The past tense of "go to" is "went to." This irregular verb changes form to indicate past actions, such as "She went to the store yesterday."
"Go to" is a phrasal verb combining the irregular verb "go" with the preposition "to." When conjugated to past tense, both parts change: "go" becomes "went," while "to" remains unchanged. For example, "They went to the park last weekend."
Verbs like "go to" fall into two categories:
Many learners confuse "go to" with similar phrasal verbs like "go with" or "go for." For example, they might incorrectly say "He gosed with his friends" instead of "He went with his friends." Another mistake is omitting "to," saying "She went the store" instead of "She went to the store."
When teaching English, I noticed students often wrote "I go to school yesterday," mixing present and past tenses. To correct this, I emphasized that "go to" requires both parts to change: "I went to school yesterday." This small adjustment improved their accuracy.