Bring past tense
Meaning of bring
to carry, convey, lead, or cause to go along to another place.
Infinitive
- 1. Every morning, she brings fresh flowers to her office to brighten up the space.
- 2. He always brings his own lunch to work to save money.
- 3. The new policy brings significant changes to our work process.
Past Simple
- 1. She brought homemade cookies to the office, and everyone loved them.
- 2. The unexpected news brought joy to their family.
- 3. He brought his camera to capture the beautiful scenery of the mountains.
Past Participle
- 1. The cake has been brought by her to the party.
- 2. The documents were brought to the meeting yesterday.
- 3. The gifts had been brought before everyone arrived.
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Bare infinitive
- For habitual actions or routines.Example. 'She usually brings her lunch to work every day.'
- General truths or facts. 'The postman brings the mail in the morning.'
- Scheduled events in the near future (especially for timetables or programs).Example. 'The conference brings together experts from around the world next Thursday.'
Past Simple
- For actions completed at a specific time in the past.Example. 'He brought his friend to the party last night.'
- For a series of completed actions in the past.Example. 'Yesterday, she brought her kids to school, went grocery shopping, and brought dinner home.'
- In storytelling, to narrate events that happened in the past.Example. 'He brought an umbrella because it was raining.'
Past Participle
- Present Perfect. For actions that happened at an unspecified time in the past or actions that started in the past and continue to the present.Example. 'I have brought my own bag to this shop many times.'
- Past Perfect. For actions that were completed before another event in the past.Example. 'By the time the concert started, the band had already brought all their equipment on stage.'
- Future Perfect. For actions that will be completed before a specific time in the future.Example. 'By the end of the month, I will have brought all the necessary documents to the office.'
- Passive voice. When the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action rather than the doer.Example. 'The donations were brought by the community members during the event.'
- To express condition. In conditional sentences as part of the perfect conditional.Example. 'If you had brought your camera, we could have taken amazing photos.'
Common mistakes
— 01
Incorrect use of the Past Simple
A frequent mistake involves using the incorrect past simple form of 'bring'. The correct past simple form is 'brought', not 'bringed'. Many English learners, and sometimes even native speakers, mistakenly apply a regular verb pattern (adding -ed) to 'bring', which is irregular. As a result, sentences like 'I bringed my book to school yesterday' are incorrect. The correct form is 'I brought my book to school yesterday'.
— 02
Confusing Past Simple
Another common error is confusing the past simple form with the past participle form of 'bring'. The past participle form is also 'brought', identical to the past simple form. This can lead to misuse in perfect tenses. For instance, one might mistakenly say, 'I have bring my homework,' instead of the correct, 'I have brought my homework.'
— 03
Misuse in Passive Voice
The misuse of 'bring' in passive voice constructions often stems from not knowing its past participle form. For example, an incorrect sentence would be, 'The gifts were bringed by Santa Claus.' Since the past participle form 'brought' should be used in passive voice, the correct sentence is, 'The gifts were brought by Santa Claus.'
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Frequently asked questions
What are the past simple and past participle forms of 'bring'?
How do I use 'brought' in a past simple tense sentence?
Can you give me examples of sentences using 'brought' in different tenses?