El inglés es un idioma que se enseña mediante la práctica. Es inútil memorizar sus normas si luego no saben aplicarse. Me ha ocurrido con muchos de mis alumnos: saben la “teoría” pero a menudo cometen errores muy básicos. Aunque es bien cierto que para un principiante es necesaria una explicación. Por este motivo siempre intento que mis clases sean un descubrimiento gradual para mis estudiantes, de lo más general a lo más concreto. Como dicen en mi tierra “despacito y buena letra”.
Igual que la mayoría de idiomas, en inglés se usan distintos tiempos verbales: presente, futuro y pasado. ¿Sabrías reconocerlos en estas oraciones?
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My mother will travel to Barcelona next week. | Charles takes his dog to the vet. | I called my grandma yesterday night. |
En cada uno de estos tiempos existen varias conjugaciones, aunque hoy veremos sólo la más básica: el pasado simple, o past simple.
Lo más importante es cómo y cuándo debe usarse esta forma verbal. El pasado simple se usa para:
· acciones terminadas del pasado ⇢ I went to the cinema yesterday.
· expresar detalles cuando explicamos algo ⇢ I fell off the chair.
· narrar historias ⇢ He sat down and ordered a coffee.
· interrumpir otros eventos ⇢ We were watching TV when the phone rang.
➜ ¿Sabrías reconocer algunas de estas funciones en este texto?
Hello, I’m Ingrid. Last winter holidays I went with my family to New York. We went by plane together with my parents, my sister Jessica and my younger borther Mark. We live in Barcelona and we are Spanish. We saw the most interesting places in New York: the Statue of Liberty, the Natural History Museum and we took a city tour. I loved it, because New York is a very beautiful city.
On the fifth day we went to Disney World in Florida, we stayed four days. That as very exciting and we all enjoyed ourselves a lot. We were all very tired because we had to walk a lot to see everything and enjoy all the attractions. My brother is only 4 years old but he loved it. I met all the Disney characters and they were very funny. It was the best trip of my life.
Todos las conjugaciones de los tiempos verbales en inglés se componen de tres formas: positiva, negativa e interrogativa. Veamoslas:
✔ Positiva: se crean añadiendo -ed en las formas regulares (las formas irregulares no cumplen ninguna norma general).
▶ I worked very hard last semester.
✘ Negativa: se construye añadiendo el verbo auxiliar didn’t (abreviatura de did not) y el verbo en infinitivo.
▶ I didn’t work very hard last semester.
?Interrogativa: se expresa mediante el verbo auxiliar did y la forma infinitiva del verbo. Como norma general, para la forma interrogativa siempre se invierte el órden entre sujeto y verbo. Insertamos primero el auxiliar, luego el verbo y finalmente el infinitivo.
▶ Did you work very hard last semester?
▶ I watch Netflix every day when I arrive home.
▶ My mother likes listening to music when she walks.
La riqueza de los narrative tenses es inmensa. Es importante dominar bien la forma simple, para luego poder combinarla con el resto de tiempos verbales y crear historias realmente interesantes. Para ello hay palabras muy concretas que sitúan al oyente y hacen que nuestras narraciones y anécdotas captiven a nuestros espectadores:
La dificultad más grande a la hora de conjugar el pasado simple en inglés es aprender cuáles son los verbos regulares e irregulares. No hay norma clara para ello. La forma regular se crea añadiendo -ed al final del verbo, mientras que las formas irregulares (sorry!) hay que aprenderlas mediante la práctica (escuchar, leer y hablar). Por suerte hoy tenemos al alcance un montón de recursos en internet (artículos, podcasts, videos) así como todas las plataformas para poder ver series y películas.
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Yesterday Mary [have] a job interview. She [go] downtown to the company. The interview [be] for a job in administration. Mary [graduate] university 6 months ago.
Her interview [be] at 11:30 am. She [wake up] at 8:00 am and [leave] her house before 9:00 am. She [wait] for the tram, but it [be] late. She [be] very worried because she [not want] to be late for the interview. She [try] to call the company to warn them, but her cell battery [be] dead.
When the tram [arrive], it was almost 10:00 am. Then the tram [be] slow because there was a lot of traffic. The tram finally [arrive] at Mary’s stop at 10:45 am.
Mary [run] from the tram stop to the office building. When she [enter] she [see] a sign that [say] the company was on the 32nd floor. The elevator ride [take] almost 8 minutes because many people [stop] at different floors.
When Mary [arrive] at reception, it was 10:58. She [be] in time!
“I am here to see Mrs. Baker” [say] Mary.
The receptionist [check] the schedule and replied:
“She is not here today. What is your name please?”
“My name is Mary White.”
“Sorry Mary, but your appointment is tomorrow.”
Mary [check] her agenda. It was true. She [be] there on the wrong day!
I watched Netflix every day when I arrived home.
I didn't watch Netflix every day when I arrived home. (didn't arrive)
Didn't I watch Netflix every day when I arrived home?
My mother liked listening to music when she walked.
My mother didn't like listening to music when she walked.
Did my mother like listening to music when she walked?
had / went / was / graduated
was / woke up / left / waited / was / was / didn't want / tried / was
arrived / was / arrived
ran / entered / saw / said / took / stopped
arrived / was
said
checked
cheked / was
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