Past continuous tense (Progressiv imperfekt)

Past continuous och dess funktioner

Past continuous beskriver ageranden eller händelser i en tid innan nutid, som började i dåtid och som fortfarande sker vid tidpunkten för uttalandet. Med andra ord uttrycker det ett ofärdigt eller ofullständigt agerande i dåtid.

Det används:

Ofta för att beskriva bakgrunden till en historia som berättas i dåtid, dvs "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
för att beskriva en ofärdig händelse som avbrutits av en annan händelse eller av ett annat agerande dvs. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
för att uttrycka att någon ändrat sig: dvs. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."
tillsammans med 'wonder', för en mycket artig förfrågan: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

Exempel

They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
When we arrived he was having a bath.
When the fire started I was watching television.

Notera: med verb som normalt inte används i continuous-form, används istället imperfekt.

Att bilda Past continuous

Alla verbs past continuous består av två delar: imperfekt av verbet "to be" (was/were), grundformen av huvudverbet +ing.

Subjekt	was/were	base + ing
They	were	watching
Jakande
She	was	reading
Nekande
She	wasn't	reading
Frågande
Was	she	reading?
Frågande och nekande
Wasn't	she	reading?

To play, past continuous

Jakande	Nekande	Frågande
I was playing	I was not playing	Was I playing?
You were playing	You were not playing	Were you playing?
He was playing	He wasn't playing	Was he playing?
We were playing	We weren't playing	Were we playing?
They were playing	They weren't playing	Were they playing?