Simple past [verb + ed]
Two years ago, I studied English in Canada.
Past continuous [was /were] + [verb + ing]
I was studying English when you called this morning.
Past perfect [had] + [past participle]
I had studied English before I moved to Canada.
Past perfect continuous [had been] + [verb + ing]
I had been studying English for two years before I moved to Canada.
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Additional grammar at ESL in Canada & Sentence Master blogs
Simple past, form for regular verbs: base+ed
Example; walked, showed, watched, played, smiled, stopped
Simple past for irregular verbs.
Simple past, be, have, do:
Subject Verb
Be Have Do
I was had did
You were had did
He was had did
We were had did
They were had did
Affirmative
I was in Canada last year
She had a headache yesterday.
We did our homework last week.
Negative
We didn't do our homework last night.
They weren't in Canada last summer.
We hadn't any money.
We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
We didn't do our exercises this morning.
Interrogative
Were they in Vancouver last January?
Did you have a bicycle when you were a boy?
Did you do much climbing in British Columbia?
Simple past with regular verbs: verb + ed
Affirmative
I washed
Negative
I did not wash.
Interrogative
Did she arrive?
Interrogative negative
Didn't you like?
Example: to walk, simple past.
Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I walked I didn't walk Did I walk?
You walked You didn't walk Did you walk?
They walked They didn't walk Did they walk?
For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.
Examples:
Simple past, irregular verbs 'to go'
He went to a gym last night.
interrogative form
Did he go to the club last night?
negative form
He didn't go to bed early last night.
Examples: Simple past, irregular verbs "to give"
We gave her a doll for her birthday.
They didn't give John their copy.
Did Barry give you my report?
Examples: Simple past, irregular verbs "to come"
My parents came to visit me last year.
We didn't come because it was snowing.
Did she come to your open house last week?
Simple past function is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.
Examples:
John Cabot sailed to Canada in 1498.
My father died last year.
He lived in Calgary in 1986.
We crossed Lake Superior yesterday.
You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions.
Examples:
Yesterday, I arrived in Montreal.
She finished her work at five o'clock.
We saw a good play last week.
I went to the hockey game last night.
She played the piano when she was a child.
He sent me a report six months ago.
Peter left five minutes ago
