¿Sabes conjugar el Present Continuous? Sabes conjugar el Past Continuous.

past continuous pasado continuo

ESTRUCTURA

SUJETO

  TO BE (was/were) VERBO EN –ing
John was having

a coffee.

CONJUGACIÓN

I was dancing yo estaba bailando
you were dancing tú estabas bailando
he was dancing él estaba bailando
we were dancing nosotros estábamos bailando
you were dancing vosotros estabais bailando
they were dancing ellos estaban bailando

FORMAS

AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
I was I was not dancing. Was I dancing?
You were You are not dancing. Were you dancing?
He was dancing. He was not dancing. Was he dancing?
She was dancing. She was not dancing. Was she dancing?
It was dancing. It was not dancing. Was it dancing?
We were dancing. We were not dancing. Were we dancing?
You were dancing. You were not dancing Were you dancing?
They were dancing. They were not dancing Were they dancing?

 

ORTOGRAFÍA

Regla general : añadir -ING al infinitivo:

talk => talking   /  sing => singing   /  read => reading

 

Verbos terminados en –e:  Simplemente quítala:

  dance => dancing    /  smile => smiling

 

Pero…

Si acaban en ‘-ee’  / ‘-ye’ / ‘*oe’, no hay cambio:

see => seeing  / dye => dyeing

Verbos acabados en –ie: sustituye este grupo por –y-

Lie => lying  /  die=> dying

 

En inglés Británico:

travel => travelling                    cancel => cancelling

Verbos de una sílaba que acaben en consonante-vocal-consonante (CVC):

sit => sitting                dig => digging                   swim => swimming                    knit => knitting

 

La misma norma para palabras de dos sílabas si la última es tónica:

for’get  => forgetting           (2 letras ‘t’)

—‘listen  => listening              (una ‘n’)

 

USO

Fíjate en el ejemplo:

Teresa is in her car. She was on her way to work. She was driving.

Teresa estaba conduciendo en ese el momento.

También nos valemos del Past Continuous para hablar de situaciones en progreso en el pasado, que fueron interrumpidas por una acción más breve. WHILE es una palabra que acompañará al Past Continuous en muchas ocasiones.

I was reading an interesting book when she stepped into the room. (Yo) estaba leyendo un libro interesante cuando ella entró en la habitación.

While I was reading an interesting book, she stepped into the room. Mientras (yo) estaba leyendo un libro interesante cuando ella entró en la habitación.