Past tense is the form of a verb that shows something already happened. When you write “I walked to school” instead of “I walk to school,” you're using the past tense of walk to show the action is finished.

Most English verbs form the past tense by adding -ed: play becomes played, jump becomes jumped, and talk becomes talked. But many common verbs change in irregular ways that you just have to memorize: go becomes went, run becomes ran, see becomes saw, and eat becomes ate.

Understanding past tense helps you tell stories and describe what happened. If you write “Yesterday I go to the park,” something sounds wrong because go is present tense. Your sentence needs went to match when the action happened.

The opposite of past tense is present tense (what's happening now) and future tense (what will happen later). Writers choose their tense carefully: a story about pirates might use past tense (“The captain sailed the ship”), while instructions use present tense (“Add the flour to the bowl”). Getting the tense right helps readers understand exactly when things happen.