Regular Verbs – English Grammar Exercises for A1
It is the morning after. You are catching up with a friend and talking about what you both did to relax at home last night.
Choose the best option to complete each sentence about your evening activities.
1 I stayed at home last night and I ______ a really good movie on TV.
(a) watch
(b) watched
(c) watching
2 After dinner, my brother and I ______ to some pop music in our room.
(a) listend
(b) listen
(c) listened
3 We didn’t order pizza. My mom ______ a delicious pasta for us.
(a) cooked
(b) cook
(c) cookked
4 I sat on the sofa and ______ video games with my online friends.
(a) play
(b) plaied
(c) played
5 Before going to bed, I ______ my desk so it looks tidy today.
(a) cleand
(b) cleaned
(c) clean
6 I didn’t play games all evening. I ______ for my English test for an hour.
(a) studied
(b) studyed
(c) study
7 My sister put on her favorite song and ______ in the living room.
(a) danceed
(b) dance
(c) danced
8 It was very late, so we ______ watching TV at 11 PM.
(a) stop
(b) stopped
(c) stoped
9 “Did you ______ the new superhero film last night?” “Yes, it was amazing!”
(a) enjoyed
(b) enjoy
(c) enjoied
10 I was very tired after work, so I didn’t ______ to go out with anyone.
(a) wanted
(b) wanting
(c) want
11 I ______ a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and they were delicious.
(a) try
(b) tried
(c) tryed
12 I missed my best friend, so we ______ online for two hours.
(a) chatted
(b) chated
(c) chat
13 “Did John ______ you yesterday evening?” “No, his phone was dead.”
(a) call
(b) called
(c) calling
14 My mom and I ______ a big chocolate cake for dessert.
(a) baked
(b) bakeed
(c) bake
15 The movie was very long, and I really ______ to go to sleep.
(a) need
(b) needed
(c) needded
16 I just lay on my bed and ______ after a stressful week.
(a) relaxed
(b) relaxxed
(c) relax
17 I read a very funny comic book, and I ______ a lot.
(a) smilled
(b) smile
(c) smiled
18 I bought some new colors yesterday, so I ______ a beautiful picture of the sea.
(a) painted
(b) paintted
(c) paint
19 “Did you ______ your face before going to bed?” “Yes, of course!”
(a) washed
(b) wash
(c) washing
20 I wanted a quiet evening, so I didn’t ______ anyone to my house.
(a) invited
(b) invites
(c) invite
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) watched
- Why it’s correct: The action is finished (last night). We add “-ed” to the regular verb “watch”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is Present Simple. (c) is a continuous form missing the “be” verb.
2 (c) listened
- Why it’s correct: We add “-ed” to “listen” to make it past tense.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is a spelling error (missing the second ‘e’). (b) is Present Simple.
3 (a) cooked
- Why it’s correct: Add “-ed” to “cook”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is Present Simple. (c) is a spelling error (do not double the ‘k’).
4 (c) played
- Why it’s correct: For verbs ending in a Vowel + “y” (like play, stay, enjoy), simply add “-ed” without changing the “y”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is a spelling error (plaied). (a) is Present Simple.
5 (b) cleaned
- Why it’s correct: Add “-ed” to “clean”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) is a spelling error (missing the ‘e’). (c) is Present Simple.
6 (a) studied
- Why it’s correct: For verbs ending in a Consonant + “y” (like study, try, cry), you must change the “y” to “i” before adding “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) is a spelling error because it keeps the “y” (studyed). (c) is Present Simple.
7 (c) danced
- Why it’s correct: The verb “dance” already ends in “e”, so you just add “d”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) has an extra “e” (danceed). (b) is Present Simple.
8 (b) stopped
- Why it’s correct: “Stop” is a short, one-syllable word ending in Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC). You must double the final consonant “p” before adding “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: (c) forgets to double the “p” (stoped). (a) is Present Simple.
9 (b) enjoy
- Why it’s correct: This is a question with the auxiliary verb “Did”. When you use “Did”, the main verb must return to its base form (no “-ed”).
- Why the others are wrong: (a) adds “-ed” even though “Did” is already there, which is a very common A1 mistake. (c) is a spelling error.
10 (c) want
- Why it’s correct: This is a negative sentence with “didn’t” (did not). The main verb must be in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) adds “-ed” after “didn’t”, which is incorrect. (b) uses the “-ing” form.
11 (b) tried
- Why it’s correct: Consonant + “y” (try). Change “y” to “i” and add “-ed” (tried).
- Why the others are wrong: (c) keeps the “y” (tryed), which is a spelling error. (a) is Present Simple.
12 (a) chatted
- Why it’s correct: “Chat” is a short CVC word. Double the final “t” before adding “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) forgets to double the “t”. (c) is Present Simple.
13 (a) call
- Why it’s correct: In a “Did” question, the main verb stays in its base form.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) incorrectly adds “-ed”. (c) uses the “-ing” form.
14 (a) baked
- Why it’s correct: “Bake” ends in “e”, so just add “d”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) adds an extra “e” (bakeed). (c) is Present Simple.
15 (b) needed
- Why it’s correct: Add “-ed” to “need” normally.
- Why the others are wrong: (c) doubles the “d” (needded), which is wrong because “need” has two vowels (ee), so it doesn’t follow the CVC double consonant rule. (a) is Present Simple.
16 (a) relaxed
- Why it’s correct: Verbs ending in “x” (or w, y) NEVER double the final consonant. Just add “-ed”.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) incorrectly doubles the “x”. (c) is Present Simple.
17 (c) smiled
- Why it’s correct: “Smile” ends in “e”, so just add “d”.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) incorrectly doubles the “l”. (b) is Present Simple.
18 (a) painted
- Why it’s correct: Add “-ed” to “paint” normally.
- Why the others are wrong: (b) incorrectly doubles the “t” (paintted). (c) is Present Simple.
19 (b) wash
- Why it’s correct: “Did you…” requires the base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) incorrectly adds “-ed”. (c) uses the “-ing” form.
20 (c) invite
- Why it’s correct: “Didn’t” requires the base verb.
- Why the others are wrong: (a) incorrectly adds “-ed” after “didn’t”. (b) uses the third-person Present Simple “s”.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
1 The General Rule (Past Simple): When talking about finished actions in the past (last night, yesterday, last week), use the Past Simple tense. For Regular Verbs, simply add “-ed” to the end of the verb.
- Examples: watch → watched, play → played.
2 Crucial Spelling Rules (A1 Focus):
- Ends in “e”: Just add “d“. (dance → danced, bake → baked).
- Ends in Consonant + “y”: Change the “y” to “i” and add “-ed“. (study → studied, try → tried). (Note: If it is a Vowel + “y” like play or enjoy, just add “-ed” normally).
- Short, 1-Syllable verbs (CVC): If the verb ends in Consonant-Vowel-Consonant, double the final consonant before adding “-ed”. (stop → stopped, chat → chatted). Exception: Do not double the letters w, x, or y (relax → relaxed).
3 The Biggest Trap: Questions and Negatives!
- In past tense questions and negative sentences, we use the helper verbs “Did” or “Didn’t”. When you use these words, the main verb MUST go back to its base form (no “-ed”).
- ❌ I didn’t wanted to go.
- ✅ I didn’t want to go.
- ❌ Did you enjoyed the film?
- ✅ Did you enjoy the film?