Simple past
Prueba tu comprensiónFunciones del "simple past"
El "simple past" se utiliza para hablar de una acción que concluyó en un tiempo anterior al actual. La duración no es relevante. El tiempo en que se sitúa la acción puede ser el pasado reciente o un pasado lejano.
Ejemplos
- John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
- My father died last year.
- He lived in Fiji in 1976.
- We crossed the Channel yesterday.
Siempre se utiliza el "simple past" para referirse a cuándo ocurrió algo, de modo que va asociado a ciertas expresiones temporales que indican:
- frecuencia: often, sometimes, always
I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
I often brought my lunch to school. - un tiempo determinado: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
We saw a good film last week.
Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
She finished her work atseven o'clock
I went to the theatre last night - un tiempo indeterminado: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People lived in caves a long time ago.
- She played the piano when she was a child.
Nota: el término ago es útil para expresar distancia temporal en el pasado. Se coloca después del periodo de tiempo de que se trate: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.
Formación del "simple past"
Formación del "simple past" con verbos regulares
| Afirmativa | ||
| Sujeto | + raíz + ed | |
| I | skipped. | |
| Negativa | ||
| Sujeto | + did not | + infinitivo sin to |
| They | didn't | go. |
| Interrogativa | ||
| Did | + sujeto | + infinitivo sin to |
| Did | she | arrive? |
| Interrogativa negativa | ||
| Did not | + sujeto | + infinitivo sin to |
| Didn't | you | play? |
To Walk
| Afirmativa | Negativa | Interrogativa |
|---|---|---|
| I walked | I didn't walk | Did I walk? |
| You walked | You didn't walk | Did you walk? |
| He walked | He didn't walk | Did he walk? |
| We walked | We didn't walk | Did we walk? |
| They walked | They didn't walk | Did they walk? |
"Simple past" de los verbos to be, to have, to do
| Sujeto | Verbo | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Be | Have | Do | |
| I | was | had | did |
| You | were | had | did |
| He/She/It | was | had | did |
| We | were | had | did |
| You | were | had | did |
| They | were | had | did |
Notas sobre las construcciones afirmativa, negativa e interrogativa
Afirmativa
La forma afirmativa del "simple past" es sencilla.
- I was in Japan last year
- She had a headache yesterday.
- We did our homework last night.
Negativa e interrogativa
Para las formas negativa e interrogativa del "simple past" del verbo "do" como verbo ordinario, se emplea como auxiliar "do", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
La forma negativa del verbo "have" en "simple past" suele construirse utilizando el auxiliar "do", aunque en ocasiones solo se añade not o la contracción "n't".
La forma interrogativa del verbo "have" en "simple past" suele emplear el auxiliar "do".
Ejemplos
- They weren't in Rio last summer.
- We didn't have any money.
- We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
- We didn't do our exercises this morning.
- Were they in Iceland last January?
- Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
- Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?
Nota: para construir las formas negativa e interrogativa de todos los verbos en "simple past", se utiliza siempre el auxiliar 'did''.
"Simple past": verbos irregulares
Algunos verbos hacen el "simple past" de forma irregular. Estos son los más comunes.
to go
- He went to a club last night.
- Did he go to the cinema last night?
- He didn't go to bed early last night.
to give
- We gave her a doll for her birthday.
- They didn't give John their new address.
- Did Barry give you my passport?
to come
- My parents came to visit me last July.
- We didn't come because it was raining.
- Did he come to your party last week?