Past Simple and Past Continuous
Past Simple and Past Continuous

PAST SIMPLE

Positive sentences

I/You/He/She/It/We/They worked. (Regular verbs: base form + -ed)

I/You/He/She/It/We/They left. (Irregular verbs: see list of irregular words)

Negative sentences

I/You/He/She/It/We/They didn’t work.

I/You/He/She/It/We/They didn’t leave.

Regular and irregular verbs: subject + didn’t + base form

Questions

Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they work?

Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they leave?

Regular and irregular verbs: did+ subject + base form

We use the Past Simple for states and actions which happened in the past. We often say when the action happened. I saw someone famous yesterday

We also use the Past Simple to talk about states in the past/ When I was young, I loved playing with my toys

PAST CONTINUOUS

Positive sentences

You/We/They were working.

I/He/She/It/ was working.

Negative sentences

You/We/They weren’t working.

I/He/She/It/ wasn’t working.

Questions

Were You/We/They working?

Was I/He/She/It/ working?

We use the Past Continuous for actions in progress at a time in the past. I was living in London then

Sometimes this includes a specific time or another past action. I was watching TV while she was cooking in the kitchen.

Sometimes the Past Continuous action is interrupted. They were talking about me when I walked in the room.

We use the Past Continuous for actions we see as incomplete. I was reading a book about Italy ( I didn/t read it at all)

We use continuous form to emphasize that situations are temporary. She was staying with us at that moment

We don’t use continuous forms with state vebs (hate, like, suppose)

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Past Simple and Past ContinuousPast Simple and Past Continuous