Negatives and Questions in the Past Simple

After the subject, we use did not or didn't, followed by the base form of the main verb. The structure is the same for I, you, he, she, it, we, and they: we do not add -s for he or she.

Didn't and did not express the same negative meaning. The contraction is common in speech and informal writing; the full form is also correct, especially when we want to emphasize the negation more strongly. The negation itself does not explain the reason: “didn't call” does not imply “didn't want to” or “couldn't.”

To check a past fact neutrally, we begin with Did, then name the subject and the action in the base form. Did does not change according to person or number. The question mark ends the sentence, but it does not by itself create the required word order.

Compare “You called.” — a statement, and “Did you call?” — an ordinary question. In everyday conversation, “You called?” can also be a request for confirmation or an expression of surprise. It is not necessarily a grammatical error, but in exercises on a neutral question with Did, you need to build the specified form.

If the person who performed the action is known, we can put a question word before did: when — at what time, where — in what place, why — for what reason, what — which thing. Then we keep the order did + subject + base verb.

The question word must match what we really need to find out. Where did you work? asks about a place; When did you work? asks about a time. Both constructions are grammatical, but they serve different purposes. The time may already be clear from the previous line: it is not necessary to repeat yesterday in every sentence.

A question with Did can be answered briefly: Yes, I did. or No, I didn't. Instead of repeating the full verb, we use did; the pronoun must refer to the relevant person or thing. In a question addressed to you, the answer will usually contain I or we.

A short answer confirms or denies the specific action named in the question. After it, we can add a detail or a reason. For When ...? or Where ...? one Yes or No is usually not enough: the other person expects a time or a place.

For past forms of be, we use was / were without did: Was she at home? — She wasn't at home. This is a separate structure. We also should not treat sentences with was / were + -ing as errors simply because they do not contain did: this is a different tense with its own meaning.

In an ordinary question about the person who performed the action, who takes the place of the subject: Who called you? Here, called remains in the past form. In Who did you call? the subject is already known — you, and the question concerns the person you called. For this topic, it is enough to notice this boundary; special question structures are studied separately.

The rule “no -ed after did” applies to the main verb controlled by the auxiliary did, not to every word later in the sentence. In Did you like the painted door? painted describes the door; the target verb is like. The past tense can also describe former repeated actions: didn't work on Sundays last year.

Did can also appear in an affirmative sentence for emphasis or contrast: I didn't like the soup, but I did like the bread. The base form is also required in did like. This version is grammatical; ordinary liked is sufficient when emphasis is not needed.