Il past simple (o simple past, in italiano passato semplice) è un tempo verbale della lingua inglese. È un tempo semplice che esprime un'azione passata e già conclusa. In italiano non esiste un vero tempo corrispondente, può essere tradotto con una forma adeguata che esprima un'azione già conclusa e che non ha conseguenze sul presente, indipendentemente se l'azione è avvenuta 5 anni fa o 10 minuti fa.
Indice |
Per trasformare un verbo al simple past bisogna aggiungere la desinenza -ed alla sua forma base (esempio: to work → worked; to visit → visited, ecc...). Questo ovviamente vale per i verbi regolari.
Nella trasformazione nel simple past dei verbi regolari, vi sono alcune eccezioni ortografiche e fonologiche.
Il passato di to be (verbo essere) è fortemente irregolare:
Forma affermativa
I was
you were
he was, she was, it was):massi 0
we were
you were
they were
Forma negativa
I wasn't
you weren't
he wasn't
we weren't
you weren't
they weren't
Forma interrogativa
was I ?
were you ?
was he !
were we ?
were you ?
were they ?
alcune risposte negative ed affermative
Yes, I/he was
Yes, you/we/they were
No, I/he wasn't
No, you/we/they weren't
Tutte le forme dei verbi regolari sono uguali per tutte le persone. La forma affermativa dei verbi regolari si forma, come spiegato, aggiungendo -ed alla forma base, con varie particolarità di formazione.
La forma negativa viene creata aggiungendo didn't prima del verbo (=did not. did è il passato di to do) all'infinito:
La frase interrogativa si forma aggiungendo did all'inizio della frase e con il verbo all'infinito:
Oltre al verbo to be esistono diversi verbi che formano il past simple in maniera irregolare. Se ne presentano i principali
|
to become → became to begin → began to blow → blew to bring → brought to build → built to burn → burned/burnt to buy → bought to catch → caught to come → came to cost → cost 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 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 sell → sold to send → sent to set → set to shine → shone to show → showed (irregolare per il participle past diverso) 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 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 |