Preteritum samtidsform

Funksjoner

Preteritum samtidsform beskriver handlinger og hendelser som skjedde før nå, som begynte i fortiden og er forstatt pågående når vi snakker om dem. I andre ord, det uttrykker en uavsluttet eller uffulstendig handling i fortiden.

Det brukes:

ofte til å beskrive en histories bakgrunn skrevet i preteritum, for eksempel: "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..."
til å beskrive en uavsluttet handling som ble avbrutt av en annen hendelse eller handling, for eksempel: "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
til å uttrykke en endret mening, for eksempel: "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."
med 'wonder', for å gjøre en veldig høflig forespørsel, for eksempel: "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

Eksempler

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.

NB! Vi bruker preteritum med verb som vanligvis ikke brukes med preteritum samtidsform.

Forming av preteritum samtidsform

Preteritum samtidsformen av alle verb består av to deler: preteritumsformen av verbet "to be" (was/were) + hovedverbets grunnform som slutter i +ing.

Subjekt	was/were	grunnform + ing
They	were	watching
Bekreftende
She	was	reading
Nektende
She	wasn't	reading
Spørrende
Was	she	reading?
Spørrende nektende
Wasn't	she	reading?

To play, preteritum samtidsform

Bekreftende	Nektende	Spørrende
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?