Pasado simple en ingles: reglas, verbos y ejercicios

El pasado simple: contar lo que ya paso

"Tell me about your experience." Esta pregunta en una entrevista de trabajo en ingles requiere dominar el pasado simple. Es el tiempo que usas para hablar de acciones completadas en el pasado: lo que hiciste, donde trabajaste, que lograste.

El pasado simple en ingles tiene algunas reglas claras, pero tambien bastantes verbos irregulares que hay que aprender. Esta guia te lo explica todo con ejemplos practicos.

Cuando se usa el pasado simple

1. Acciones completadas en un momento especifico del pasado

I graduated in 2019. (Me gradue en 2019.) We launched the app last year. (Lanzamos la app el ano pasado.)

2. Secuencia de acciones pasadas

I opened my laptop, checked my emails, and started the report.

3. Habitos del pasado (ya no actuales)

I worked at a startup for three years. (implicacion: ya no trabajo ahi) She traveled every month for her job. (antes, no ahora)

4. Con expresiones de tiempo pasado

yesterday, last week/month/year, in 2020, three days ago, when I was a student

Verbos regulares: agrega -ed

La regla basica para el pasado simple de verbos regulares es agregar -ed:

work → worked, manage → managed, present → presented

Pero hay variaciones ortograficas:

• Verbo termina en -e: solo agrega -d (live → lived, decide → decided)
• Verbo de una silaba con CVC (consonante-vocal-consonante): duplica la consonante (stop → stopped, plan → planned)
• Verbo termina en consonante + y: cambia y por -ied (study → studied, carry → carried)
• Verbo termina en vocal + y: solo agrega -ed (play → played, enjoy → enjoyed)

Verbos irregulares

Los verbos irregulares no siguen la regla -ed y hay que memorizarlos. Los mas importantes para el trabajo:

Infinitivo	Pasado simple	Ejemplo
be	was/were	I was a junior developer.
have	had	We had a great quarter.
do	did	I did my best.
go	went	I went to the conference.
get	got	I got promoted.
make	made	We made a deal.
take	took	It took six months.
give	gave	She gave the presentation.
come	came	The client came on Thursday.
find	found	I found a solution.
build	built	We built the product from scratch.
lead	led	I led a team of five.
grow	grew	The company grew 40% that year.
speak	spoke	I spoke at the conference.
write	wrote	She wrote the entire documentation.

Para la lista completa, consulta nuestra guia de verbos irregulares.

Estructura del pasado simple

Afirmativo

Sujeto + verbo en pasado (regular -ed o irregular):

I managed three accounts. She wrote the proposal.

Negativo

Sujeto + did not (didn't) + verbo en forma base:

I did not (didn't) attend the meeting. He didn't finish the report.

Importante: cuando usas "didn't", el verbo vuelve a la forma base. No digas "I didn't went" sino "I didn't go".

Preguntas

Did + sujeto + verbo en forma base:

Did you work there? Where did she go? How long did the project take?

Errores comunes de hispanohablantes

Error 1: Usar -ed con verbos irregulares

Incorrecto: I goed to the conference. Correcto: I went to the conference.

Error 2: Usar el pasado con "didn't"

Incorrecto: I didn't went to the meeting. Correcto: I didn't go to the meeting.

Error 3: Olvidar el auxiliar en preguntas

Incorrecto: Where you worked before? Correcto: Where did you work before?

Error 4: Usar pasado simple donde corresponde presente perfecto

En ingles americano y en muchos contextos:

• Pasado simple: accion completada con referencia temporal especifica
• Presente perfecto: experiencia pasada sin tiempo especifico, o accion con relevancia presente

I went to London in 2022. (tiempo especifico: past simple) I have been to London. (experiencia, sin tiempo especifico: present perfect)

Ejercicios practicos

Completa con el pasado simple correcto:

1. She _______ (lead) the project for two years.
2. We _______ (not/have) enough time to test properly.
3. _______ you _______ (work) at a startup before?
4. The company _______ (grow) from 10 to 100 employees in three years.
5. I _______ (decide) to change careers after the pandemic.

Respuestas:

1. led
2. didn't have
3. Did you work
4. grew
5. decided

En el contexto laboral

El pasado simple es fundamental para hablar de experiencia profesional, el uso mas critico en entrevistas.

Clasicas preguntas de entrevista que requieren pasado simple:

"Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem." "What did you achieve in your last role?" "Describe a project you led."

Respuestas modelo:

"In my last role, I managed a team of eight engineers. We built a new payment system that reduced transaction errors by 30%. I also led the migration to a cloud-based infrastructure."

"Last year, I identified a gap in our customer service process. I proposed a new feedback system, implemented it in six weeks, and our customer satisfaction score improved significantly."

Estructura STAR en ingles (Situation, Task, Action, Result):

"The situation was that our biggest client threatened to leave. My task was to understand their concerns. I organized a meeting, listened carefully, and proposed three concrete solutions. As a result, they renewed their contract for two more years."

Practica el pasado simple

Las lecciones de nivel A2 y B1 de Gringuear trabajan intensamente el pasado simple en contextos laborales. Ademas, en el simulador de entrevistas podas practicar respuestas STAR con feedback de IA.

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