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Simple Past Tense

In general, the Past Tense is used to talk about something that started and finished at a definite time in the past.

How to form the Past Tense

The main rule is for every verb, there is only one form of it in the past tense.
(The exception is the Past tense of To Be, which has two forms: was and were)

For example: The past tense of the verb want is wanted.

Wanted is used as the past tense for all pronouns.

• I wanted
• You wanted
• He wanted
• She wanted
• It wanted
• We wanted
• They wanted

Regular Verbs

To change a regular verb into past tense form, we normally add –ED at the end of the verb.

• play – played
• cook – cooked
• rain – rained
• wait – waited

There are some exceptions with a slight change in spelling which you can see here:
Spelling of words ending in ED.

Examples of sentences using regular verbs in the past tense

• Last night I played my guitar loudly and the neighbors complained.
• She kissed me on the cheek.
• It rained yesterday.
• Angela watched TV all night.
• John wanted to go to the museum.

Note: There are three different ways of pronouncing the –ed at the end of a verb in the past tense.
To revise this, follow this link pronunciation of –ED at the end of words.

Negative sentences 

We use didn't (did not) to make a negative sentence in the past tense.
This is for regular and irregular verbs in English.

Examples of negative sentences in the Past Tense

• I didn't want to go to the dentist.
• She didn't have time.
• You didn't close the door.
• He didn't come to my party.
• They didn't study so they didn't pass the test.
• We didn't sleep well last night.

Information taken from:http://www.grammar.cl/english/past-tense.htm