Pour conjuguer un verbe au past continuous tense, on conjugue l’auxiliaire être « to be » au past simple et on ajoute à la fin du verbe proposé la terminaison ING pour désigner le participe présent au verbe à conjuguer.
Les différentes formes : Exemple du verbe To work
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Forme affirmative
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Forme interrogative
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Forme négative
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NB : l’on peut écrire
Wasn’t (forme contractée) ou was not
Et
weren’t (forme contractée) ou were not
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I was working
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Was I working ?
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I was not working
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You were working
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Were you working?
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You were not working
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He was working
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Was he working ?
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He was not working
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She was working
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Was she working ?
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She was not working
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It was working
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Was it working ?
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It was not working
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we were working
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Were we working ?
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We were not working
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You were working
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Were you working ?
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You were not working
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They were working
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Were they working ?
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They were not working
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NB :
- En général, on n’utilise pas le present continuous avec les verbes suivant : like, hear, know, love, understand, feel, see, think, want, hate et believe, car ce sont des verbes d’état, de pensée et d’expression des sentiments
La valeur d’emploi du past continuous tense
Le past continuous tense s’emploie pour :
- Exprimer des actions qui étaient en train de ce passé à un moment donné dans le passé. Généralement, ces actions sont inachevées car un évènement vient les interrompre.
Ex: I was watching TV when someone knocked at my door. (J’étais en train de regarder la télévision quand quelqu’un à toquer à ma porte)
- Décrire une scène dans une narration.
Ex: They were moving the corps to another place. (Ils déplaçaient les cadavres pour un autre lieu).
EXERCICE
Use past simple or past continuous tense to fill the blanks spaces.
- While Kevin (to watch)…………………………soccer on TV, Wendy (to listen)…………………………..to the radio.
- When I (to walk)………………………………..down Queen Street, I (to discover)…………………………..a wonderful store.
- The angry little boy (to throw)……………………………….her toy onto the floor and (to stamp)…………………………………….her foot.
- I (to receive)………………………………….your email while I (to sit)……………………….in the hospital waiting room.
- When Tina (To be)………………………………….little, she (to hate)………………………………………..the smell of broccoli.
- What….............you……………….. (To do) at six o’clock last night.
- The man ……………………. (To smoke) in front of me yesterday.
- The students ………………………… (To play) football last week.
- While my brother ……………………….. (to watch) TV, I…………………… (To wash) my cloths.
- You ……………………….. (To dance) when I came yesterday. weren’t it?
