1
Past simple
Use it for a finished action in the past.
Yesterday Sophie ate the last pancake.
Clues: yesterday, last week, on Saturday, in 2025, then...
Past simple or past participle?
Use this shortcut: Past simple tells what happened. Past participle helps connect that past action to something else.
2
Past participle
Use it when the past action is linked to now, to another past action, or used in a passive sentence.
Someone has eaten my pancake. It is gone now.
We had eaten before Dad arrived. One past action happened earlier.
The pancake was eaten by the dog. The pancake receives the action.
The easiest memory trick
Past simple = “What happened?”
Past participle = “What has/had/was happened to something, or what result matters?”
Do not choose only by spotting has, had or was. First think about the meaning of the sentence.
Compare
Past simpleI broke my phone yesterday.Finished event yesterday.
Past participleI have broken my phone.The important result is now: my phone is broken.
One more
Past simpleLiam wrote the answer during the test.We simply say what happened.
Past participleLiam has written the answer.The answer is finished now.
For irregular verbs, learn all three together:
eat→ate→eaten
write→wrote→written
sing→sang→sung