The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterite, is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past tense in English.
You always use the simple past when you say when something happened.

example

-my father died the last year
-he went to the stadium
- i did not play basketball

FORMING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Affirmative
Subject + verb + ed
I skipped.

Negative
Subject + did not + infinitive without to
They didn't go.

Interrogative
Did + subject + infinitive without to
Did she arrive?

Interrogative negative
Did not + subject + infinitive without to
Didn't you play?

example with walk

Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I walked I didn't walk Did I walk?
You walked You didn't walk Did you walk?
He walked He didn't walk Did he walk?
We walked We didn't walk Did we walk?
They walked They didn't walk Did they walk?

SIMPLE PAST TENSE OF TO BE, TO HAVE, TO DO

Subject Verb
Be Have Do
I was had did
You were had did
He/She/It was had did
We were had did
You were had did
They were had did

NOTES ON AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, & INTERROGATIVE FORMS
AFFIRMATIVE

The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.

-I was in Japan last year
-She had a headache yesterday.
-We did our homework last night.

NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE

For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "to do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "did", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "did", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "did".

EXAMPLES
-They weren't in Rio last summer.
-We didn't have any money.
-We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
-We didn't do our exercises this morning.
-Were they in Iceland last January?
-Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
-Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.

SIMPLE PAST, IRREGULAR VERBS
Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.

TO GO
-He went to a club last night.
-Did he go to the cinema last night?
-He didn't go to bed early last night.

TO GIVE
-We gave her a doll for her birthday.
-They didn't give John their new address.
-Did Barry give you my passport?

TO COME
-My parents came to visit me last July.
-We didn't come because it was raining.
-Did he come to your party last week?