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Questions in the Simple Past Tense When making a question using the simple past, you will have to use did just as you learned to use do with the simple present tense. SIMPLE PRESENT: Statement: --They accept credit cards. Question: --Do they accept credit cards? SIMPLE PAST: Statement: --They accepted credit cards last year. Question: --Did they accept credit cards last year? When using did in a question, the main verb will be in the infinitive form, not the simple past tense. NOTE: For a negative question in the past, use didn't. --Didn't you get my letter? --Didn't they come? The Future Tense In this lesson the future tense is used in a question and a declarative sentence: QUESTION: ...will you be having lunch? STATEMENT: ...I'll just have a salad, ... . It is easy to use the future. Just add will (or shall,* which can be used after I or we) as an auxiliary and use the infinitive form of the verb: --He gets you something to drink. -->He'll (he will) get you something... --We have a salad. -->We'll (we will) have a salad. *NOTE: In American usage, shall is used less often than will The Verbs To Be, To Have, and To Go TO GO: I go he, she, it goes we go you go they go To be, to have, and to go are irregular verbs. Their forms in the present tense are as follows: TO BE TO HAVE: I am I have he, she, it is he, she, it has we are we have you are you have they are they have Note that there is no personal form for you as there is in most other languages. You will use you to refer both to close friends and to strangers. The Verb To Get In American English, the verb get is used constantly. One common occurrence of get is with an adjective: --I'm getting hungry. --You shouldn't eat so much. You'll get fat. In this instance, get has the meaning of become. Get may also be followed by a past participle (-ed). The past participle functions as an adjective describing the subject: --We got worried, because they were late. --I got tired from all the work. Some of the common adjectives that follow get are angry, anxious, big, cold, dark, fat, hot, hungry, late, mad, old, rich, sleepy, tall, thirsty, warm, well, wet. The Causative Verbs Have and Let In order to express the notion of having someone else do something for you, use a form of have + the main verb: --I'm having my mail forwarded. (Someone else is forwarding it for you.) --I had my house painted. (Someone painted it for you.) NOTE: The -ed form (past participle) is used after have to give a passive meaning. Let in a causative sense means to permit: --Please let me help you. --Don't let them leave! Do not use an infinitive after let. Troublesome Verbs Here are some verbs that you, like many native speakers, may find troublesome: TRANSITIVE (followed by an object) INTRANSITIVE (not followed by an object) raise, raising, raised: The farmer is raising chickens. rise, rising, rose: The moon is rising. set, setting, set: I will set the glass down. sit, sitting, sat: They sit in front. lay, laying, laid: I am laying the dress on the bed. lie, lying, lain: I am lying on the bed.