Simple Past: Negatives and Questions Introduction In the simple past tense, negative and question forms are made using the auxiliary verb "do" (in its past form, "did") followed by the simple form of the main verb. This page explains the rules. 1. Forming a negative Negatives in the simple past are formed by adding didn't (informal) or did not (formal) before the simple form of the verb. The verb BE is an exception to this; in the case of BE, we just add n't (informal) or not (formal) after "was" or "were": Simple past statement Informal negative Formal negative I had a car. I didn't have a car. I did not have a car. You ate my toast. You didn't eat my toast. You did not eat my toast. He was here yesterday. He wasn't here yesterday. He was not here yesterday. They were in the park. They weren't in the park. They were not in the park. 2. Forming a yes/no question Yes/no questions are also created using the auxiliary