Il past continuos si forma con il passato semplice del verbo essere (was\were) seguito dalla forma in -ing del verbo.
Esso corrisponde all’imperfetto italiano e si usa per parlare di:
- un’azione che era in corso in un momento determinato del passato: What were you doing, yesterday?\ Che cosa facevi ieri?
- un’azione in corso nel passato, spesso interrotta da un’altra più breve: She was driving home when she sow an abandoned dog.\Stava guidando verso casa quando vide un cane abbandonato;
- due o più azioni che si svolgono nel passato contemporaneamente: He was slipping, while Maria was having a bath.\Lui dormiva, mentre io facevo il bagno.
Con il passato progressivo si usano sia when(quando) che while(mentre), invece prima del past tense (passato semplice) si usa solo when (quando).
Forma affermativa Forma negativa Forma interrogativa
I was writing I was not (wasn’t) writing Was I writing?
You were writing You were not (wern’t) writing Were you writing?
He\She\It was writing He\She\It was not(wasn’t) writing Was he\she\it writing?
We were writing We were not (weren’t) writing Were we writing?
You were writing You were not (weren’t) writing Were you writing?
They were writing They were not (weren’t) writing Were they writing?
Le risposte brevi sono:
Yes\No, I ,he,she,it was \wasn’t
Yes \No, we, you, they was\wasn’t
