Past Continuous
Level A2 · Tenses
Use the past continuous for an action in progress at a specific past moment, for two actions happening at the same time in the past, or for a longer action interrupted by a shorter one. It sets the scene or background — what was already happening — rather than the main event itself.
Form: was/were + verb-ing (same spelling rules as the present continuous: run → running, make → making, lie → lying). I/he/she/it → was; you/we/they → were. Negatives: wasn't/weren't + verb-ing; questions invert was/were and the subject.
The classic pattern pairs two tenses: while + past continuous for a background action in progress (while I was cooking…), and when + past simple for the shorter action that interrupts it (…the phone rang). Together: I was cooking when the phone rang.
The most common mistake is using the past continuous for a simple sequence of finished actions instead of the interrupting action itself: for things that happened one after another, use the past simple for all of them. Say I woke up, had breakfast, and left, not I was waking up, was having breakfast, and was leaving. The past continuous only describes what was already in progress, not a new completed action.
Typical time markers: while, as, at that moment, this time last week, all morning/afternoon/evening. When usually introduces the shorter interrupting action in the past simple (when the phone rang), not the past continuous itself.