Past tense verbs in Arabic are made by adding different suffixes (endings) to the verb stem.

Singular

Here are the conjugations for some verbs we have already had.

Darasa - He studied
Darasat - She studied
Darasti - You (f.) studied
Darasta - You (m.) studied
Darastu - I studied

Sakana - He lived
Sakanat - She lived
Sakanti - You (f.) lived
Sakanta - You (m.) lived
Sakantu - I lived

^cArafa - He knew
^cArafat - She knew
^cArafti - You (f.) knew
^cArafta - You (m.) knew
^cAraftu - I knew

Kataba - He wrote
Katabat - She wrote
Katabti - You (f.) wrote
Katabta - You (m.) wrote
Katabtu - I wrote

Qara'a - He read
Qara'at - She read
Qara'ti - You (f.) read
Qara'ta - You (m.) read
Qara'tu - I read

Fahima - He understood
Fahimat - She understood
Fahimti - You (f.) understood
Fahimta - You (m.) understood
Fahimtu - I understood

Examples:

Sakanat fii al-Qaahirah.
She lived in Cairo.

Darrasa fii Jaami^cat Pennsylvania.
He taught at Penn.

Thahabtu ilaa al-ma^cam.
I went to the restaurant.

^cAmalat fii haathaa al-maktab.
She worked in this office.

Negation:  To negate the past tense, you just add the word "maa" before the verb, meaning "not."

Hal fahimti haathaa ad-dars?
Did you (f.) understand this lesson?

Na^cm, fahimtu haathaa ad-dars.  Yes, I understood this lesson.
Laa, maa fahimtu haathaa ad-dars.  No, I did not understand this lesson.

Hal qara'ta ar-risaalah?
Did you (m.) read the letter?

Na^cm, qara'tu ar-risaalah.  Yes, I read the letter.
Laa, maa qara'tu ar-risaalah.  No, I did not read the letter.

Plural

There are actually different endings for masculine and feminine plurals ("you" m/f and "they" m/f)
but most Arabs do not use them when they speak, so here we will give you only the masculine plurals which
are usually used for everyone.

Darasna - We studied
Darastum - You (pl.) studied
Darasuu - They studied

Sakanna - We lived
Sakantum - You (pl.) lived
Sakanuu - They lived

^cArafna - We knew
^cAraftum - You (pl.) knew
^cArafuu - They knew

Katabna - We wrote
Katabtum - You (pl.) wrote
Katabuu - They wrote

Qaabalna - We met
Qaabaltum - You (pl.) met
Qaabaluu - They met

Qara'na - We read
Qara'tum - You (pl.) read
Qara'uu - They read

Fahimna - We understood
Fahimtum - You (pl.) understood
Fahimuu - They understood

Examples:

Sakanuu fii al-Qaahirah.
They lived in Cairo.

Darrasuu fii Madrasat Shaw.
They taught at Shaw School.

Anaa wa Khaalid thahabna ilaa al-ma^cam.
Khalid and I went to the restaurant.

Wa qaabalna ^cAli hunaak.
And we met Ali there.

Hal ^camaluu fii haathaa al-maktab?
Did they work in this office?

Ayna thahabtum ilaa al-jaami^cah?
Where did y'all go to college?

Thahabna ilaa Jaami^cat Drexel.
We went to Drexel U.

Remember, the past tense is negated with the word "maa" before the verb.

Hal qara'tum al-jariidah al-yawm?
Did you (pl.) read the newspaper today?

Na^cm, qara'na al-jariidah.  Yes, we read the newspaper.
Laa, maa qara'na al-jariidah.  No, we did not read the newspaper

Hal fahimtum haathaa ad-dars?
Did you (pl.) understand this lesson?

Na^cm, fahimna haathaa ad-dars.  Yes, we understood this lesson.
Laa, maa fahimna haathaa ad-dars.  No, we did not understand this lesson.