Past simple

tempo verbale della lingua inglese

Il past simple (in italiano passato semplice) è un tempo verbale della lingua inglese.

Si usa per descrivere un'azione, una situazione o un evento concluso in maniera definitiva e permanente, sia che essa sia avvenuta in un passato recente che distante. Indica quand' è avvenuta l'azione.

Spesso il tempo è indicato da espressioni come: Two years ago, last week, yesterday...

Past simple del verbo essere

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Per il verbo to be ci sono due forme di past simple (was e were).

Forma affermativa

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La forma affermativa del verbo to be si forma con il soggetto seguito dal verbo al passato:

I was

You were

He/she/it was

We were

You were

They were

Forma negativa

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La forma negativa del verbo to be si forma con il verbo al passato seguito dalla negazione not:

I was not/ wasn't

You were not/ weren' t

He/she/it was not/wasn' t

We were not/ weren' t

You were not/ weren' t

" They were not/ weren' t"

Forma interrogativa

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La forma interrogativa del verbo to be si forma anteponendo il verbo al soggetto:

Was I?

Were you?

Was he/she/it?

Were we?

Were you?

Were they?

Risposte brevi

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Per le risposte brevi, in inglese non è sufficiente rispondere con un semplice "sì" o "no" come si fa in italiano. Bisogna aggiungere il verbo essere declinato correttamente:

Yes, I was - No, I wasn't

Yes, you were - No, you weren't

Yes, he/she/it was - No, he/she/it wasn't

Yes, we were - No, we weren't

Yes, you were - No, you weren't

Yes, they were - No, they weren't

Formazione dei verbi regolari

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Forma affermativa

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Per formare la forma affermativa del past simple dei verbi regolari, si aggiunge la desinenza -ed alla forma base del verbo (che si ottiene prendendo l'infinito del verbo e togliendo il to che vi è anteposto). Non varia in base alla persona. Prendendo, ad esempio, il verbo to work, si avrà quindi:

I worked

You worked

He/She/It worked

We worked

You worked

They worked

Variazioni ortografiche

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La regola base di formazione del past simple è che bisogna aggiungere la desinenza -ed alla forma base del verbo. Ci sono tuttavia delle variazioni ortografiche; quando la forma base del verbo termina in:

  • -e → si aggiunge soltanto la "d"
    • hope/hoped
    • situate/situated
    • change/changed
    • die/died
  • consonante preceduta da una sola vocale → si raddoppia la consonante e si aggiunge ed
    • stop/stopped
    • travel/travelled
  • -y preceduta da una consonante → la "y" si toglie e si aggiunge ied
    • study/studied
    • marry/married

Forma negativa

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Per la forma negativa del past simple, bisognerà aggiungere il verbo to do (declinato al past simple) seguito da not dopo il soggetto e prima del verbo principale posto nella sua forma base.

I did not work - I didn't work

You did not work - You didn't work

He/She/It did not work - He/She/It didn't work

We did not work - We didn't work

You did not work - You didn't work

They did not work - They didn't work

Forma interrogativa

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La forma interrogativa del past simple si forma ponendo did all'inizio della frase, seguito dal soggetto e infine dal verbo nella sua forma base:

Did I work?

Did you work?

Did he/she/it work?

Did we work?

Did you work?

Did they work?

Risposte brevi

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Per formare le risposte brevi, in inglese bisognerà far seguire l'ausiliare did al "si" o al "no":

Yes, I did - No, I didn't

Yes, you did - No, you didn't

Yes, he/she/it did - No, he/she/it didn't

Yes, we did - No, we didn't

Yes, you did - No, you didn't

Yes, they did - No, they didn't

Formazione dei verbi irregolari

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In inglese esistono i verbi irregolari che, al past simple, hanno una forma separata e non deducibile dalla regola generale.

to be → was
to become → became
to begin → began
to blow → blew
to bring → brought
to build → built
to burn → burned/burnt
to buy → bought
to can → could
to catch → caught
to come → came
to cost → cost
to do → did
to draw → drew
to dream → dreamed/dreamt
to drink → drank
to drive → drove
to eat → ate
to feel → felt
to find → found
to fly → flew
to forget → forgot
to get → got
to give → gave
to go → went
to grow → grew
to have → had
to hear → heard
to hide → hid
to hit → hit
to hold → held
to hurt → hurt
to keep → kept
to know → knew
to learn → learned/learnt
to leave → left
to lend → lent
to let → let
to lose → lost
to make → made
to mean → meant
to meet → met
to pay → paid
to put → put
to read → read
to ride → rode
to run → ran
to say → said
to see → saw
to seek → sought
to sell → sold
to send → sent
to set → set
to shine → shone
to show → showed
to shut → shut
to sing → sang
to sit → sat
to sleep → slept
to smell → smelled/smelt
to speak → spoke
to spend → spent
to steal → stole
to sting → stung
to strike → struck
to swim → swam
to take → took
to teach → taught
to tell → told
to think → thought
to understand → understood
to wake → woke
to wear → wore
to win → won
to wind → wound
to write → wrote

Voci correlate

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Collegamenti esterni

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