Welcome to Living English.

In today's program we look at how to ask about the Past.

Remember Anne went to see John the private investigator.

And asked him to help her to find her brother.

In today's episode Anne tells John more about her brother.

Let's see what she says.

My brother, David, worked in the family business too.

But he didn't like it.

He wanted to try something different.

So what happened?

My parents agreed.

[...] come to [...] to study.

Where did he go?

He came here, to Adelaide.

He studied computer science.

We thought he was happy.

And [...].

I don't know.

He wrote every week and then the letters stopped.

And do you know where he lived?

He stayed with an Australian family.

Here's the address.

Did you find them?

Yes, of course.

He left over a year ago.

But I don't know where he went.

Does he have a mobile phone?

I don't know. He did but he doesn't answer it now.

Don't worry Ms Lee.

I'll find your brother.

I wonder what has happened to Anne's brother.

You have to keep watching our program to find out.

Anne had to tell the private investigator about things in the past.

We change the way we say certain words if we're talking about the past.

Listen to how Anne does this.

My brother, David, worked in the family business too.

Which word tells us that Anne is talking about the past?

Listen again.

My brother, David, worked in the family business too.

The word that tells us that Anne is talking about the past is 'worked'.

It's a verb.

Verbs are words of action.

Or doing words.

Such as 'run' and 'work'.

They're setting different ways to show when the action is.

There are four ways to say most verbs.

Let's look at the ways of saying the verb 'work'.

The basic form is 'work'.

I work hard.

After 'he', 'she', or 'it' we say 'works'.

She works hard.

John works hard.

These are called the simple present tense.

They describe things people do all the time or every day.

To talk about right now we say 'working'.

I'm working hard now.

This is called present continuous tense.

And to talk about the past we say 'worked'.

I worked hard yesterday.

This is called past tense.

The most common sound we use on the end of words to form the past tense is 'd'.

Work.

Worked.

See how we spell the sound 'd'.

Now try saying 'worked' with Anne.

My brother, David, worked in the family business too.

Let's listen for some more verbs with this d past tense form.

He studied computer science.

He studied.

'Studied' is the past tense of 'study'.

Repeat this with the clip.

He studied computer science.

Now listen for another past tense with the 'd' sound on the end.

He stayed with an Australian family.

He stayed.

'Stayed' is the past tense of 'stay'.

Most verbs have this sort of past tense.

We call them regular verbs.

It would be easy if all verbs were regular.

But some are different.

Listen.

He wrote every week and then the letters stopped.

'Wrote' is the past tense of 'write'.

Not 'writed'.

We call this sort of verbs irregular.

Try saying 'he wrote every week' with the clip.

He wrote every week.

In the next clip see if you can hear the past tense of 'think'.

We thought he was happy.

The past tense of 'think' is 'thought'.

It's spelled in a strange way but it's easy to say 'thoght'.

Try saying 'We thought he was happy'.

We thought he was happy.

Did you notice the other verb used all the time in Englich in its past tense form?

Listen again.

We thought he was happy.

'Was' is the other verb in its past tense form.

'Was' is one of the forms of the verb 'to be'.

It's so important.

And you need to know how to use it.

When we are talking about the present, about now...

... we use 'is'.

He is happy now.

To talk about the past we say...

... 'He was happy yesterday'.

And you can say 'I was happy' or 'She was happy'.

But you must say 'You were happy',

... 'They were happy',

... and 'We were happy'.

Both 'was' and 'were' are past tense.

Have a try using the right one the talking about the past.

I ... happy.

I was happy.

They ... happy.

They were happy.

You ... happy.

You were happy.

He ... happy.

He was happy.

It's time to say 'hello' to Michelle.

Hello Michelle.

Hello Brenton.

Hello everyone.

What are we going to do today?

We are going to talk about the past.

How to ask about the past.

And how to say things so that people know what time you are talking about.

You can start by asking me about my past.

Okay.

You are very smart.

Did you go to university?

Yes, I did.

I enjoyed university.

I studied drama.

It was fun.

Now pretend that we travel back to the time I was at university.

And ask me about it.

Alright.

Do you go to university?

Yes, I do.

I enjoy university.

I study drama.

It's fun.

Now you're in the present.

Yes.

Ask me about the past again.

Did you go to university?

Yes, I did.

I enjoyed university.

I studied drama.

It was fun.

Now what word changed?

Well 'enjoy' became 'enjoyed'.

What else?

You said 'It's fun' for the present...

... and 'It was fun' for the past.

And?

We both said 'did' instead of 'do' for the past.

Yes.

Michelle, did you get our coffee?

Yes, I did.

It's just over there.

I'll come to get it.

Now listen to John use the word 'did' to ask about the past.

Where did he go?

He came here, to Adelaide.

Sit down Michelle.

What did you just do?

I sat down like you sit.

Ah, so 'sat' is the past tense of 'sit'.

Let's look at some more past tense verbs.

First, stand - stood.

Stand up Brenton.

What did he do?

He stood up.

Smile.

Smiled.

Smile Michelle.

What did she do?

She smiled.

Go - went.

Go away Brenton.

What did he do?

He went away.

Come - came.

Come back Brenton!

What did he do?

He came back.

Catch - caught.

Michelle catch this.

What did she do?

She caught the ball.

Let's see a few things listening carefully.

It's your turn to talk about the past.

Try saying what happened using the past tense.

Michelle ... down.

Michelle sat down.

Brenton ... up.

Brenton stood up.

Michelle ...

Michelle smiled.

Brenton ... away.

Brenton went away.

Yes, but I came back.

We hope you enjoyed our trip into the past.

We learned how to use 'was' and 'were'.

And some of the ways that verbs are said in the past tense.

In our next episode we're going to go into the future.

And find out how to talk about things we want to have.

And as usual we leave you with another look at today's episode of 'Sisters and Brothers'.

See if you can hear how many past tense verbs there are.

How many are there?

Well.

There're more than twenty.

Good luck and see you next time.

Bye.

My brother, David, worked in the family business too.

But he didn't like it.

He wanted to try something different.

So what happened?

My parents agreed.

[...] come to [...] to study.

Where did he go?

He came here, to Adelaide.

He studied computer science.

We thought he was happy.

And [...].

I don't know.

He wrote every week and then the letters stopped.

And do you know where he lived?

He stayed with an Australian family.

Here's the address.

Did you find them?

Yes, of course.

He left over a year ago.

But I don't know where he went.

Does he have a mobile phone?

I don't know. He did but he doesn't answer it now.

Don't worry Ms Lee.

I'll find your brother.