past simple tense

The past simple verb tense is used when:
The action happened in the past
The action/event is completed /finished at the time of speaking.
The time or/and place is stated or understood.
The length of the event/action is not important.

 Examples:

•  I went to the school.
• We did not not to the English class today.
• They did eat lunch at school.

Note:In English, following phrases are often used with the Past Simple Tense to define time:
yesterday                last year
last night                 two years
last month               ago
many years ago    a long time ago