Past Tenses (tiempos en pasado)

The past tense in English is used: to talk about the past to talk about hypotheses things that are imagined rather than true (cosas que se imaginan, en lugar de verdades) for politeness. (por cortesa) There are four past tense forms in English: Past simple: Past continuous: Past perfect: Past perfect continuous: I worked I was working I had worked I had been working

PAST SIMPLE: [VERB +-ed or Irregular verbs] Examples: -You called Debbie. -Did you call Debbie? -You did not call Debbie. Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. (Se usa para expresar que una accin empez y termin en un momento especfico en el pasado): -I saw a movie yesterday. -I didn't see John yesterday. The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc. (Se usa para expresar una duracin de algo que empieza y termina en el pasado. Una duracin puede ser una accin de tiempo que va seguida de expresiones como: por dos aos, por cinco minutos, todo el da, todo el ao, etc) -I lived in Brazil for two years. -Jane studied Japanese for five years. Practice 1. Rachel _______________ (study) Spanish yesterday. 2. John_______________ (fix) his car last night. 3. We _______________ (jump) rope when we were kids.

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4. _____ you_____________(eat) breakfast yesterday ? 5. _____ she _______________ (drink) coffee yesterday?

PAST CONTINOUS: [was/were + present participle -ing] Examples: -You were studying when she called. -Were you studying when she called? -You were not studying when she called Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time. (Se usa para indicar que una accin ms larga que ocurri en el pasado fue interrumpida, y que normalmente esta interrupcin es una accin ms corta en el pasado simple. Dicha interrupcin puede ser tanto verdadera, como una cualquiera en el tiempo.) Examples: -I was watching TV when she called. (Estaba viendo la tele cuando ella llam) -When the phone rang, she was writing a letter. (Cundo el telfono son, ella estaba escribiendo una carta.) Practice: 1. I _________________ while he was making dinner.(be/study) 2. While Ellen _____________________, (be/reading)Tim _________________television. (be/watch) 3. _________ you _____________ (be/listening)while he __________________?(be/talking) 4. I _____________________ (not be/pay) attention while I was writing the letter, so I made several mistakes. 5. What __________ you ___________(be/do) while you ___________________(be/waiting)? 6. Thomas ___________________(not be/working), and I ____________________ (not be/working), either.

PAST PERFECT: [had + past participle] Examples: -You had studied English before you moved to New York. -Had you studied English before you moved to New York? -You had not studied English before you moved to New York. The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past. (Indica la idea de que algo sucedi antes que otra accin en el pasado. Tambin muestra qye algo pas antes de un tiempo especfico en el pasado.)

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Examples: -I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Hawaii. -I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet. Practice: 1. Tony knew Istanbul so well because he _____________(have/vist) the city several times. 2. _______ Susan ever ________(have/study) English before she moved to London? 3. She only understood the movie because she __________________(have/read) the book. 4. Kristine ______ ________ _________ (have never/be) to an opera before last night. 5. We were not able to get a hotel room because we ____________________ (have not/*book) in advance. (*book= reservar hotel, ticket de avin/tren, etc.)

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS: [had been + present participle -ing] Examples: -You had been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived. -Had you been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived? -You had not been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived. We use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. "For five minutes" and "for two weeks" are both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous. Notice that this is related to the Present Perfect Continuous; however, the duration does not continue until now, it stops before something else in the past. (Lo usamos para mostrar que algo empez en el pasado y ha continuado hasta otro tiempo en el pasado. por 5 minutos, por 2 semanas son duraciones que pueden ser usadas con el Past Perfect Continuous. Esto est relacionado con el Present Perfect Continuous, sin embargo la duracin no contina hasta ahora, sino que cese antes de otro suceso en el pasado.) Examples: -They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived. (Haban estado hablando durante 1 hora, antes de que llegara Tony.) -She had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business. (Haba estado trabajando en esa compaa durante 3 aos, cuando se fue a la quiebra.) Practice: 1. How long _______ you _______________ (have/be/wait) to get on the bus? 2. Mike wanted to sit down because he ______________________(have/be/stand) all day at work. 3. James ________________________(have/be/teach) at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia. 4. A: How long _______ you _________________(have/be/study) Spanish before you moved to Costa Rica? B: I _____________________(have not/be/study) Spanish very long.

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