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Finished past actions marked with -ed, where Vietnamese marks time with a particle instead.
Why you specifically
Thì quá khứ đơn (Past Simple) dùng để nói về hành động hoặc trạng thái đã kết thúc trong quá khứ. Với động từ thường, ta thường thêm -ed vào dạng nguyên mẫu: play → played, work → worked, watch → watched. Trong câu hỏi và câu phủ định, tiếng Anh dùng did + động từ nguyên mẫu: Did you visit...? / We did not visit.... Không thêm -ed sau did. Cũng có thay đổi chính tả: study → studied, stop → stopped. Với người Việt học tiếng Anh, lỗi hay gặp là dùng từ chỉ thời gian quá khứ nhưng vẫn giữ nguyên động từ, vì tiếng Việt thường không đổi hình thức động từ như tiếng Anh.
The rule
The past simple is used for finished actions or states in the past. With regular verbs, you usually add -ed to the base form: play → played, work → worked, watch → watched. In questions and negatives, English uses did + base verb: Did you visit...? / We did not visit.... Do not add -ed after did. Spelling changes can happen too: study → studied, stop → stopped. For Vietnamese learners, the main difficulty is that Vietnamese often shows past time with a time word or particle, while English usually changes the verb form as well.
The trap
I play football yesterday.
I played football yesterday.
For a finished action in the past, English uses the past simple form played. Vietnamese often uses a time word like yesterday without changing the verb, but English usually changes the verb too.
She work in a shop last year.
She worked in a shop last year.
Worked is the regular past simple form. The present form work is wrong because the action is finished and happened in the past.
We watch a film last night.
We watched a film last night.
Watched shows a completed action in the past. English does not use the base form watch with a past time expression like last night.
He live in Da Nang when he was a child.
He lived in Da Nang when he was a child.
Lived is correct because the sentence describes a finished situation in the past. Vietnamese learners may leave the verb unchanged, but English needs the past form.
Prove it
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