Prima di procedere con il passato, ecco le risposte al compito di ieri.
(La traduzione è più un’arte che una scienza, quindi non mi lamentate, per favore, se la mia versione non è identico alla vostre…)
Il misterio dei tempi verbali inglesi – 2
There wasn’t much traffic, so Daniels reached New Scotland Yard in a hurry. But by the time he got there, there wasn’t anyone.
He found a note:
“Gone to 10, Broad Lane. Near Seven Sisters tube station.”
He decided to leave the car and go by underground.
Like every morning, the tube was crowded and smelly. And he didn’t find a seat.
It was almost nine by the time he exited Seven Sisters underground station.
10 Broad Lane was just a few minutes on foot. A fast food restaurant with an extremely ugly flat above. Standing outside was his boss, Detective Superintendant Matthews. He had an electronic cigarette in his hand.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for ages!”
“Sorry, Jo. My mobile was discharged. What’s going on?”
“The landlord, who runs the fast food restaurant, found the body when he arrived this morning. It’s his tenant. He lived in the flat upstairs. But this is serious stuff. He was killed with two shots to the head.”
“Who is he?”
“Nobody. Just an English teacher. He lived here. Worked in a language school in Oxford Street. But he was in Italy for a few years.”
“Motive? Mafia, maybe?”
“We don’t know yet. But the killer left a note. ‘You’ve ruined my life. I didn’t understand anything!'”
“Never heard of a hitman that left a note. You?”
“Never. Shall we take a look? Mind the blood.”
Oggi imparerai
- l’uso del Past Progressive
- l’uso del Past Perfect
(spero)
Avanti, leggi la terza parte della storia:
Il misterio dei tempi verbali inglesi – 3
Matthews opened the dead man’s lips with the point of his electronic cigarette.
Daniels, who was standing behind him, could see half-chewed food. Pizza, maybe. The yellow teeth hadn’t been cleaned for a while, either.
“He was eating.”
“That’s right. Someone rang the bell while he was enjoying a pizza. Down he came, opened the door, and BAM! Blood all over the carpet. The rest of the pizza is on the table upstairs, if you didn’t have time for breakfast.”
“Not this time, thanks. So, he was expecting someone. He wouldn’t have come downstairs, mid-pizza, just for the Jehova’s Witnesses.”
“You think he had a date with a hitman?”
“I’m suggesting he wasn’t surprised to have a visitor at dinner time. This had obviously happened before. He was a language teacher. Maybe he was giving private lessons in the evenings. Bit of extra cash, tax-free.”
Daniels stepped over the body, which was lying on the stairs near the entrance to the restaurant/flat. The door was undamaged, so he knew the victim had opened it before he was shot.
He started upstairs. Perhaps a slice of cold pizza would settle his stomach after last night’s whisky.
Compito (facile)
In un commento, entro domani, fai una lista dei formi verbali che ho sottolineato. Sono tutti o il Past Progressive o il Past Perfect, e tipicamente vanno usati insieme con altri verbi.
Ti riccordi che il Past Progressive indica un’azione “in progresso” a un certo punto. E il Past Perfect descrive un azione o stato “prima” di un punto passato.
“When you PHONED, I was having a shower”
“The teacher WAS angry because I hadn’t finished my homework.”
Il compito di oggi e di spiegare i verbi nella storia. come negli esempi:
- Daniels was standing behind Matthews WHEN HE OPENED the dead man’s mouth.
- The dead man’s teeth WERE yellow because they hadn’t been cleaned for some time.
Gradirei sentire le vostre teorie per quanto riguarda le differenze tra l’italiano e l’inglese, ma, alemno qui, devono essere pocchi!
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antonella dice
Good evening Daniel, good evening everybody!
Condivido al 60% quanto ha scritto Stefania , che copio e incollo:
– someone RANG the bell while he WAS EATING/WAS ENJOYING pizza
– he (the victim) WASN’T surprised because to have visitor at that time HAD HAPPENED before
– he CAME downstairs and OPENED the door because he WAS EXPECTING someone.
Quanto a: “Maybe he was giving private lessons in the evenings. Bit of extra cash, tax-free.”: può essere considerat in modo un po’ diverso, come un habit in the past che non ha bisogno di alcuna frase subordinata?
E riguardo a : “The door was undamaged, so he knew the victim had opened it before he was shot.”: possibile proporre soluzioni alternative, tipo “the door was undamaged because it had been opened by the victim”?
Forse dimenticato: ” The body was lying on the stairs, so D had to step over it”.
Quanto alle differenze fra italiano e inglese:: boh… non ho una formazione scolastica umanistica, quindi faccio fatica a teorizzare quello che uso quotidianamente, però questo articolo
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordanza_dei_tempi
mi ha ricordato che anche in italiano esistono regole specifiche per esprimere una sequenza di eventi; per esempio (dallo stesso articolo):
Principale Subordinata Rapporto temporale
Luisa sapeva (imperfetto) che ero andato a Roma (trapassato prossimo) anteriorità
che andavo a Roma (imperfetto) contemporaneità
che sarei andato a Roma (condizionale passato) posteriorità
Quindi.. magari… in English è lo stesso, solo che i tempi si chiamano in modo diverso:
Principale Subordinata Rapporto temporale
Luisa knew (past simple) I had gone to Rome (past perfect) anteriorità
I was going to Rome (past progressive) contemporaneità
I went to Rome (past simple) contemporaneità
I would go to Rome (non-mi-ricordo!) posteriorità
… ho semplificato troppo, vero?!… Sorry! And sorry for the “esperanto” I’m using!!!
‘notte Antonella
Daniel dice
Hi Antonella,
I was wondering where you were…
Note that imperfetto in Italian is used both for past habits and things “in progress”.
In English there are two different forms:
Past progressive: He was giving private lessons (in that past period)
Used to + V1: He used to give private lessons (past habit, not now)
In the story I used the former, which does NOT imply habit in English… The translation into Italian with imperfetto could however be understood to mean either.
gerry dice
Ciao daniel…..non mi vorrei sbagliare ma
era arrabbiata è imperfetto del verbo essere
non avevo finito… trapassato prossimo
Daniel dice
Se ho capito bene, sono d’accordo Gerry.
stefania dice
parlando di imperfetto mi riferivo ad ERA, per il resto, touche’…
in attesa che qualcun altro svolga il compito, posso approfittare di te per una domanda?
l’espressione: ‘who do you think you are?’ (chi pensi di essere?) qualche volta l’ho vista tradotta (erroneamente) letteralmente dall’italiano con ‘who do you think to be?’. come suona in inglese questa espressione?
perdona la digressione!
grazie
Daniel dice
Suona male.. Come hai detto, è un errore di traduzione.
stefania dice
thanks!
stefania dice
good morning Daniel,
ottima chance quella di leggere la tua traduzione e di confrontarla con la propria. GRAZIE!
Ora proviamo con questo compito:
– was standing/was eating/was enjoying/was expecting/was giving/was lying= PAST PROGRESSIVE
– hadn’t been cleaned/had happened/had opened= PAST PERFECT
svolgimento:
– someone RANG the bell while he WAS EATING/WAS ENJOYING pizza
– he (the victim) WASN’T surprised because to have visitor at that time HAD HAPPENED before
– he CAME downstairs and OPENED the door because he WAS EXPECTING someone
– he WAS GIVING private lessons when he MET this man
– before he WAS SHOT he HAD OPENED the door to the hitman
……
Per quanto riguarda le differenze tra le forme in italiano ed in inglese, parto da questa considerazione.
Io vengo dal nord, dalla provincia di Milano, e da noi non esiste l’utilizzo del passato remoto nella lingua parlata. Anche se dobbiamo descrivere un’azione riferita al passato e con la precisazione del tempo in cui e’ avvenuta, utilizziamo il Pass. Pross. “sei mai stata alle Maldive?” “si, ci sono andata 2 anni fa.”
16 anni fa mi sono trasferita a Roma e qui ho cominciato ad esprimermi utilizzando anche il passato remoto. Ho parecchi amici pugliesi, che lo usano anche per descrivere un’azione successa ieri.
Detto questo, per quanto riguarda gli esempi sopra riportati direi che in qualche caso potremmo tradurli allo stesso modo dell’inglese se diamo per assunto che il past simple puo’ essere tradotto con il nostro imperfetto: ‘La maestra ERA arrabbiata perche’ non AVEVO FINITO i compiti’ oppure con il nostro Pass. Pross. “quando HAI CHIAMATO, STAVO FACENDO la doccia’
scusa, oggi mi sono un po’ dilungata!
Daniel dice
Ciao Stefania!
Per l’inglese, il tuo compito è ben fatto. Brava!! Concordo con gli esempi che hai scritto. Nulla da correggere.
Per l’italiano, invece, temo che hai confuso i nomi dei tempi verbali…..
“La maestra ERA arrabiata perché non AVEVO FINITO i compiti”, abbiamo passato prossimo e trapassato prossimo (non imperfetto). Proprio come in inglese.
P.S. Hai ragione per quanto riguarda l’uso regionale del passato remoto, ma dato che non esiste ne il concetto ne la forma in inglese, credo che possiamo dimenticarlo per i scopi di questo corso.
Have a nice day.