When you need this
Monday morning, the first question is about the weekend. Every morning, it's about last night. Talking about the past is mostly the past simple: "I went", "I watched", "we had". The day is finished, so the verb is finished too.
The hard part is not the grammar rule; it's the common irregular verbs. Went, had, saw, ate, got, made, came, took, bought, slept. These ten carry most of what people say about yesterday, so they are worth saying until they come out without a pause.
Time words give your story a shape. "Yesterday morning", "after work", "last night", "then", "after that" let you string three short sentences into a small story instead of a list.
Phrases
a part of yesterday; but "last night", never "yesterday night"
the evening or night before today
the past of "go"; the most common past verb
the past of "have": meals, meetings, a good or bad time
you didn't go out
you arrived at your home late
a quiet day with no real news
next, in a story
the usual one-line opinion about the past
how you felt, in the past
Say it out loud
Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.
Past for the cause, present for the result now.
Practice · 3 min
Say it in the past. Note on the left, one natural sentence on the right.
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Say it today
Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.