Prošlo trajno vrijeme - The Past Continuous Tense
prošlo vrijeme glagola "to be" + particip prezenta glavnog glagola
She was reading. (ona je čitala)
We were playing. (mi smo igrali)
Odrični oblik se pravi dodavanjem rječice not:
She was not reading - She wasn't reading.
Upitni oblik se pravi inverzijom:
Was she playing?
Were we playing?
Nesvršeni preterit se upotrebljava:
- da se opiše pozadina, odnosno da se pred čitaoce postavi scena priče pisana u
prošlom vremenu. Obično priča počinje nesvršenim preteritom, a zatim se nastavlja prošlim vremenom, npr:
"James Bond was driving through town. It was raining. The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the streets. Suddenly, Bond saw the killer in a
telephone box...";
- da se opiše radnja koja je trajala do trenutka kada ju je prekinula neka druga
prošla radnja:
I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang. (divno sam sanjao
kada se alarm oglasio);
I was watching TV when you telephoned. (gledao sam TV kada si nazvao)
- da se izrazi promjena mišljenja:
I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to go on an excursion instead. (mislio sam provesti dan na plaži ali sam odlučio otići na ekskurziju)
- za dvije radnje koje se dešavaju istovremeno:
The children were playing while their mothers were chatting. (djeca su se igrala
dok njihove majke čavrljale)
- u zavisnoj rečenici umjesto nescršenog prezenta ako je u glavnoj rečenici preterit:
I knew that he was talking to her about her daughter. (znao sam da se sa njom razgovara o njenoj kćeri).
Kod glagola koji se ne koriste u trajnom obliku upotrebljava se obični preterit
to call - zvati
| I was calling. | I was not calling | was I calling? |
| you were calling. | you were not calling | were you calling? |
| he, she, it was calling | he, she, it wasn't calling | was he, she, it calling? |
| we were calling | we weren't calling | were we calling? |
| you were calling | you weren't calling | were you callingg? |
| they were calling | they weren't calling | were they calling? |
