1. Did Paco find what he was looking for?

Icono IDevice Listening activity
Paco was sitting on the sofa before going to bed. He was getting relaxed so he decided to turn the TV on for a moment and he found out the following interview in a program about questions in Past Simple. Watch it and then answer the questions below.
Who answered:
1) "I remained in the house and I cooked. Then I did some housework"?
2) "I rested, I read books, watched TV and went sleep"?
3) "Yesterday? Yesterday? I taught yesterday. I teach at school two days a week"
4) "I worked"

to the question What did you do yesterday?



Icono de iDevice Solved exercised 1. Simple past in interrogative: yes / no questions

1) Alex and Andrés talked about their project.

2) They played tennis every weekend.

3) Paco wrote a letter to his parents.

4) Isabel cooked beans for dinner.

5) Sonia helped Paco with his English.

 

Change each sentence into a yes/no question in the past tense.

Icono de IDevice de pregunta Multiple-choice
Choose the correct questions in Past Simple to the following statements.
Notice that the three questions can be answered with yes or no.

1) The teacher opened the window.

  
a) Did the teacher open the window?
b) Did the teacher opened the window?

2) Paco visited the Tate Gallery in London.
  
a) Visited Paco the Tate Gallery in London?
b) Did Paco visit the Tate Gallery?

3) Sonia read a Tom Sharpe's novel. It was really funny.
  
a) Does Sonia read a Tom Sharpe's novel?
b) Did Sonia read a Tom Sharpe's novel?

Icono de iDevice Solved exercise 2. Simple past in interrogative: wh- questions

1) Paco studied English for three hours (HOW LONG)

2) My father's friend bought a new car (WHAT)

3) Alex and Andrés played football in the park (WHERE)

4) Paco spent a lot of money in presents (HOW MUCH)

5) Antonio held a party with his friends on Saturday night (WHEN) 

Change each sentence into a WH- question in the past tense, using the question word in brackets.


Icono de iDevice Actividad de Espacios en Blanco
Ask for the bold part of the sentence using interrogative pronouns.

1) My sister watched Pretty Woman last night → did my sister watch Pretty Woman?

2) We waited for you in the park. → did we wait for you?

3) The policeman arrested the thief. → did the policeman arrest?

4) She asked her friend because she did not know what to do. → did she ask her friend?

5) She carried a heavy bag. → did she carry?

 

  

Icono IDevice Important

Sometimes the question words (who, which, what, how, when, how long, where, how much, ...) can be the subject of the sentence. Then, the interrogative pronoun is followed by a verb in Past Simple, with no auxiliary particle (did):

Who telephoned Paco yesterday night?

Who won the Final European Championship last year?


Icono de iDevice Reflexión

Yes/no questions are created using the auxiliary did. The auxiliary is placed before the subject:

Auxiliary did + subject + verb + complements + ? 

WH- questions (using words such as what, when, where, how, ...) are also created by putting the auxiliary did before the subject. Then, you add the WH- word at the beginning:

Question word + auxiliary did + subject + verb + complements + ?

Icono IDevice Further knowledge

About forming questions in the Past Simple tense. Not only theory, there are some examples as well.

An interesting and useful website with explanations in both Spanish and English about the interrogative forms in Past Simple.

 


Now it's time for questions in the Past Continuous.  Are you ready?

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