60 Past Tense Questions for English Learners

In this guide, we’ve created a list of past tense questions to help you practice your English speaking skills and master the past tense. The past tense is an essential component of English grammar that allows us to discuss and describe actions, events, and experiences that occurred in the past.

Using these past tense questions to have conversations that require speaking in past tense won’t just improve your English skills—it will make you a better storyteller and conversationalist, too!

Past Tense Questions

1. Did you travel to another country last year?
2. How did you celebrate your last birthday?
3. Can you share a memorable event from your childhood?
4. What was your favorite subject in school when you were young?
5. Did you have any childhood hobbies that you enjoyed?
6. Have you ever visited a historical site? Describe your experience.
7. What was your first job, and how did you get it?
8. Can you recount an exciting trip you took in the past?
9. Did you attend any concerts or events recently?
10. What was the last book you read? What did you like about it?
11. Did you learn to cook a new dish in the past?
12. Have you ever met a famous person? Share the details.
13. Describe a memorable family gathering or reunion from the past.
14. What was your favorite movie when you were a child?
15. Have you ever participated in a sports competition? What was it like?
16. Share a moment when you faced a challenge and overcame it.
17. Discuss a significant historical event that interests you.
18. What was your childhood dream job? Did you pursue it?
19. Describe a past vacation destination you thoroughly enjoyed.
20. Did you live in a different city before? Tell us about it.

Negative Past Tense Questions

1. Didn’t you travel to another country last year?
2. Why didn’t you celebrate your last birthday?
3. Can you recall an event from your childhood that you didn’t enjoy?
4. What was a subject in school that you didn’t like when you were young?
5. Were there any childhood hobbies that you didn’t find interesting?
6. Did you miss out on visiting a historical site? Tell us about it.
7. What was a job opportunity you didn’t pursue in the past?
8. Share a time when you didn’t attend a much-anticipated event.
9. What book did you start but didn’t finish? What made you stop?
10. Is there a dish you tried cooking but didn’t succeed at?
11. Did you have the chance to meet someone famous but didn’t take it?
12. Describe a family gathering or reunion that you didn’t participate in.
13. Share a moment when you didn’t achieve a goal but learned from it.
14. What was a movie that you didn’t enjoy when you watched it?
15. Have you ever refrained from participating in a sports competition? Why?
16. Discuss a historical event that you didn’t know much about before.
17. What dream job did you consider but didn’t pursue? Why not?
18. Share a vacation destination you decided not to visit. Why?
19. Was there a city you didn’t enjoy living in before? Explain.
20. Share an opportunity you didn’t take in the past.

Yes/No Past Tense Questions

1. Did you travel to another country last year?
2. Were you able to celebrate your last birthday?
3. Did you enjoy a specific event from your childhood?
4. Was there a subject in school that you liked when you were young?
5. Did you have any favorite hobbies in your childhood?
6. Did you visit a historical site recently?
7. Did you take on a new job opportunity in the past?
8. Were you present at an exciting event you attended?
9. Did you read a book recently? Which one?
10. Did you learn a new recipe lately?
11. Did you meet someone famous at an event?
12. Were you part of a family gathering or reunion recently?
13. Did you achieve a specific goal you set for yourself?
14. Was there a movie you watched and enjoyed?
15. Did you participate in any sports competitions?
16. Did you discuss a historical event with someone recently?
17. Were you considering pursuing a dream job?
18. Did you go on a vacation recently?
19. Were you living in a different city before?
20. Did you enjoy the movie we saw last night?

We’ve explored an array of past tense questions that are guaranteed to foster meaningful discussions in the ESL classroom.

The past tense allows us to connect with our experiences and learn from our journey. Would you like us to write about any other ESL conversation questions and ESL discussion topics on the blog? Tell us in the comments below.