Past SimpleWe use the past simple tense to talk about:

a completed action in the past

I visited my sister yesterday.She travelled to Morocco last year.

a series of completed actions

I finished work, walked home and cooked myself some lunch.He arrived at the airport at 8:00, checked in immediately and boarded the plane at 9:00.

a single event of a longer duration but which starts and stops in the past

It is often used with time expressions such as "for two years," "for five minutes," "all day" or "all year."

I lived in China for a year and a half.She studied French for five years.

habits which stopped in the past

To make it clear that we are talking about a habit we often use expressions such as "always," "often," "usually," "never," "...when I was a child" or "...when I was younger" in the sentence.

I studied English when I was at school.My mother often cooked a roast dinner on Sunday.

Groups of Irregular Verbs