Tips Belajar Bahasa Inggris

Bentuk dan Penggunaan Past Continuous Tense

Oleh Herman Yudiono

Saya sedang belajar kimia pada jam 8 tadi malam. Bila diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris, kalimat tersebut menjadi: I was studying chemistry at 8 p.m last night. Nah, dua kata yang dicetak tebal adalah pola past continuous tense.

Di bawah ini Anda akan melihat bentuk dan penggunaan tense tersebut.

Pembentukan

Seperti tense-tense lain, past continuous tense memiliki tiga bentuk, yaitu:

A. Positif

Pola kalimat bentuk positif adalah S + was/were + V-ing.

Contoh:

  • I/He/She/It was going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday.
  • We/You/They were going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday.

B. Negatif

Pola kalimat bentuk positif adalah S + was/were + not + V-ing.

Contoh:

  • I/He/She/It was not (wasn’t) going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday.
  • We/You/They were not (weren’t) going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday.

C. Pertanyaan

Pola kalimat pertanyaan yes/no adalah was/were + S + V-ing + ?

Contohnya adalah:

  • I was going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday. Were you going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday?
  • She was going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday. Was she going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday?
  • They were going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday. Were they going to the store at 11 a.m yesterday?

Adapun pola kalimat pertanyaan Wh adalah wh + were + S + V-ing + ?

Contohnya:

  • What were you going at 11 a.m yesterday?
  • When were you going to the store?

Penanda Waktu

Penanda waktu yang digunakan dalam past continuous tense antara lain:

  • All morning yesterday (sepanjang pagi kemarin)
  • When (ketika)
  • While (sementara/ketika)
  • At 07.00 o’clock yesterday (pada jam 7 pagi kemarin)
  • As (pada saat/sewaktu)
  • At the same time yesterday (pada jam sama kemarin).

Penggunaan Past Continuous Tense

Past continuous digunakan untuk menyatakan hal-hal berikut:

1. Menyatakan kegiatan yang sedang dilakukan pada waktu tertentu di masa lampau.

Contohnya:

  • We were gardening at 7 a.m yesterday. (Kami sedang berkebun pada jam 7 pagi kemarin).
  • He was eating at 8 p.m last night. (Dia sedang makan pada jam 8 tadi malam).

2. Menyatakan kegiatan yang sedang dilakukan ketika kegiatan lain terjadi di masa lampau.

Contohnya:

  • I was cooking when the phone rang. (Saya sedang memasak ketika telepon berdering).
  • When the phone rang, I was cooking. (Ketika telepon berdering, saya sedang memasak).
  • They were chattering when I came. (Mereka sedang mengobrol ketika saya datang).
  • While they were chattering, I came. (Sementara mereka sedang mengobrol, saya datang).

3. Menyatakan dua kegiatan/lebih yang sedang terjadi secara bersamaan di masa lampau.

Contoh kalimatnya antara lain:

  • While I was sweeping the floor, my father was watering plants. (Sementara saya sedang menyapu lantai, ayah saya sedang meyiram tanaman.
  • You were lying on the sofa while Sule was washing the car yesterday morning. (Kamu sedang berbaring di sofa ketika Sule sedang mencuci mobil kemarin pagi).
  • At 9 a.m yesterday, I was baking a cake while my brother was reading a book. (Pada jam 7 kemarin, saya sedang memanggang kue sementara kakak laki-laki saya sedang membaca buku).

Semoga penjelasan di atas membantu Anda memahami bentuk dan penggunaan past continuous tense. Jika Anda memiliki pertanyaan, silakan menginformasikannya pada bagian komentar di bawah.

Latihan

Untuk mengetahui pemahaman Anda tentang past continuous tense, lengkapi kalimat-kalimat berikut ini:

  1. While I …….. (wash) the dishes, I …………..(broke) a glass.
  2. She …….. (drive) home when she ………. (have) an accident.
  3. When they ……. (hear) the news, they …………..(listen) to the radio.
  4. We …….. (study) English when Ronaldikin ………. (call).
  5. We ………… (ate) bakso while we ………… (watch) the movie.