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Introducción a esta gramática
Introducción al inglés
En comparación con el español, el inglés tiene las características siguientes.
Semejanzas
Una forma (palabra o frase) puede tener distintos significados. Por ejemplo, en español, "gato" puede significar un ‘animal doméstico’ o ‘máquina para levantar pesos’. La palabra inglesa ball significa tanto ‘pelota’ como ‘baile’. En la mayoría de los casos, tanto en español como en inglés, el contexto indica qué significado de todos los que tiene la forma es el adecuado, p. ej.:
Tengo que cambiar una rueda, déjame el gato.
Give me the ball.
( Dame la pelota. )
En todo caso, el aprendiente no puede suponer que si conoce un significado de una expresión, conoce todos los que tiene.
Diferencias
En inglés hay pocas formas verbales (podéis ver verbos), de manera que normalmente, si aparece un verbo solo, no se puede saber de qué persona se trata. Por lo tanto, hay que hacer explícito el sujeto del verbo, p. ej.:
vivo = I live
vives = you live
vivimos = we live
viven = they live
Como en español, se distingue entre verbos principales y verbos auxiliares, pero en inglés el grupo de verbos auxiliares es más amplio y tienen unas formas y funciones distintas. Por ejemplo, en algunos tiempos del verbo, hay que añadir una forma del verbo auxiliar do para formar una pregunta:
Mary and John live in Girona.
( Mary y John viven en Gerona .)
Do Mary and John live in Girona?
( ¿Mary y John viven en Gerona? )
En inglés, los adjetivos no presentan flexión de género, de manera que small corresponde tanto a ‘pequeño’ (masculino singular) como a ‘pequeña’ (femenino singular).
En inglés, la pronunciación de algunas palabras se puede deducir de la pronunciación de las letras que forman parte de las mismas individualmente, p. ej.: cat , top. A pesar de esto, en muchos casos no se puede hacer, y hay que aprender la pronunciación de la palabra como entidad y no como una serie de letras. En consecuencia, hay palabras que se letrean de manera distinta pero que tienen la misma pronunciación, p. ej.: no , know.
1.1 Main verbs and auxiliary verbs
Examples of main verbs are:
talk , go , include , correspond
Main verbs can take different forms, e.g.:
talk , talks , talking , talked ; go , goes , going , went , gone
Auxiliary verbs are (1) be , (2) have , (3) the modal auxiliaries and (4) do , does and did.
1. Be:
We use am , is , are to make the present continuous and was and were to make the past continuous; we use am , is , are , was , were , be , been and being to make passive verb forms.
2. Have:
We use have , has and had to make perfect forms, (see present perfect simple, past perfect simple, etc.).
3. Modal auxiliaries:
The modal auxiliaries are: can , could , will , would , shall , should , may , might , must and ought. These verbs do not have different forms. All of these auxiliaries are used in positive statements, negative statements and questions:
Statement Negative Question
be (continuous)
He was
sitting.
He wasn't
sitting.
Was he
sitting?
be (passive) It is made. It isn't made. Is it made?
Ann doesn't work and neither/nor does Larry ( or and Larry
doesn't, either).
( Ann no trabaja y Larry tampoco .)
We can use all of the auxiliary verbs, including do , does and did , in emphatic statements (where the auxiliary is stressed in speech and writing), e.g.:
A: Jane is n't helping. ( Jane no ayuda. )
B. That's not true. She is helping. ( No es cierto. Sí que ayuda. )
C: Jane can 't swim. ( Jane no sabe nadar .)
D: That's not true. She can swim. ( No es cierto. Sí que sabe
nadar .)
E: Jane does n't work. ( Jane no trabaja. )
F: That's not true. She does work. ( No es cierto. Sí que trabaja .)
For other uses of auxiliary verbs, see
also: Modals; so, too, neither/nor,
either; tag questions.
We also use auxiliary verbs in tag questions.
See also be and have.
1.2 Simple and continuous
The tenses of most main verbs have two possibilities:
Simple Continuous
Present They walk. They are walking.
Simple Continuous
Past They walked. They were walking.
Present
Perfect They have walked.
They have been
walking.
Past perfect They had walked.
They had been
walking.
Future with
will They will walk. They will be walking.
Future
Perfect
They will have
walked.
They will have been
walking.
Other
modals They may walk. They may be walking.
See also stative verbs.
The passive also has both possibilities, although it is unusual in the more complicated
forms.
Simple Continuous
Present It is taken It is being taken
Past It was taken It was being taken
Present
Perfect It has been taken (unusual)
Past perfect It had been taken (unusual)
Future with
will It will be taken (unusual)
Future perfect
It will have been
taken (unusual)
Other modals It may be taken (unusual)
Note: when the –ing form is a verb, it is called the
Nowadays all young people go to school. ( Hoy día todos los jóvenes van a la escuela .) Do you play chess? ( ¿Juegas al ajedrez? ) The present simple is typically used with frequency adverbs, e.g.: Mary always walks to work. ( Margaret sempre va al trabajo caminando .) Nowadays Indians do n't usually live in tents. ( Hoy día los indios no viven normalmente en tiendas .) Do you often play chess? ( ¿Juegas a menudo al ajedrez? ) As distinct from Spanish, we cannot use the present simple to express offers or suggestions, e.g.: ¿Te ayudo? ( Shall I help you? ) ¿Vamos al cine? ( Shall we go to the cinema? ) For shall , see also future time. We cannot use the present simple to express future actions, e.g.:
Ahora vuelvo. ( I'll be back straightaway .) We cannot use the present simple to refer to the period of time from a point in the past up to the present, e.g.: Hace mucho tiempo que no veo a María. ( It's a long time since I saw Mary .) Past simple. Vivimos aquí desde hace tres años. ( We've lived here for three years .) Present perfe 1.3.2 Present continuous
Forms: is walking , are cleaning.
We make negatives and questions like this:
Positive statement Tom is cleaning. They are walking. Negative statement Tom is n't cleaning. They are n't walking. Positive question Is Tom cleaning? Are they walking? Negative question Is n't Tom cleaning? Are n't they walking?
We use the present continuous to talk about something that is happening at the
moment of speaking, e.g.:
Look! It' s raining. ( ¡Mira! Llueve .)
We use the present continuous for an action that has started but has not finished , e.g.:
I' m reading a very interesting book.
Dogs eat bones. ( Los perros comen huesos .) Look. That dog's eating a bone. ( ¡Mira! Aquel perro se come un hueso .) It rains a lot in the north. ( Llueve mucho en el norte .) We won't take the dog for a walk today because it's raining. ( No salimos a pasear al perro hoy porque llueve .) I usually go to work by car but this week I'm going by bus because my car's being repaired. ( Normalmente voy al trabajo en coche, pero esta semana he ido en autobús porque me están arreglando el coche .) Jane reads a great deal. At the moment she's reading a novel by Chekhov. ( Jane lee mucho. Actualmente lee una novela de Chekhov. ) We also use the present continuous for changing situations , often with more and more , e.g.: More and more people are becoming vegetarian. ( Cada vez más gente se vuelve vegetariana .) These days house prices are going up all the time. ( Actualmente los precios de la vivienda no paran de subir .) Notice that adverbs of frequency ( always , usually , often , sometimes , seldom , never , etc.) typically go with the present simple, but contrast, e.g.: Jeremy always phones me after 6 o'clock. ( Jeremy siempre me llama a partir de las 6 .) Johnny is always phoning me late at night. ( Johnny siempre me llama tarde por la noche .)
The first is a statement of fact; the second suggests criticism (because Johnny phones too late.), e.g.: Johnny phones too late. See also present simple, present continuous and for verbs that do not have continuous tenses, see stativ 1.4.1 Past simple Forms: talked , paid , went , came. Questions and negatives are made with did and the infinitive: Positive statement They talked. Mary went. Negative statement They did n't talk. Mary did n't go. Positive Question Did they talk? Did Mary go? Negative Question Did n't they talk? Did n'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. ( Mi padre murió en el año 1989 .) Compare: My father was dying.
( Un día, cuando Mary jugaba a tenis, rompió la raqueta .) We can use the past simple to talk about a long event , e.g.: Last Saturday it rained all morning. ( El sábado pasado llovió toda la mañana .) Compare: At 10 o'clock it wasn't raining. ( A las tres no llovía .) Was it raining when you went out? ( ¿Llovía cuando saliste? ) In all these cases, the events or actions are considered as complete. As distinct from Spanish, English uses the past simple for recent (but complete) actions, e.g.: A: ( Algo ininteligible. ) B: Sorry, what did you say? ( Perdona, ¿qué has dicho? ) 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)? ( ¿Qué has tomado para desayunar (hoy)? ) I finished work at half past five today. ( Hoy he acabado de trabajar a las cinco y media .) 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? ( ¿Cuándo vinieron o han venido? ) B: They came last year/yesterday/10 years ago/ last September/in 1999 / this morning/five minutes ago. ( Vinieron el año pasado/ayer/hace 10 años/el setiembre pasado. Han venido esta
mañana / hace cinco minutos .) 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. ( Tim conoció a Carolyn por primera vez durante unas vacaciones .) We last went to the theatre over a year ago. ( La última vez que fuímos al teatro fue hace un año .) 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 escribió tres novelas y muchos cuentos .) Compare: Sally Jennings has written three novels and many short stories. (This implies that Sally Jennings is still alive.) We also use the past simple in conditional sentences. See second conditional. See also the use of simple forms with stative verbs. Compare with the present perfect simple, the past continuous and past perfect. 1.4.2 Past continuous Forms: was talking , were going. Questions and negatives are made with the auxiliary ( was or were ), e.g.: Was she talking? Where were they going? She was n't talking.
When I left work, it was snowing heavily. ( Cuando hemos salido del trabajo, nevaba mucho .) All these houses were built in the 1980's. ( Todas estas casas se construyeron en los años ochenta. ) There were several strikes while the houses were being built. ( Hubo varias huelgas mientras construían estas casas .) 1.4.8 Past perfect simple Forms: she had (she' d ) taken , he had (he' d ) finished. We use the past perfect simple when it is necessary to show that one event was earlier than another event in the past. Consider, e.g.: It started to rain. Jane went into the house. ( Comenzó a llover. Jane entró en la casa .) Jane went into the house. It started to rain. ( Jane entró en la casa. Comenzó a llover .) In each case we understand that the two events happened in the same order as the two sentences. But compare, e.g.: Jane went into the house. It had started to rain. ( Jane entró en la casa. Había comenzado a llover .) In order to indicate that the events are not in the same order as the sentences , we use the past perfect in the second one. In this case the past perfect "replaces" the past simple. Other examples are: Sally got her visa last September. She had applied for it the previous year. ( Sally recibió su visa en el septiembre pasado. La había solicitado el
año anterior .) The school had selected the new head a long time before the news appeared in the press. ( El colegio había seleccionado al nuevo rector mucho antes de que la noticia apareciera en la prensa .) Now consider, e.g.: Jack had already finished the letters before his boss returned. ( Jack ya había acabado las cartas antes de que su jefe volviera .) In this case the two events happened in the same order as in the sentence, but we use the past perfect with "already", "never", etc., corresponding to the use of these words with the present perfect. We would express the situation at the time the boss returned as: Jack has already finished the letters. ( Jack ya ha acabado las cartas .) Other examples are: By 12 o'clock Jane had finished typing the letters. ( A las 12 Jane había acabado de escribir las cartas .) Neil went to the opera last Saturday. He had never before heard a complete opera. ( Neil fue a la ópera el sábado pasado. No había oído nunca una ópera entera .) It was the first time that he had heard a complete opera. ( Fue la primera vez que oía una ópera entera .) With just the past perfect corresponds to acababa in Spanish, e.g.:
1. Be:
We use am , is , are to make the present continuous and was and were to make the past
continuous; we use am , is , are , was , were , be , been and being to make passive verb
forms.
2. Have:
We use have , has and had to make perfect forms, (see present perfect simple, past
perfect simple, etc.).
3. Modal auxiliaries:
The modal auxiliaries
are: can , could , will , would , shall , should , may , might , must and ought. These verbs
do not have different forms.
All of these auxiliaries are used in positive statements, negative statements and
questions:
Statement Negative Question
be (continuous)
He was
sitting.
He wasn't
sitting.
Was he
sitting?
be (passive) It is made. It isn't made. Is it made?
have
She has
come.
She hasn't
come.
Has she
come?
modal
She can
come.
She can't
come.
Can she
come?
4. Do, does, did:
In the present simple, we use do and does in negative statements and questions; in the
past simple we use did in negative statements and questions.
We use all of the auxiliary verbs, including do , does and did , to make short answers and
short statements, e.g.:
A: Is he working? ( ¿Está trabajando? )
B: Yes, he is. / No, he isn't. ( Sí./No .)
C: Has he been there? ( ¿Ha estado allí? )
D: Yes, he has. / No, he hasn't. ( Sí./No .)
E: Did she come? ( ¿Vino? )
F: Yes, she did. / No, she didn't. ( Sí./No .)
Jane is eating and so is Tom ( or and Tom is, too).
( Jane come y Tom también .)
Sally has finished and so have Peter and Bill ( or and Peter and
Bill have, too).
( Sally ha acabado y Peter y Bill también .)
Tim works and so does Pam ( or and Pam does, too).
( Tim trabaja y Pam también .)
Jill is playing but Ken isn't.
( Jill juega, pero Ken, no .)
Ken isn't playing but Jill is.
( Ken no juega, pero Jill, sí .)
Sam works but Ann doesn't.
( Sam trabaja, pero Ann, no' .)
Ann doesn't work but Sam does.
( Ann no trabaja, pero Sam, sí .)
Ken isn't playing and neither/nor is John ( or and John isn't,
either).
( Ken no juega y John tampoco .)
Ann doesn't work and neither/nor does Larry ( or and Larry
doesn't, either).
( Ann no trabaja y Larry tampoco .)
We can use all of the auxiliary verbs, including do , does and did , in emphatic
statements (where the auxiliary is stressed in speech and writing), e.g.:
A: Jane is n't helping. ( Jane no ayuda. )
B. That's not true. She is helping. ( No es cierto. Sí que ayuda. )
C: Jane can 't swim. ( Jane no sabe nadar .)
D: That's not true. She can swim. ( No es cierto. Sí que sabe
nadar .)
E: Jane does n't work. ( Jane no trabaja. )
F: That's not true. She does work. ( No es cierto. Sí que trabaja .)
