La définition à retenir
Définition Au passé, to be devient was (avec I, he, she, it) et were (avec you, we, they).
I was at home. We were tired. Négation : wasn't / weren't. Question : Were you at school yesterday? — Yes, I was.
I was at home. We were tired. Négation : wasn't / weren't. Question : Were you at school yesterday? — Yes, I was.
Un exemple corrigé
Exemple Last Saturday, I went to Pairi Daiza with my family. We saw pandas and elephants. We had lunch in the park and I bought a cap. It was sunny. We didn't stay late because my little brother was tired.
Extrait du cours
Lundi matin, ton ami te demande : What did you do at the weekend? Pour raconter un évènement terminé (hier, le weekend passé, pendant les vacances), l'anglais utilise le simple past.
| Verbe | Passé | Sens | Verbe | Passé | Sens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| go | went | aller | have | had | avoir |
| eat | ate | manger | see | saw | voir |
| do | did | faire | get | got | recevoir, obtenir |
| buy | bought | acheter | make | made | fabriquer, faire |
| come | came | venir | swim | swam | nager |
Lexique
- yesterday
- hier
- last weekend
- le weekend passé
- ago
- il y a (dans le temps)
- went
- passé de go (aller)
Les erreurs fréquentes à éviter
Piège — goed, eated. ❌ I goed to school. → ✅ I went to school. Les verbes irréguliers ont une forme à eux : n'ajoute pas -ed à go, eat, see….
Piège — did et do. Did est le passé de do : I did my homework. Mais dans une négation, did est l'auxiliaire et do reste de base : I didn't do my homework.
Attention Après didn't et did, le verbe reprend sa forme de base : ❌ I didn't went. → ✅ I didn't go. ❌ Did you saw? → ✅ Did you see?
L'astuce du prof
Astuce Les mots qui annoncent le passé : yesterday (hier), last weekend (le weekend passé), last summer (l'été passé), two days ago (il y a deux jours), in 2025.
Exercices corrigés
Cherche d'abord seul, puis ouvre la correction.
Exercice 1 — Was ou were ?
Complète avec was ou were : 1) I ___ at the swimming pool yesterday. 2) They ___ tired. 3) ___ you at school last Monday? 4) My dad ___ in Bruges two days ago.
Voir la correction
Sujet par sujet : was (avec I) ; were (avec they) ; Were (avec you) ; was (my dad = he).
Exercice 2 — Le passé en -ed
Écris le passé : like, study, stop, play, visit.
Voir la correction
J'applique les règles d'orthographe : liked (déjà un e) ; studied (consonne + y) ; stopped (on double le p) ; played (voyelle + y : -ed tout simple) ; visited.