Indice del libro

Il Past Simple, in inglese, è il tempo verbale che esprime un'azione passata e che non ha alcun legame con il presente.

Quando si usa il past simple:

  1. L’azione deve essersi svolta nel passato ed essere finita nel momento in cui si parla.
  2. Il tempo in cui l’azione si è svolta deve essere espresso nella frase o nel contesto (es. in 1990, last week...)
  3. Il tempo espresso deve essere passato e finito mentre si parla.(es. last week ma non this week)

Coniugazione di to be

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Persona Forma affermativa Forma negativa Forma interogativa Risposte brevi
I was wasn't Was I? Yes, I was / No, I wasn't
You were weren't Were you? Yes, you were / No, you weren't
He / She / It was wasn't Was he / she / it? Yes, he / she / it was / No, he / she / it wasn't
We were weren't Were we? Yes, we were / No, we weren't
You were weren't Were you? Yes, you were / No, you weren't
They were weren't Were they? Yes, they were / No, they weren't

Coniugazione dei verbi regolari

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Persona Forma affermativa Forma negativa Forma interogativa Risposte brevi
I asked didn't ask Did I ask? Yes, I did / No, I didn't
You asked didn't ask Did you ask? Yes, you did / No, you didn't
He / She / It asked didn't ask Did he / she / it ask? Yes, he / she / it did / No, he / she / it didn't
We asked didn't ask Did we ask? Yes, we did / No, we didn't
You asked didn't ask Did you ask? Yes, you did / No, you didn't
They asked didn't ask Did they ask? Yes, they did / No, they didn't

Come si può notare, il verbo alla forma affermativa ha la desinenza -ed.

Variazioni ortografiche

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  • Se il verbo finisce per -e, si aggiunge solo una -d: observe → observed.
  • Se il verbo termina per una -y preceduta da vocale, essa rimane tale; se invece è preceduta da una consonante la -y cade e si aggiunge -ied: play → played, study → studied.
  • Se il verbo termina per consonante preceduta da vocale ed è monosillabico, si raddoppia l'ultima consonante e si aggiunge -ed: stop → stopped.

Verbi irregolari

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Alcuni verbi sono irregolari. Tali verbi, nel Past Simple, sono uguali in tutte le persone. Sotto ci sono le forme al Past Simple di alcuni verbi irregolari. Per la forma negativa si usa l'ausiliare do (did).

Persona Forma affermativa Forma negativa Forma interogativa Risposte brevi
I ran didn't run Did I run? Yes, I did / No, I didn't
You ran didn't run Did you run? Yes, you did / No, you didn't
He / She / It ran didn't run Did he / she / it run? Yes, he / she / it did / No, he / she / it didn't
We ran didn't run Did we run? Yes, we did / No, we didn't
You ran didn't run Did you run? Yes, you did / No, you didn't
They ran didn't run Did they run? Yes, they did / No, they didn't