Simple Past

Almost 90 percent of all the verbs you see, hear, speak, and write either are Simple Present or Simple Past.

(a) I walked to school yesterday.
(b) John lived in Paris for ten years, but now he lives in Rome.
(c) I bought a new car three days ago.
The simple past indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a particular time in the past.

(d) Rita stood under a tree when it began to rain.
(e) When Mrs. Chu heard a strange noise, she got up to investigate.
(f) When I dropped my cup, the coffee spilled on my lap.
If a sentence contains when and has the simple past in both clauses, th action in the when clause happens first. In (d): 1st: The rain began. 2nd: She stood under a tree.