
Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

1 Vina and I went to the Ragunan zoo three months ago.

(Saya dan Vina pergi Ragunan tiga bulan lalu.)

2 Did he come on time yesterday?

(Apakah dia datang tepat waktu kemarin?)

3 The party started at 10.00 a.m.

(Pesta mulai jam sepuluh pagi.)

4 Did you sleep enough last night?

(Apa kamu cukup tidur semalam?)

5 I studied civil engineering for almost 4 years.

(Saya belajar teknik sipil selama hampir 4 tahun.)

2. Simple past tense untuk membicarakan kebiasaan pada masa lampau. Subordinate

conjunction “when” biasanya digunakan pada situasi ini.
Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

1 I often did exercises in the gym when I lived in Bandung.

(Saya sering berlatih di gym ketika tinggal di Bandung.)

2 When I was a senior high school student, I always got up at 4 am to study.

(Ketika saya sma, saya selalu bangun jam 4 pagi untuk belajar.)

3. Untuk menunjukkan bahwa ada aksi berdurasi pendek (simple past tense) yang terjadi ketika
suatu aksi berdurasi panjang (past continuous tense) sedang berlangsung.
Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

I was reading a journal in the library when someone burped out loud.

(Saya sedang membaca jurnal di perpustakaan ketika seseorang bersendawa keras.)
4. Untuk menunjukkan bahwa suatu aksi (simple past tense) langsung mengikuti aksi yang telah
selesai (past perfect tense).
Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

I had already finished my breakfast when he picked me up.

(Saya telah selesai sarapan ketika dia menjemput.)

5. Simple past tense digunakan pada conditional sentence type 2.

Contoh Kalimat Simple Past Tense

1 If she studied hard, she would be pass.

(Jika dia belajar keras, dia akan lulus.)

2 I would buy a sport car if I had much money.

(Saya akan membeli mobil sport jika punya uang banyak.)

Latihan Soal
1. Did architects ... the apartment in 2010?
 A. Build
B. Built
C. Builded
D. Builted

2. Jill ... for six hours.

A. had been driven
B. had been driving
C. had been drove
D. had been drive

3. Andi ... the dog when his father slept.

A. Fed
B. Feeding
C. was fed
D. was feeding

4. I ... my grandmother three days ago.

A. Visit
B. Visits
C. Visiting
D. Visited

5. ... Milla been at your house till two days ago?

A. Was
B. Were
C. Has
D. Had

6. Tiffany's cat ... sick last week.

A. Is
B. Are
C. Was
D. Were

7. My mom ... at home by 6 o'clock.

A. Arrived
B. was arriving
C. had arrived
D. had been arriving

8. He ... very pale yesterday at 3 p.m.

A. Was
 B. Were
C. had been
D. has been

9. Sam ... attend math class yesterday.

A. was not
B. were not
C. did not
D. does not

10. My family ... to the museum last holiday.

A. Go
B. Gone
C. Went
D. Wented

11. Isabella ... a sandwich before breakfast this morning.

A. Prepared
B. was preparing
C. had prepared
D. had preparing

12. ... you been at school since 6 a.m?

A. Had
B. Has
C. Were
D. Was

13. When I came, Tiara ... at the hotel for five days.
A. had stayed
B. had been staying
C. was staying
D. stayed

14. While I ... a book, my sister called me.

A. Read
B. was reading
C. had read
D. had reading

15. The weather ... that good two days ago.

A. were not
B. was not
C. had been not
D. has been not