Unit objective
Describe recent, completed actions with confidence.
By the end of this unit, you will be able to say what you did last night or last week, ask another person about a past activity, give a short answer, and organize a short sequence of completed events.
Open one topic at a time
Unit 4 teaching sequence
Every topic begins with a precise learning purpose and leads toward clear communication about recent life events.
01Locate the past momentUse a time expression to show when a finished action happened.
What we will learn: how to connect one completed action to a clear recent time: last night, yesterday, last week, on Monday, or two days ago.
I watched a movie last night.
We cooked dinner yesterday.
She visited her aunt last week.
These expressions tell the listener that the action is complete. They are a helpful signal for choosing the simple past.
02Everyday actions in a busy lifeName familiar home, work, study, and social activities.
What we will learn: the action vocabulary needed to tell a realistic story about one evening or one week.
cook dinner · clean the house · watch a movie · stay home
work late · finish a project · study English · answer messages
visit a friend · go out · rent a movie · talk on the phone
First choose a meaningful action. Then place it in the past: I worked late last night.
03Simple past: affirmative sentencesSay what happened and finished before now.
What we will learn: the basic structure for a completed action. The time expression makes the meaning precise.
One completed home activity.
One completed shared plan.
One completed visit.
04Regular verbs: spelling and pronunciation with -edWrite regular past forms accurately, then hear why -ed changes sound.
What we will learn: four reliable spelling patterns for regular past verbs, so written sentences look complete and accurate.
| Base verb | Rule | Past form |
|---|---|---|
| cook / watch | Add -ed. | cooked / watched |
| live | Verb ends in -e: add -d. | lived |
| stop | Short stressed vowel + final consonant: double it, then add -ed. | stopped |
| study | Consonant + y: change y to i, then add -ed. | studied |
Spelling and sound are different ideas: first write the correct form, then learn why -ed sounds different.
Part B · Hear the ending
Why -ed sounds different
These pronunciation rules belong to regular past verbs. Listen to the final sound of the base verb before choosing the ending sound.
/t/ Light, voiceless ending
Use /t/ after a voiceless final sound: /p/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/. Your throat does not vibrate, so English adds a light /t/.
/d/ Voiced ending
Use /d/ after a vowel or voiced final sound: /b/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /r/. Your throat is already vibrating, so the voice continues naturally into /d/.
/ɪd/ Extra-syllable ending
Use /ɪd/ only after the sounds /t/ or /d/. A second /t/ or /d/ would be difficult, so English adds a short extra syllable. This is the only group with an extra syllable.
Tap a group or a word to hear its professional model.
05Common irregular verbsRecognize high-frequency past forms that do not use -ed.
What we will learn: a small, useful set of past forms for everyday messages. Learn these as pairs.
| Present | Past | Busy-life example |
|---|---|---|
| go | went | We went to the park. |
| have | had | I had a busy day. |
| do | did | She did her homework. |
| get | got | They got home late. |
| see | saw | I saw my cousin. |
| eat | ate | We ate dinner together. |
| make | made | He made coffee. |
| come | came | My friend came over. |
06Yes/no questions with didAsk politely about a completed activity.
What we will learn: use did first and return the main verb to its base form.
Ask about one completed plan.
Ask about completed work.
Ask about a shared event.
07Short answers and negativesReply clearly and explain what did not happen.
What we will learn: give a direct answer first, then add a simple reason or extra detail when needed.
Did you study last night?
Yes, I did. I studied for one hour.
Did you go out?
No, I didn't. I stayed home.
We didn't rent a movie.
She didn't work late.
08Tell a short busy-life storyConnect completed events in a logical order.
What we will learn: move from isolated sentences to a coherent message. A mini-story has a past time, several actions, and a closing idea.
Last Friday was busy. First, I worked late. Then, I cooked dinner. After that, I studied English. Finally, I called it a night.
09Use the past in real-life messagesRecognize the unit language in a diary, voicemail, and WhatsApp reply.
What we will learn: adapt the same simple-past language to different everyday communication purposes.
Record a party or a busy evening: who was there, what happened, and how you felt.
Leave a message about your past week: greeting, two or three actions, closing.
Reply to good news: “I saw your message yesterday. I was very happy.”
Different formats change the audience and tone, but the grammar stays tied to one finished time.
10Natural expressions for a busy lifeLearn to recognize a phrasal verb and an idiom before using each one in context.
What we will learn: a phrasal verb is a verb plus a short particle, such as up or over; it can change form in the past. An idiom is a fixed expression whose complete meaning is more than the individual words. The Spanish approximation explains the general idea; the example shows natural English use.
Phrasal verbs
Verb + particle. Notice the past forms in bold.
| Expression | Spanish approximation | Contextual example |
|---|---|---|
| wake up → woke up | despertarse | I woke up early yesterday. |
| hang out → hung out | pasar el rato / salir | We hung out after class. |
| come over → came over | venir a casa de alguien | My cousin came over last night. |
| pick up → picked up | recoger / pasar por alguien | I picked up my friend after work. |
Idiomatic expressions
Fixed expressions. Learn the complete phrase as one idea.
| Expression | Spanish approximation | Contextual example |
|---|---|---|
| be on the go | estar muy ocupado, de un lado a otro | I was on the go all day. |
| call it a night | dar por terminado el día/noche | We called it a night at ten. |
11Unit success checklistKnow what you should understand before moving to Practice Lab.
What we will learn: identify the complete communication goal of the unit, not only one grammar rule.
- I can use a past-time expression.
- I can choose a regular or irregular past form.
- I can write a completed-action sentence.
- I can ask a question with Did ...?
- I can answer with Yes, I did or No, I didn't.
- I can make a negative with didn't + base verb.
- I can notice common -ed sound patterns.
- I can tell a short story about a busy night or week.