(El meu pare va morir l'any 1989.)
Compare:
My father was dying.
(El meu pare es moria.)
Forms: talked, paid, went, came.
Questions and negatives are made with did and the infinitive:
| Positive statement | Mary went | They talked. | |
| Negative statement | They didn't talk. | Mary didn't go. | |
| Positive Question | Did they talk? | Did Mary go? | |
| Negative Question | Didn't they talk? | Didn't Mary go? |
We basically use the past simple to refer to events in past time that are considered as completed (compare past continuous) and without a specific consequence in present time (compare present perfect).
We can use the past simple to talk about a single short event or action, e.g.:
| My father died in 1989. (El meu pare va morir l'any 1989.) Compare: My father was dying. (El meu pare es moria.) |
| Susan went to live in Canada 10 years ago. (La Susan va anar a viure al Canadà fa 10 anys.) Compare: Susan has lived in Canada for 10 years. (Fa 10 anys que la Susan viu al Canadà.) Susan has lived in Canada since 1994. (La Susan viu al Canadà des de 1994.) |
| We didn't go to bed until after midnight. (No ens en vam anar al llit fins després de mitjanit.) |
| It's two months since I saw Peter. (Fa dos mesos que no veig en Peter.) |
| Jack finished his degree three years ago. (En Jack va acabar la carrera fa tres anys.) |
 | |||
 |
| ||
| |||
| As a child, I always walked to school. (De petita, sempre anava a l'escola caminant.) |
| Last year Mary played tennis almost every weekend. (L'any passat la Mary jugava a tennis gairebé cada cap de setmana.) Compare: One day, when Mary was playing tennis, she broke her racket. (Un dia, quan la Mary jugava a tennis, va trencar la raqueta.) |
We can use the past simple to talk about a long event, e.g.:
| Last Saturday it rained all morning. (Dissabte passat va ploure tot el matí.) Compare: At 10 o'clock it wasn't raining. (A les tres no plovia.) Was it raining when you went out? (Plovia quan vas sortir?) |
In all these cases, the events or actions are considered as complete.
As distinct from Catalan, English uses the past simple for recent (but complete) actions, e.g.:
| A: (Alguna cosa inintel·ligible.) |
| B: Sorry, what did you say? (Perdona, què has dit?) |
English also uses the past simple for events during the day when the relevant part of the day is finished, e.g.:
| (At 12 o'clock) What did you have for breakfast (today)? (Què has esmorzat (avui)?) |
| I finished work at half past five today. (Avui he plegat a dos quarts de sis.) |
Notice that a past tense, not a perfect, is obligatory when we refer to the past using a Time Adverbial, e.g.:
| A: When did they come? (Quan van venir o han vingut?) |
| B: They came last year/yesterday/10 years ago/ last September/in 1999 / this morning/five minutes ago. (Van venir l'any passat/ahir/fa 10 anys/el setembre passat. Han vingut aquest matí/fa cinc minuts.) |
Notice also the use of last (= the last time) and first (= the first time) with the past simple, e.g.:
| Tim first met Carolyn on holiday. (En Tim va conèixer la Carolyn durant unes vacances.) |
| We last went to the theatre over a year ago. (L'última vegada que vam anar al teatre fa un any.) |
In reference to a person's achievements (and without a time adverbial), if we use the past simple, the implication is that the person is dead, e.g.:
| Mary Proctor wrote three novels and many short stories. (Mary Proctor va escriure tres novel·les i molts contes.) Compare: Sally Jennings has written three novels and many short stories. (This implies that Sally Jennings is still alive.) |
| |||
|
| ||
| |||