The past continuous (or past progressive) is one of the tenses to talk about actions or events in the past. On this page, you have a clear overview of when to use this tense, how you form it, and some examples.
Past continuous (or past progressive) tense
The past continuous is mainly used for actions and events in the past when the focus is on the duration of that event or action. The action was going on at the moment you are referring to. Below, you can find some more information in which situations you should use this tense:
An action in the past when the focus is on the duration of that action
- Yesterday, it was raining all day.
A long action in the past
- I was working from 9 am to 5 pm yesterday.
Temporary situations in the past
- When I was 20 years old, I was earning a lot of money.
A friendly request or suggestion
- Were you planning on doing anything later today?
How to form the past continuous
Past continuous positive
To form the past continuous, you always need two parts. You need the past simple of ‘to be’ (was/were) and you also need the -ing form of the main verb. You get this form by adding <ing> to the infinitive. Every time you want to use this tense, you always need two parts: was/were + -ing form of the main verb.
| I was walking |
| You were walking |
| He/she/it was walking |
| We were walking |
| You were walking |
| They were walking |
When an infinitive ends in <e>, you drop the <e> and add <ing> if you want to form the -ing form.
- To write: I was writing
Past continuous negative
To make the negative form of the past continuous, you use ‘not’ and put it after was/were.
| I was not walking |
| You were not walking |
| He/she/it was not walking |
| We were not walking |
| You were not walking |
| They were not walking |
Past continuous questions
If you want to form a question in the past continuous, you use was/were, followed by the subject and the -ing form of the main verb.
| Was I walking? |
| Were you walking? |
| Was he/she/it walking? |
| Were we walking? |
| Were you walking? |
| Were they walking? |
Time indicators
If you see this word, it’s usually an indication that you’re dealing with a past continuous.
- While
Examples
| Positive | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|
| I was working He was singing | I wasn’t working He wasn’t singing | Was I working? Was he singing? |
Past continuous exercises
- Past Continuous Exercise 1
- Past Continuous Exercise 2
- Past Continuous Negative Exercise 1
- Past Continuous Negative Exercise 2
- Past Continuous Questions Exercise 1
- Past Continuous Questions Exercise 2
- Past Continuous Mixed Exercise 1
- Past Continuous Mixed Exercise 2
- Past Continuous Mixed Exercise 3
- Past Continuous Mixed Exercise 4
- Past Continuous Mixed Exercise 5
