In the article we will analyze the temporal features of the English and Russian languages, namely, we compare the education of the past tense in these two languages. We will analyze in detail what Past Simple is in English. Be sure to understand how the proposals are built, what rules and exceptions exist. The topic is quite logical and simple, if not distracted by the explanation.
Past tense in languages
To begin with, the past tense in Russian and English has a fundamental semantic difference. There is one past tense in our language . For us, this is absolutely natural and goes without saying: “ he read the book yesterday ,” “ we phoned two days ago ,” “ by three o’clock I was ready for the trip ,” “ they walked from four to eight in the evening, ” etc. All these actions were committed in the past and have been produced to date.
For us, this is enough to understand that we are dealing with the past tense. In English, there are four varieties of past tense. The given examples of sentences are used in different forms of the past tense forms.
Note: past tenses
So, to make the picture clearer, we list the types of past tense - Past Tenses (in translation past - “past, past”, tenses - “tenses”):
- Past Simple - past simple.
- Past Continuous - past continuing.
- Past Perfect - past perfect.
- Past Perfect Continuous - past perfect in the process.
All these times are past. For clarity, consider the difference on additional specific proposals:
- Past Simple: " He read the book yesterday ." It is important for us that the action happened once in the past - “yesterday”. It doesn’t matter whether it was morning or evening. Most importantly, the action happened.
- Past Continuous: " Yesterday at two in the afternoon he read a book ." This time tells us about a certain action at a particular moment in the past, not just “yesterday”, but “yesterday at two in the afternoon.” The action took place at a particular moment.
- Past Perfect: " By two in the afternoon, he had already finished reading the novel ." Here the action took place in the past and was completed before two hours. In other words, the action occurred earlier than some other action (or time) in the past.
- And finally, Past Perfect Continuous: " He read the novel yesterday from three to six in the evening ." At this time, the emphasis is on committing an action in the past, lasted for a long period and ended until a certain time in the past.
At first glance, it is somewhat confused and difficult. But when studying a specific time and with the necessary training, everything becomes clear.
We are now specifically interested in Past Simple in English . We will consider it.
Past Simple: use cases
The Past Simple time in English characterizes actions that were performed once in the past. Typically, such sentences indicate certain words (perhaps they are simply implied): yesterday or two hours ago, last week or last Friday, last year or month, a couple of years or five years ago, and so on.
Actions that took place in the past and follow each other also characterize this time. For example: " She woke up, took a shower, packed up, had breakfast and went to work ."
This time is also used when the usual actions in the past are implied, but now irrelevant now: “ In my early childhood I loved to often run to visit my grandmother .”
Now let's move on to building sentences and touch on the rules defined in Past Simple .
Affirmative (narrative) sentences in Past Simple
So, in order to build an affirmative sentence in Past Simple, you need to know the following: in English there are regular and irregular verbs. Let's figure it out:
- Regular verbs are those that obey certain laws of the language, for example, the rule of the formation of the past tense. For all correct, you can say, “obedient” verbs, it is single and mandatory: the ending “ –ed ” or “ –d ” is added to the initial form of the verb (without the to particle) to form the past tense.
- Irregular verbs are, in simple terms, "naughty" verbs that do not obey the general principle of the formation of the verb form in Past Simple (past simple). The rules do not apply here - exceptions work that need to be remembered! The difficulty is that there are many irregular verbs. They are all reflected in special grammar tables in textbooks or in ordinary English-Russian dictionaries. Next to the irregular verb are two more forms. We will be interested in precisely the second form (or the second column in the textbook tables).
When building sentences, remember the word order. At the initial stage, try to start with the subject, followed by the predicate, and only then all the other members of the sentence. This is optional, but desirable, since observing this point will help develop the habit of not losing significant parts of the statement and know exactly where to start building the phrase.
Negative and interrogative sentences in Past Simple
To build negative and interrogative sentences in Past Simple in English, you need to know that the auxiliary verb did did exist. This is an assistant verb. It helps build negative and interrogative statements.
In a negative sentence, first (in the first place) is the subject, then - the verb helper did with negation not (in abbreviated form - didn't ), then - the predicate in the initial form without to and the remaining members of the sentence.
In constructing the question, the word order is as follows: first, if there is one, a question word, then the assistant verb did , then the subject, predicate, in the initial form without to , and the rest of the sentence. Using the example in the table proposed in the article, this can be seen more clearly.
For a complete understanding and consolidation of the knowledge gained, you must perform exercises in Past Simple. It can be a variety of tasks: put the verb in the desired form, translate the sentence from Russian into English, insert the appropriate verb from the suggested ones, etc. The main thing is to perform them with awareness, in which case it will be very easy to build your speech in the past tense.
The article reflects the full table in Past Simple. Disassemble it again in detail and carefully. Two accents are regular / irregular verbs and the auxiliary verb did.
Note: types of simple Simple (simple) time
It must be repeated that if you catch the principle of the use of times in English, and it is original and simple, then the whole kind of temporary table in English will become clear and transparent.
For example, simple in translation - " simple ". There are three Simple tenses in English: Present Simple, Past Simple, Future Simple (present simple and past simple, and futile simple), that is, a real simple, past simple and future simple time. Each of these types of time is characterized by its own construction of sentences and its own characteristics, which is presented in the table.
It will also be extremely useful to perform exercises for comparing and constructing sentences in this line of the Simple direction (for example , present simplic and pastes simplic , pastes simplic and futures simplic, present simples and futures simplic). And the more practice, the better!
We hope that this article was useful and informative for you.