Free Past Tense Worksheets for ESL Classes
Use these worksheets in lessons teaching the past tense to beginner English learners. Below you’ll find practice exercises for changing regular and irregular verbs into the past tense, along with writing worksheets that ask students to produce full past tense sentences. These are ideal for English lessons teaching expressions like “What did you do last weekend?” and “Where did you go yesterday?”
Past Tense Verb Matching Worksheet
In this worksheet, students match present tense verbs to their correct past tense forms. Includes both regular and irregular verbs for varied practice.
Irregular Past Tense Verb Writing Worksheet
Students practice writing irregular past tense verbs by changing each present tense verb into its past tense form.
Past Tense Question and Answer Worksheet
This worksheet asks students to read simple questions and answer using past tense verbs and sentences.
Past Tense Sentences Writing Worksheet
Students practice writing full sentences in the past tense by sharing five things they did last weekend. Tip: After completing the worksheet, have students work in pairs and ask and answer the question, “What did you do last weekend?”
Irregular Past Exercise
This grammar exercise asks students to change irregular verbs into their past tense forms to complete the sentences.
Follow-Up Past Tense Activity
Here’s a past tense listening exercise you can use after students complete the worksheets above. In the video, a man speaks in the past tense about his recent trip to Paris. Students listen for key details and then answer comprehension questions using complete past tense sentences.
More Past Tense Teaching Resources
If you’re teaching a whole unit on the past tense, here are some more useful resources you can use: