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The past indefinite
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(The simple past)
§ 30. Formation. The affirmative forms of the past indefinite are synthetic, the interrogative, negative and negative-interrogative forms are analytic.
Affirmative (synthetic) forms are represented by the second of the basic verb forms.
Interrogative forms are built by means of the auxiliary to do in the past indefinite (did), which is placed before the subject, and the infinitive stem of the notional verb, which follows the subject.
Negative forms are built by means of the negative form of the auxiliary, which has two varieties: a) didn’t (used in the spoken language) and b) did not (used in the written language) and the infinitive of the notional verb that follows it.
The paradigm of the verb in the past indefinite
| Affirmative | Interrogative | |||
| I He (she, it) We You They | spoke (played) | Did | I he (she, it) we you they | speak (play?) |
| Negative | ||||
| I He (she, it) We You They | did not (didn’t) speak (play) |
Negative-interrogative
| a) Did | I he (she, it) we you they | Not speak? (play?) | b) Didn’t | I he (she, it) we you they | speak? (play?) |
The auxiliary did also occurs in affirmative forms in cases when the speaker wishes to emphasize his statement, as in:
But I assure you, he did tell me of it himself.
Actually, I did see him once last week.
There are a few verbs which form their past indefinite differently from the way described above. These are:
The verb to be, which has synthetic forms not only in the affirmative, but also in the interrogative, negative and negative-interrogative. It also distinguishes the category of number. The interrogative is formed by placing the verb before the subject.
The verb to have, which also has synthetic forms for all structures.
When having meanings other than ‘possess’ or when used as part of a phrasal verb (to have a look), to have forms its interrogative and negative in the ordinary way with the auxiliary to do.
§ 31. The past indefinite refers actions to past time quite cut off from the present, that is, these actions are in no way connected with the present).* The past indefinite can therefore be used only in contexts relating to the past. The past reference of the context can be shown:
* This is very important for distinguishing the situations in which either only the past indefinite or only the present perfect are to be used.
a) by various adverbials of time pointing to the past, for example, yesterday, the day before yesterday, last (that) Saturday (Sunday), etc., last (that) week (month, year), an hour ago (and other adverbials with ago), in 1970, on the 1st of September, and many others denoting certain moments and periods of time already past.
He left yesterday.
They married in 1975.
She returned two hours ago.
I saw them last Monday.
That night nobody slept.
b) by some other past actions (denoted by the verb in the past indefinite or past continuous).
He came when I was already at home.
They started when the sun was rising.
Thus the very fact that the past indefinite is used in a narrative or in a single sentence is generally an indication that some past time not connected with the present is referred to.
§ 32. The past indefinite is the verb form most frequently used; its range of application is immense, especially in all kinds of narratives.
The past indefinite is used:
1. To state simple facts in the past.
The house stood on the hill.
She was beautiful.
I did not know who the man was.
I did not hear your question.
I did not see you at the theatre.
What did you say?
The past indefinite, never the present perfect, is used in questions beginning with when, even though no indication of past time is made, because when implies a certain moment in the past. The answer can be either in the past indefinite or in the present perfect, depending on the situation: When did you see him? - I saw him two days ago. - I have just seen him.
Likewise, the past indefinite, not the present perfect, is used in questions beginning with where because in such questions the reference to some past moment is implied: Where did you buy that hat? The implication is: when you were at the place where the action was performed.
2. To denote habitual actions in the past.
All summer I got up at 7.
On Sunday evening he took her to the pictures.
He usually took the first morning train.
Note:
Besides the past indefinite there are other ways of expressing habitual actions in the past:
a) by means of the form used to + infinitive:
Some years ago he used to call on me, now he never does.
The negative construction of used to is formed in one of two ways: didn’t used to and didn’t use to.
She didn’t use to knit in the evenings.
The interrogative construction is: did (he) used to? or did (he) use to...?
Did she used to write her articles at night?
Did he use to do it?
b) The other way to express habitual actions is by means of the verb would + infinitive stem. But unlike used
to, would always conveys an additional modal colouring of will, insistance, perseverance.
This used to be my mother’s room, and I would sit there for hours.
3. To denote a succession of past actions.
He got up, put on his hat, and left.
The car stopped, the door opened, and a very pretty girl got out of it.
4. To denote actions in progress at a certain moment in the past, with verbs that cannot be used in
continuous forms.
He was not listening but still heard what they were speaking about.
At that time he was on the watch.
5. To denote future actions in subordinate adverbial clauses of time and condition depending on
principal clauses with the predicate verb in a past tense.
She said she would come when the film was over.
She said she would do it if nothing unexpected happened.
§ 33. The ways of rendering the past indefinite in Russian are varied, owing to its aspective vagueness. Depending on the lexical meaning of the verb and on the context, it can be translated by Russian verbs in the past tense of both perfective and imperfective aspects with all possible shades of their meanings.
| In the morning I wrote two letters. | Утром я написал два письма. (A perfective (completed) action.) |
| I got up from my chair and bowed. | Я встал и поклонился. (Two perfective (completed) momentary actions.) |
| He breathed hard and stopped every few minutes. | Он тяжело дышал и останавливался каждые несколько минут. (Imperfective (incompleted) and iterative actions.) |
| She lay on the sofa reading а detective story. | Она лежала на диване, читая детектив. (Imperfective, durative action.) |
| On hearing it he laughed. | Услышав это, он засмеялся. (A perfective, inchoative action.) |
The past continuous
§ 34. Formation. The past continuous is formed analytically by the auxiliary verb to be in the past indefinite and participle I of the notional verb.
In the interrogative the auxiliary is placed before the subject and participle I follows the subject.
In the negative the corresponding negative forms of to be are employed, and participle I follows them.
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