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32
b) The other way to express habitual actions is by means of the verb would + infinitive stem. But unlike used
to, would always conveys an additional modal colouring of will, insistance, perseverance.
This used to be my mother’s room, and I would sit there for hours.
3. To denote a succession of past actions.
He got up, put on his hat, and left.
The car stopped, the door opened, and a very pretty girl got out of it.
4. To denote actions in progress at a certain moment in the past, with verbs that cannot be used in
continuous forms.
He was not listening but still heard what they were speaking about.
At that time he was on the watch.
5. To denote future actions in subordinate adverbial clauses of time and condition depending on
principal clauses with the predicate verb in a past tense.
She said she would come when the film was over.
She said she would do it if nothing unexpected happened.
§ 33. The ways of rendering the past indefinite in Russian are varied, owing to its aspective vagueness.
Depending on the lexical meaning of the verb and on the context, it can be translated by Russian verbs in the
past tense of both perfective and imperfective aspects with all possible shades of their meanings.
In the morning I wrote two letters.
Утром я написал два письма.
(A perfective (completed) action.)
I got up from my chair and bowed.
Я встал и поклонился.
(Two perfective (completed) momentary actions.)
He breathed hard and stopped every few minutes.
Он тяжело дышал и останавливался каждые
несколько минут.
(Imperfective (incompleted) and iterative actions.)
She lay on the sofa reading а detective story.
Она лежала на диване, читая детектив.
(Imperfective, durative action.)
On hearing it he laughed.
Услышав это, он засмеялся.
(A perfective, inchoative action.)
The past continuous
§ 34. Formation. The past continuous is formed analytically by the auxiliary verb to be in the past indefinite
and participle I of the notional verb.
In the interrogative the auxiliary is placed before the subject and participle I follows the subject.
In the negative the corresponding negative forms of to be are employed, and participle I follows them.
The paradigm of the verb in the past continuous
Affirmative
Interrogative
I
He (she, it)
was speaking
Was
I
he (she, it)
speaking?