Went is the past tense of the verb “go.” When you say “I went to school yesterday,” you're describing movement or travel that already happened. If you “went home” after soccer practice, you traveled from the field to your house.

The word works for all kinds of movement and change. You might have gone to bed at nine o'clock, gone shopping with your family, or gone upstairs to get your homework. Stories often begin with phrases like “Once upon a time, a brave knight went on a quest.”

One small but important note: careful speakers say “I went” rather than “I gone” (which requires a helping verb, as in “I have gone”). While you'll sometimes hear people say things like “I should have went,” the correct form is “I should have gone.”