THE PAST TENSE
PAST PRESENT

Past tenses in English have several distinctive grammatical structures and functions. The first thing for you to note is that these are irregular and they are described as strong verbs and weak verbs, as far as the form of the simple past tense and past participle are concerned. That is, the vowel of the stem of the verb changes completely, just like German.
The weak verbs are very easy to learn and to use because there is very little that changes. The ending "ed" is added to the main stem, to form the simple past and also to form the past participle.
The parts to be learnt are usually given in this way:

Here is an example from the work done in class.

WEAK       STRONG Infinitive: to sing

Simple present I move I talk   I swim I drink

Simple past i movedyou moved, etc. I talked   sang I swam I drank

Past participle I have moved you have moved, etc. I have talked sung I have swum I have drunk

Not all strong verbs change in this way. I have given you two lists which give you all the different types. Unfortunately, you really have to learn them by heart and practise using them.
There is a list for complete beginners to refer to at the end, which gives the Greek words.

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