English lessons › Past simple › Word Builder
Past simple game: Word Builder
The base form is at the top, for example study. Three bricks fall: studyed, studied, studed. Tap the one with the past simple, and every verb builds part of the building: a house in A1, an apartment block in A2.
Word Builder
What the game practises
Word Builder practises the past simple with A1 and A2 verbs. For each verb you look for just one form, the past simple: regular with -ed (worked, studied, stopped) or irregular (went, saw).
The rules with tables and more exercises are in the lesson the past simple tense: -ed spelling and irregular verbs. Want all three forms of irregular verbs (go – went – gone)? Try the irregular verbs games Word Builder, Rally and Fish Feeding.
How to play
- Choose a building, A1 Little house or A2 Apartment block, and a set of verbs.
- The card shows the base form and a gap for the past simple: study → ?.
- Tap the falling brick with the right form (studied). A wrong brick breaks, and a short explanation appears under the game.
- Zen mode stops the bricks from falling. You hear the form every time you tap a brick.
- At the end of a set, verbs with a mistake come back for the final inspection until you get them right first time.
Verb sets: base form and past simple
Each level has sets of up to 8 verbs, about half regular and half irregular. You play the same sets in all four games; A2 also repeats the regular verbs from A1.
| Set | Verbs (base form – past simple) | |
|---|---|---|
| A1 · Beginner | ||
| 1 | put – put, work – worked, read – read, play – played, come – came, like – liked, run – ran, study – studied | Play → |
| 2 | drink – drank, stop – stopped, swim – swam, open – opened, find – found, watch – watched, think – thought, stay – stayed | Play → |
| 3 | buy – bought, live – lived, sleep – slept, try – tried, learn – learnt/learned, chat – chatted, meet – met, listen – listened | Play → |
| 4 | say – said, want – wanted, tell – told, love – loved, know – knew, cry – cried, take – took, write – wrote | Play → |
| 5 | speak – spoke, visit – visited, get – got, clean – cleaned, give – gave, dance – danced, do – did, cook – cooked | Play → |
| 6 | go – went, close – closed, see – saw, walk – walked, sit – sat, arrive – arrived, help – helped | Play → |
| 7 | be – was/were, start – started, have – had, finish – finished, make – made, ask – asked, eat – ate | Play → |
| A2 · Elementary | ||
| 1 | let – let, prefer – preferred, set – set, carry – carried, cost – cost, decide – decided, cut – cut, happen – happened | Play → |
| 2 | hit – hit, fix – fixed, hurt – hurt, explain – explained, shut – shut, play – played, become – became, shop – shopped | Play → |
| 3 | begin – began, worry – worried, sing – sang, hope – hoped, ring – rang, remember – remembered, win – won, relax – relaxed | Play → |
| 4 | bring – brought, work – worked, catch – caught, stay – stayed, fight – fought, drop – dropped, teach – taught, hurry – hurried | Play → |
| 5 | feel – felt, smile – smiled, keep – kept, answer – answered, leave – left, allow – allowed, mean – meant, watch – watched | Play → |
| 6 | lose – lost, grab – grabbed, burn – burnt/burned, marry – married, dream – dreamt/dreamed, move – moved, smell – smelt/smelled, offer – offered | Play → |
| 7 | spell – spelt/spelled, want – wanted, build – built, admit – admitted, send – sent, reply – replied, spend – spent, believe – believed | Play → |
| 8 | lend – lent, order – ordered, pay – paid, clean – cleaned, sell – sold, stop – stopped, stand – stood, copy – copied | Play → |
| 9 | understand – understood, agree – agreed, hold – held, open – opened, draw – drew, cook – cooked, fly – flew, chat – chatted | Play → |
| 10 | grow – grew, study – studied, throw – threw, invite – invited, blow – blew, listen – listened, show – showed, walk – walked | Play → |
| 11 | shake – shook, try – tried, drive – drove, receive – received, ride – rode, visit – visited, hide – hid | Play → |
| 12 | bite – bit, help – helped, break – broke, cry – cried, choose – chose, like – liked, start – started | Play → |
| 13 | wake – woke/waked, live – lived, steal – stole, finish – finished, wear – wore, love – loved, ask – asked | Play → |
| 14 | forget – forgot, dance – danced, fall – fell, close – closed, hear – heard, arrive – arrived, lie – lay | Play → |
Frequently asked questions
What does Word Builder practise?
Only the past simple: -ed spelling for regular verbs (studied, stopped, lived) and the special forms of irregular verbs (went, saw, had). The past participle is not asked here.
Is it the same game as the irregular verbs Word Builder?
Same idea, different content: there you build all three forms of irregular verbs. Here you only build the past simple of regular and irregular verbs at levels A1 and A2.
Does it work on a phone and an interactive whiteboard?
Yes. On a whiteboard, turn on Zen mode so the bricks stay still and the class can discuss the answer.