JHi, I’m Jason, and this is MJ English. Listen to this. It’s Monday morning, and a coworker walks in and says, “Yesterday I go to the beach!” We all know what they mean. But it sounds a little off, right?嗨,我是 Jason,這裡是 MJ English。你聽聽看,週一早上,同事走進來說:「Yesterday I go to the beach!」大家都聽得懂意思,但就是怪怪的,對吧?
MHi, I’m Mary! Oh, I hear that all the time. We understand it, but the verb is stuck in the present. It should be, “Yesterday I went to the beach.” And there’s a good reason so many learners do this.嗨,我是 Mary!喔,這種句子我常常聽到。意思聽得懂,但動詞卡在現在式。應該要說 Yesterday I went to the beach.。而且這麼多人會這樣說,其實有個很好理解的原因。
JHere’s the reason. In Chinese, the word for yesterday does the whole job, and the verb never changes. English wants the verb itself to change. So go becomes went. Same idea, but the change happens inside the verb.原因是這樣的。在中文裡,「昨天」這個詞就把事情交代完了,動詞完全不用變。但英文要求動詞本身要變,所以 go 變成 went。意思一樣,只是變化發生在動詞裡面。
MRight. So words like yesterday, last weekend, and two days ago are your signal. When you say one of those, check your verb. Today’s story is in an office kitchen in Taipei. Annie works at a foreign company, and her coworker Ryan asks about her weekend.對。所以像 yesterday、last weekend、two days ago 這些詞就是你的信號。一說出這種詞,就檢查一下動詞。今天的故事發生在台北一間辦公室的茶水間。Annie 在外商公司上班,同事 Ryan 問她週末過得如何。
JAnnie says, “It was great! Yesterday I go to Jiufen with my parents.” Then Ryan says, “Oh, you went to Jiufen?” See what he did? He didn’t correct her. He just said the same idea again with went, very naturally.Annie 說:「很棒!Yesterday I go to Jiufen with my parents.」然後 Ryan 說:Oh, you went to Jiufen?。有注意到他做了什麼嗎?他沒有糾正她,只是很自然地用 went 把同一件事再說一次。
MAnd here’s some good news. Annie said “It was great,” with was. She also said “My dad was tired.” Both are correct past tense! So she can do it. She just forgets with other verbs, like go. That’s really common.而且有個好消息。Annie 說了 It was great,用的是 was。她還說了 My dad was tired。這兩句過去式都是對的!所以她是會的,只是遇到 go 之類的其他動詞就忘了。這真的很常見。
JTotally. Now let’s look at the verbs she missed. Ryan asks, “Did you take the bus?” Annie says, “No, we drive.” It should be “No, we drove.” Then she says, “It take almost two hours.” That should be “It took almost two hours.”沒錯。來看看她漏掉的動詞。Ryan 問:Did you take the bus?。Annie 說:No, we drive.,應該是 No, we drove.。接著她說 It take almost two hours.,應該是 It took almost two hours.。
MLater she says, “We eat taro balls and buy some tea.” Ryan fixes it in his answer: “You ate taro balls?” So eat becomes ate, and buy becomes bought. We ate taro balls, and we bought some tea.後來她說:We eat taro balls and buy some tea.。Ryan 在回答裡順手改對了:You ate taro balls?。所以 eat 變 ate,buy 變 bought。We ate taro balls, and we bought some tea.
JHere’s the tricky part. These very common verbs are irregular. They don’t follow one simple rule, so don’t try to figure them out. Just learn them as pairs. Go and went. Take and took. Drive and drove. Eat and ate. Buy and bought.難的地方來了。這些超常用的動詞都是不規則變化,沒有一條簡單的規則可以套,所以別想推理,直接當成一組一組背。go 和 went,take 和 took,drive 和 drove,eat 和 ate,buy 和 bought。
MLet’s say them together, nice and slow. Go, went. Take, took. Drive, drove. Eat, ate. Buy, bought. Say them out loud a few times on the MRT or in the shower. Pairs stick in your head much better than rules do.我們一起慢慢念一遍。Go, went。Take, took。Drive, drove。Eat, ate。Buy, bought。在捷運上或洗澡時多念幾次。一組一組的配對,比規則更容易記在腦子裡。
JThe good news is that regular verbs are easy. You just add E-D at the end. Stay becomes stayed. Look becomes looked. It’s mostly the very common verbs that break the rule, so those pairs are really worth your time.好消息是規則動詞很簡單,字尾加上 ed 就好。stay 變 stayed,look 變 looked。大多是最常用的那些動詞不照規則走,所以那幾組真的值得花時間背。
MOkay, now questions about the past. Ryan asks, “Did you take the bus?” See the pattern? Did, then you, then take. Take stays in its base form. That’s just the plain dictionary form, like go or eat. Did already shows the past.好,接著是問過去的事。Ryan 問:Did you take the bus?。看出規律了嗎?did,然後 you,然後 take。take 維持原形。原形就是字典上那個最單純的樣子,像 go 或 eat。因為 did 已經表示過去了。
JExactly. So the past tense shows up only once, in did. Ryan also asks, “Did you stay until dark?” Again, stay, not stayed. The wrong versions are “Did you went?” and “Did you took?” Those show the past twice. Once is enough.沒錯。所以過去式只會出現一次,就在 did 上。Ryan 還問了 Did you stay until dark?,一樣是 stay,不是 stayed。錯的說法是 Did you went? 和 Did you took?,這樣等於過去式出現兩次。一次就夠了。
MLots of people say “Did you went to Jiufen?” because they try so hard to make it past. Here’s a trick. When you hear yourself say did, tell yourself the job is done. Then the verb goes plain. Did you go? Did you eat? Did you buy anything?很多人會說 Did you went to Jiufen?,因為太努力想把它變成過去式了。有個小訣竅:一聽到自己說出 did,就告訴自己過去式的工作做完了,後面動詞回到原形。Did you go? Did you eat? Did you buy anything?
JNow negatives. Annie says, “No, we don’t stay.” Then Ryan echoes it the right way: “So you didn’t stay.” For the past, use didn’t plus the base form. We didn’t stay. We didn’t go. I didn’t buy anything.接著是否定句。Annie 說:No, we don’t stay.,然後 Ryan 用正確的方式複述:So you didn’t stay.。講過去的事,用 didn’t 加原形。We didn’t stay. We didn’t go. I didn’t buy anything.
MTwo mistakes to avoid here. First, don’t use “don’t” for the past. “We don’t stay” sounds like a habit, like you never stay. Second, don’t say “We didn’t stayed” or “We didn’t went.” Same rule as questions. Didn’t carries the past, so the verb stays plain.這裡有兩個錯誤要避開。第一,講過去的事不要用 don’t。We don’t stay 聽起來像習慣,好像你從來都不待久。第二,不要說 We didn’t stayed 或 We didn’t went。跟問句同一個規則:didn’t 已經帶了過去,動詞就維持原形。
JLet’s put it all in one little formula. A normal sentence, change the verb: I went. A question, did plus base form: Did you go? A no, didn’t plus base form: I didn’t go. Three jobs, one idea. Show the past just once.我們把它整理成一個小公式。一般句子,把動詞變過去式:I went。問句,did 加原形:Did you go?。否定,didn’t 加原形:I didn’t go。三種情況,同一個觀念:過去式只出現一次。
MI like that. Now a bonus. When someone asks, “How was your weekend?” keep it simple. You can say, “It was great.” Or, “It was relaxing. I just stayed home.” Or if you don’t want to say much, “Not bad. How about you?”我喜歡這個整理。接下來是加碼。有人問 How was your weekend? 的時候,簡單回就好。你可以說 It was great.,或是 It was relaxing. I just stayed home.。如果不想多說,就 Not bad. How about you?
JNice. And notice the word was in the first two. Was is the past of is, and Annie already used it well. In “I just stayed home,” stayed is a regular verb with E-D. So today you’ve seen both kinds, the irregular pairs and the regular ones.很好。注意到前兩句都有 was 嗎?was 是 is 的過去式,而 Annie 本來就用得很好。在 I just stayed home 裡,stayed 是加 ed 的規則動詞。所以今天兩種你都看到了,不規則的成對動詞,還有規則動詞。
MLet’s try a full answer, the way you’d say it on Monday. “How was your weekend?” “It was great. I went to Jiufen, ate some taro balls, and bought tea.” Three past tense verbs in one smooth sentence. Your coworker will be impressed.我們來試一個完整的回答,就像週一你會說的那樣。How was your weekend? It was great. I went to Jiufen, ate some taro balls, and bought tea.。一句話裡有三個過去式動詞,很順。你的同事會很佩服。
JOne more tip. Before you speak, look for the time word. Yesterday, last weekend, two days ago. When you hear yourself say one, quickly think about the verb. And if you slip, it’s okay. Just say it again the right way, like Ryan does.再給一個小提醒。開口之前,先找一下時間詞。yesterday、last weekend、two days ago。一聽到自己說出其中一個,就快速想一下動詞。就算說錯也沒關係,像 Ryan 那樣用對的方式再說一次就好。
MQuick recap, then. A time word means a past verb. Learn go, went, take, took, drive, drove, eat, ate, buy, bought. Questions use did plus the base form. Negatives use didn’t plus the base form. And “It was great” works every time.那我們快速複習一下。有過去的時間詞,就用過去式動詞。把 go, went、take, took、drive, drove、eat, ate、buy, bought 背起來。問句用 did 加原形。否定用 didn’t 加原形。而 It was great 每次都適用。
JOkay, we’re almost done. Let’s hear the whole conversation one more time. This time, listen for every past tense verb, and see if you can catch what Annie should have said each time.好,我們快講完了。來把整段對話再完整聽一次。這次請注意聽每一個過去式動詞,看你能不能抓出 Annie 每次應該要怎麼說。
🔁 [DIALOGUE REPLAY] 重播情境對話
MThe second time through, you’ll notice how naturally Ryan says went, drove, ate, and didn’t. Your ears start to get used to the past tense, and that makes it much easier to say it yourself.第二次聽的時候,你會發現 Ryan 說 went、drove、ate 和 didn’t 說得多自然。你的耳朵會慢慢習慣過去式,自己開口說就會輕鬆很多。
JNow it’s your turn! Leave a comment with one English sentence about what you did last weekend, using the past tense. For example, “Last weekend I went to Tamsui.” And follow MJ English so you don’t miss the next episode.換你囉!留言寫一句英文,說說你上個週末做了什麼,記得用過去式。例如 Last weekend I went to Tamsui.。也記得追蹤 MJ English,才不會錯過下一集。
MHope your weekend gives you lots of past tense stories!希望你這個週末有很多可以用過去式講的故事!
JGo have some fun, and tell us all about it!去好好玩一玩,再回來跟我們分享!