Past Tenses

Past Tenses

Ci sono 6 diversi tempi passati:

     SIMPLE PAST ( I lived

     PAST PROGESSIVE ( I was living )

     PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE ( I have lived )

     PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE ( I have been living )

     PAST PERFECT SIMPLE ( I had lived )

     PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE ( I had been living )

SIMPLE PAST: si usa per descrivere azioni finite nel passato.

Ex. Susan WENT into the station and BOUGHT a ticket.

Si usa per descrivere abitudini del passato, ma necessita la presenza di avverbi di tempo finito come yesterday, two months ago, last night, in 1995:

Ex. What DID you DO THEN?

I MET Robert YESTERDAY.

I LIVED in France FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

Si usa per raccontare una storia:

Ex. Once upon a time there WAS a beautiful caste where a little princess

BORN. One day a wizard CAME.

Past progressive(continuous): si usa per descrivere un'azione in corso nel passato a cui ci si riferisce ( lavoravo, stavo lavorando).

Ex. There where a lot of people waiting at the airport. Some WERE

SLEEPING, others WERE WALKING up and down; I WAS WAITING

for Ann.

Spesso descrive un'azione ripetuta in passato o un'abitudine noiosa:

Ex. When Peter was younger, he WAS ALWAYS GETTING into trouble.

Spesso si usa il past progressive con il past simple per esprimere un'azione in corso nel passato, improvvisamente interrotta:

Ex. While John WAS PACKING his suitcase, the phone rang.

Ricorda: alcuni verbi non richiedono la forma -ING, come TO TASTE.