Preteritum

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Definisjon av preteritum

Preteritum (simple past tense) brukes til å snakke om fullførte handlinger som skjedde før nå. Preteritum er fortidens grunnleggende form på engelsk. Handlingen kan ha skjedd nylig, eller i den fjerne fortiden, og handlingens varighet er ikke viktig.

Eksempler
  • John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
  • My father died last year.
  • He lived in Fiji in 1976.
  • We crossed the Channel yesterday.

Du bruker alltid preteritum når du sier når noe skjedde, så det knyttes til bestemte fortidsuttrykk.

  • frekvens: often, sometimes, always
    I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
    I often brought my lunch to school.
  • et bestemt tidspunkt: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
    We saw a good film last week.
    Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
    She finished her work atseven o'clock
    I went to the theatre last night
  • et ubestemt tidspunkt: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
    People lived in caves a long time ago.
    She played the piano when she was a child.

NB! Ordet ago er en nyttig måte å uttrykke avstand i forhold til fortiden. Det plasseres etter tidsperioden: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Vær forsiktig! Preteritum på engelsk kan se ut som et tempus på ditt eget språk, men betydningen kan være forskjellig.

Forming av preteritum

Preteritumsformen av regelrette verb
Bekreftende
Subjekt + verb + ed  
I skipped.  
Nektende
Subjekt + did not + infinitiv uten to
They didn't go.
Spørrende
Did + subjekt + infinitiv uten to
Did she arrive?
Spørrende nektende
Did not + subjekt + infinitiv uten to
Didn't you play?
To Walk
Bekreftende Nektende Spørrende
I walked I didn't walk Did I walk?
You walked You didn't walk Did you walk?
He walked He didn't walk Did he walk?
We walked We didn't walk Did we walk?
They walked They didn't walk Did they walk?
Preteritumsformen av verbene to be, to have, to do
Subjekt Verb
  Be Have Do
I was had did
You were had did
He/She/It was had did
We were had did
You were had did
They were had did

Notater om bekreftende, nektende og spørrende former

Bekreftende

Bekreftende formen av preteritum er enkel.

  • I was in Japan last year
  • She had a headache yesterday.
  • We did our homework last night.
Spørrende og nektende

For den spørrende og nektende formen av verbet "to do" som et vanlig verb i preteritum, bruk hjelpeverbet "did". For eksempel: We didn't do our homework last night.
Den nektende formen av "have" i preteritum er vanligvis dannet ved å bruke hjelpeverbet "did", men av og til er det nok å legge til not eller kontraksjonen "n't".

Den spørrende formen av "have" i preteritum bruker vanligvis hjelpeverbet "did".

Eksempler
  • They weren't in Rio last summer.
  • We didn't have any money.
  • We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
  • We didn't do our exercises this morning.
  • Were they in Iceland last January?
  • Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
  • Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

NB! For de nektende og spørrende formene av alle verbene i preteritum, alltid bruk hjelpeverbet 'did''.

Preteritum, uregelrette verb

Noen verb har uregelrette preteritumsform. Her finner du de vanligste.

to go
  • He went to a club last night.
  • Did he go to the cinema last night?
  • He didn't go to bed early last night.
to give
  • We gave her a doll for her birthday.
  • They didn't give John their new address.
  • Did Barry give you my passport?
to come
  • My parents came to visit me last July.
  • We didn't come because it was raining.
  • Did he come to your party last week?
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