This MindLearn infographic shows you the situations where you should use the Past Simple tense when speaking English. Past Simple is one of the most important and most frequently used English tenses, which you need to master. We also call it “preterite” (from the Latin word “praeteritum” or grammar tense “tempus praeteritum” = time past).

It is mainly used to describe events and states we perceive as completed in the past. It can be (mostly) used when describing these situations:

1. Actions completed in the past
2. A sequence of completed actions
3. Completed activities which lasted some time in the past
4. Past customs and habits
5. Past facts (I mean simple facts)

In this infographic, you will learn about the five situations where you need to use the Past Simple tense. We not only provide you with the definitions, but we also show you a visual timeline and give you some practical examples to let you understand this English grammatical phenomenon.