Por qué empezar por aquí
Si dominas presente simple y pasado simple, ya puedes decir el 70% de lo que necesitas en el día a día. Estos dos tiempos son la base de todo lo demás. Antes de pasar a presente perfecto o condicionales, esto tiene que estar solidísimo.
Presente simple — para rutinas y hechos
Se usa para: rutinas (todos los días), verdades generales, gustos, horarios fijos.
Pistas: every day, always, usually, often, sometimes, never, on Mondays.
Afirmativo
| Sujeto | Verbo | Ejemplo |
|---|
| I / You / We / They | base | I work in Vancouver. |
| He / She / It | base + -s | She works in Vancouver. |
Ojo con la -s en tercera persona:
- Regla general: work → works, live → lives
- Verbos que terminan en -o, -s, -sh, -ch, -x: agregas -es (go → goes, watch → watches)
- Verbos que terminan en consonante + y: cambia y por -ies (study → studies, cry → cries)
- Excepción: have → has
Negativo y preguntas — con do/does
| I / You / We / They | do / don't | I don't like coffee. / Do you like tea? |
| He / She / It | does / doesn't | She doesn't work here. / Does she speak Spanish? |
Muy importante: cuando usas does / doesn't, el verbo vuelve a la forma base (sin la -s). La -s ya está en does.
✗ She doesn't works here.
Después de doesn't el verbo va sin -s. Correcto: doesn't work.
✗ Does she works here?
Después de does el verbo va sin -s. Correcto: Does she work?
Pasado simple — para acciones terminadas
Se usa para: acciones que pasaron en un momento específico y terminaron.
Pistas: yesterday, last week/month/year, in 2020, ago, when I was young.
Afirmativo — verbos regulares e irregulares
Regulares: se agrega -ed. work → worked, play → played, live → lived, study → studied.
Irregulares: se memorizan. Los más comunes:
| Base | Pasado | Base | Pasado |
|---|
| be | was / were | go | went |
| have | had | do | did |
| see | saw | make | made |
| take | took | get | got |
| come | came | give | gave |
| write | wrote | read | read (se pronuncia "red") |
| say | said | tell | told |
| know | knew | think | thought |
| find | found | lose | lost |
| buy | bought | bring | brought |
| leave | left | feel | felt |
| eat | ate | drink | drank |
Negativo y preguntas — con did
| Todos los sujetos | did / didn't + base | I didn't go. / Did you go? |
Ojo: con did/didn't, el verbo va en base, no en pasado. El pasado ya está en did.
✗ I didn't went to work.
Después de didn't, base. Correcto: didn't go.
✗ Did you saw the movie?
Después de did, base. Correcto: Did you see?
Presente vs pasado — resumen visual
| Presente simple | Pasado simple |
|---|
| Afirmativo | She works. | She worked. |
| Negativo | She doesn't work. | She didn't work. |
| Pregunta | Does she work? | Did she work? |
| Auxiliar | do / does | did (para todos) |