How to use “first” and “last” in English sentences

Yeah, Daredevil!

Hey everyone, I'm Alex, thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on using "first"

and "last" with the past simple.

So, these two words are very common.

We use them every day, and I'm going to show you the grammar structures today of how you

can use these words correctly in a sentence.

So, these words basically replace the two phrases "the first time" I did something or

"the last time" we did something, or we were somewhere, but you can just - foop - put them

in front of verbs or after the verbs in some cases which I will show you today.

So, I got one, two, three, four different constructions.

The first is the past simple construction for an affirmative sentence, the second is

the question formation with the past simple, the third is the affirmative sentence construction

with "was" or "were", the verb "to be" in the past, and the final construction is with

"was" or "were" in the question form.

So, let's look at these.

Here, we have - I'll read the sentences first and then we'll look at the structure.

So, here's a sentence: I first played Final Fantasy when I was around 14 years old.

Those of you who don't know, Final Fantasy is a Japanese role-playing game, a video game

series, so I first played Final Fantasy when I was 14 years old.

I can also say "The first time I played Final Fantasy, I was 14 years old", alright?

Next sentence: We last saw each other in January, or, The last time we saw each other was in

January.

So, you can see by putting these words, like, in the middle of a sentence and not saying

"the first time", "the last time", you actually get a more compact, shorter sentence.

Now, let's look at the structure.

You have subject, so I, We, + first or last, or I first, We last, + the past verb.

That's it, alright?

So: I first played, We last saw, They first kissed, He first hired, okay?

We first drove, for example.

We first travelled to China when we were 22 years old.

We have been to China many times since then, but we first travelled to China when we were

X amount of years old.

Alright?

So just remember: subject + first or last + the past verb.

Remember, this is for past simple, and it makes sense because you're talking about the

first time you did something in the past time or the last time you did something in the

past.

Question construction, very similar, we have question + just like every past simple question,

so you have your question word, who, what, where, when, why, how, + did, + the subject

+ first/last + the base verb, because remember, in past simple questions, you're using the

base verb because you have the auxiliary "did", okay?

So, let's look at some examples.

"When did you last finish a book?"

So, this question is like asking "When was the last time you finished a book?"

When did you last finish a book?

Next, "Where did you first meet your wife?", so what was the first place, right, tell me

the first place where you met your wife.

Did you meet her at work?

Did you meet her in a park?

Did you meet her - where, okay?

So, some other examples, let's see, "When did you first know that you wanted to be a

pilot?", for example, alright.

Not bad.

Alright.

Let's keep going.

So, "was" and "were", let's look at the sentences: Jeremy was first hired in 2017.

So, maybe Jeremy has had, you know, has been with one company for a long time.

When was he hired?

He was first hired in 2017.

Now, this could also mean that, maybe Jeremy left his job for a little while, tried something

different, and then he came back to the company, but he was first hired in 2017, then he left

the company and then he was re-hired in 2018, for example.

Alright, too much talking, too much.

Next: We were first here last year.

Okay?

So, you're visiting a place, it's a vacation spot maybe, you say "Wow, this place is beautiful,

do you remember?", right?

"We were first here last year.", so the first time we were here was last year.

So, here's the construction: you have your subject, you have was or were + first or last

+ a number of options, okay? + a preposition, or a location, or an adjective, or a past

participle.

If you use a past participle, you're using the passive form.

So here, "Jeremy was first hired in 2017." is a passive sentence.

He was hired by a company, okay?

So, adjective, let me give you an example: I was last happy when I was 16 years old.

It's very depressing, right?

The last time I was happy, I was 16 years old, so location, right?

Like, I was first here, we were first there, and a preposition, I was first with him when

I was, I don't know, I was first with him when I was 15 years old, so if you are someone,

you know, and this is your boyfriend you're talking about, or an ex-boyfriend, I was first

with him when I was 15, or I was first with her when I was 15, okay?

So, you have the preposition "with".

So, you have many options here.

Now, let's look at the question structure of this.

So, we have the question word, who, what, where, when, why, how, + was or were + the

subject + first or last + any of these options.

Now, you may have noticed there was a different example here a few seconds ago.

I realized I made a mistake and I used an example that used this structure instead of

this structure, so you kind of had, like, a bonus visual example that I'm not even going

to mention because I already erased it!

But, let's look at an example of this question structure with "was" or "were".

So: Where were you first stationed?

Now, this is a very specific context.

Those of you who have ever done military service, this might be a question that is familiar

to you, so if you are in the military and the military tells you "Okay, you have to

go to, you know, this place.

You must go here."

This is the first place you are stationed, you are sent by the military, you know, to

do your activities, your military activities.

So, where were you first stationed?

Okay?

There you go.

So, to recap, you can use "first" or "last" with the past simple as a shorter way of saying

"The first time" "The last time", okay?

The structures are a little different, but it's more compact and it's very common.

So, you can have, for example, "I first played Final Fantasy when I was around 14 years old."

"We last saw each other in January.", so remember, subject + first or last + past verb.

Subject + first or last + past verb.

We first went, I first saw, she first came, okay?

So, whenever it was.

Alright, next, question.

"When did you last finish a book?"

"Where did you first meet your wife?"

So, question + did + subject + first/last + base verb.

It's a long formula, but the more examples you see, the easier it is, right?

Where did you first?

When did you last?

Who did you first?

Who did you last?

Then we have was or were, so subject + was or were + first or last + ... all this stuff.

Preposition, location, adjective, past participle.

What you will notice is here, you have, right, a subject + first or last + past verb; here

it's flipped, so you're using subject + was or were, right, the verbs, and + first or

last, okay?

So, you're kind of flipping it with was or were.

So, be verb before first/last, and the main past verb after first or last.

Examples again: Jeremy was first hired in 2017.

We were first here last year.

And question - you see the form here, it's too long for me to say again, so let's just

look at the example: Where were you first stationed?

There we go.

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