PAST CONTINUOUS

El past continuous es un verbo que se utiliza para hablar de acciones que estábamos haciendo en un momento concreto del pasado.

En castellano equivale a expresiones del tipo: Yo estaba haciendo.

En inglés hay una fórmula para conjugar frases en past continuous que es la siguiente:

PRONOMBRE + TO BE (en pasado) + VERBO ACABADO EN –ING

A continuación veremos algunos ejemplos de frases en past continuous:

Yo	estaba	caminando
I	was	walking

Tú	estabas	trabajando
You	were	working

Él	estaba	llorando
He	was	crying

Ella	estaba	estudiando
She	was	studying

Eso	estaba	hirviendo
It	was	boiling

Nosotros	estábamos	bailando
We	were	dancing

Vosotros	estabais	esperando
You	were	waiting

Ellos	estaban	durmiendo
They	were	sleeping

 PRACTIQUEMOS…

Completa el siguiente cuadro con las traducciones de las siguientes frases en inglés:

Yo estaba tocando el piano.
Tú estabas escribiendo (write)
Él estaba sonriendo (smile)
Ella estaba cantando
Eso estaba cambiando (change)
Nosotros estábamos cocinando (cook)
Vosotros estabais viajando (travel)
Ellos estaban jugando (play) a fútbol.

Comprobemos como ha ido el ejercicio anterior…

Yo estaba tocando el piano.	I was playing the piano.
Tú estabas escribiendo	You were writing.
Él estaba sonriendo	He was smiling.
Ella estaba cantando	She was singing.
Eso estaba cambiando	It was changing.
Nosotros estábamos cocinando	We were cooking.
Vosotros estabais viajando	You were travelling.
Ellos estaban jugando a fútbol.	They were playing football.

Ahora veremos cómo hacer la interrogativa i la negativa. La interrogativa i la negativa funciona de la misma manera que el verbo TO BE del past simple.

Para hacer la INTERROGATIVA:

Tenemos que girar el pronombre i el verbo to be, cambiándolos de posición. Lo podemos ver en el siguiente ejemplo:

Afirmativa:	You	were	dancing
Negativa:	Were	you	dancing?

Para hacer la NEGATIVA:

Tenemos que añadir NOT después  del verbo TO BE. Lo podemos ver en el ejemplo siguiente:

Afirmativa:	You	were	dancing
Negativa:	You	were not	dancing?

 También podemos usar las formas abreviadas cuando hablemos de forma informal, las formas abreviadas son las siguientes:

Afirmativa:	You	were	dancing
Negativa:	You	weren’t	dancing?
Afirmativa:	He	was	sleeping
Negativa:	He	wasn’t	sleeping
Afirmativa:	I	was	working
Negativa:	I	wasn’t	working

PRACTIQUEMOS…

Completa la siguiente tabla con las frases anteriores en negativa i interrogativa:

I was playing the piano.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
You were writing.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
He was smiling.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
She was singing.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
It was changing.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
We were cooking.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
You were travelling.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:
They were playing football.	Interrogativa:
	Negativa:

 Comprobemos como ha ido el ejercicio anterior…

I was playing the piano.	Interrogativa:	Was I playing the piano?
	Negativa:	I was not playing the piano. // I wasn’t playing the piano.
You were writing.	Interrogativa:	Were you writing?
	Negativa:	You were not writing. // You weren’t writing.
He was smiling.	Interrogativa:	Was he smiling?
	Negativa:	He was not smiling. // He wasn’t smiling.
She was singing.	Interrogativa:	Was she singing?
	Negativa:	She was not singing. // She wasn’t singing.
It was changing.	Interrogativa:	Was It changing?
	Negativa:	It was not changing. // It wasn’t changing.
We were cooking.	Interrogativa:	Were we cooking?
	Negativa:	We were not cooking. // We weren’t cooking.
You were travelling.	Interrogativa:	Were you travelling?
	Negativa:	You were not travelling. You weren’t travelling.
They were playing football.	Interrogativa:	Were they playing football?
	Negativa:	They were not playing football. // They weren’t playing football.