The Ultimate Guide To The Past Continuous

We can see things that happened in the past as finished, completed events, but we can also see them as past actions that were in progress

In that case, we need the past continuous (also known as past progressive).

If you're wondering what is past continuous tense, how to use it, and what mistakes you should avoid when using it, this grammar guide is for you.

Let’s begin.

How Do You Form The Past Continuous? Past Continuous Form

We form the past continuous using the past simple form of the verb “to be” (was/were) and the “ing” form of the main verb.

Let’s look at this past continuous tense formula more closely with an example of past continuous tense (or several examples).

Past continuous in positive sentences

The structure of positive sentences in past continuous looks like this:

I / you / he / she / it / we / they + was / were  + verb in “ing” form + rest of the sentence

Here are five examples of this tense from my book, “Short Stories in English for Beginners”:

1. Several miles later, the two friends were still walking. The son was low in the sky. Suddenly, they walked out over the woods. In front of them was the lake. (P. 33)

2. George looked around. Suddenly he called, “Hey Silvia! Come here!” Near the lake there was a small boat. It was old and made of wood. It was standing in the water near the shore. George looked at Sylvia. “Let's get in it!” (P. 33)

3. Eric walked across the beach. He was thinking. He looked at his watch and said, “The watch is mine. But I didn’t buy it. I found it. I took it from another pirate.” (P.88)

4. Carl watched Eric. He was attempting to use the watch. But it wasn't working. Then Carl realized something. Eric el Kraken had only found the watch. He didn't know how it worked. Eric didn't know why the watch had such strange powers either. (P.87)

5. Brian left the room. Seconds later, he appeared with Walter’s jacket. Walter reached into his jacket. It had many pockets. It was difficult to find the photo. It took time. Lucy was becoming impatient. (P.116)

And here are a few more past continuous tense examples taken from around the web:

• One man was walking home with groceries.
• Economists were looking for 0 percent growth.
• I was writing 10+ page research papers every week.
• Leo was travelling extensively in the early family years.
• Another time I came home and she was cleaning my bedroom sheets.
• Jed read the statement three times while he was eating breakfast that morning
• His family does not know exactly about all of the metals because when he was fixing up the upstairs of his house, he put all of his metals in a cigar box and put them behind the dry wall.
• Terribly far away I saw your mouth in the wild light: It seemed to me you were shouting instructions to us all.
• I have visited the site many times wondering if you were coming back regularly.
• It was standing in 1832 but had gone by 1850.

Past progressive in negative sentences

To make a sentence negative, we use “was not” (wasn’t) or “were not” (weren’t) before the “ing” form of the main verb. 

This is the formula:

I / you / he / she / it / we / they + wasn’t / weren’t + verb in “ing” form + rest of the sentence

Here’s an example from my book, “Intermediate Short Stories in English”:

Carl watched Eric. He was attempting to use the watch. But it wasn't working. Then Carl realized something. Eric el Kraken had only found the watch. He didn't know how it worked. Eric didn't know why the watch had such strange powers either. (P.87)

And here are a few more:

• They were not talking about the previous night.
• So it quickly became a fact that we weren't sleeping together at all.
• Unfortunately, they weren't joking, they made bad decisions.
• I wasn't taking anything really seriously.
• She wasn't going to waste her strength.
• My ex-husband was not checking on these kids.
• They helped the women scrub the floors and whispered to them when the guards weren't watching.
• Revenues were not keeping up with expenses and the line faced shutdown.
• The candidates in these two videos were not reading off of a script.
• We were headed for a depression, banks were failing, cars weren't selling.

Let’s now have a look at how we form questions.

Past continuous in yes / no questions 

Here’s the formula:

Was / Wasn’t / Were / Weren’t + I / you / he / she / it / we / they + verb in “ing” form + rest of the sentence

Some example:

• Were you coming home?
• Was she studying with you?
• Were they playing together?
• Was it working?
• Was I speaking too loud?
• Were you drinking out of the bottle?
• Were we going in the wrong direction?
• Were you looking at me?
• Was she screaming?
• Were they eating?

The short answer is always “Yes + subject + was/were” or “No, subject + wasn’t/weren’t ”

Like this:

Speaker A: Were you watching the movie yesterday? 

Speaker B: Yes, I was.

Speaker A: Was she talking to you? 

Speaker B: No, she wasn’t.

Let's look at some more past continuous questions.

Past continuous in wh- questions

Here’s how we form them:

Where/ Why / Who / When / How long etc + was / wasn’t / were / weren’t + I / you / he / she / it / we / they + verb in “ing” form + rest of the sentence

• When were you working there?
• Why were they going too fast?
• Who were you going there with?
• Where was it coming from?
• How was I singing that song?
• What was his mum trying to tell her?
• Where were you heading?
• Why weren’t we speaking to each other?
• How was I feeling?

When we speak, we sometimes ask questions by saying a positive sentence with rising intonation in English. We do this when we want to ask for confirmation of something, show we’re surprised or indicate we can’t believe what we’ve just heard.

So we can say: 

Speaker A: I was not talking to him.

Speaker B: You were not talking to him? Why?

Speaker A: He wasn’t even looking at you? I can’t believe that!

Speaker B: He wasn’t! Such a rude person!

Let’s now learn how we use the past continuous.

Past Continuous: When We Use It

While we use the past simple to talk about actions, events, or situations that we see as finished in the past, the core function of the the past continuous tense is to describe something that was in progress in the past. 

This event is usually something temporary, not permanent. 

So we use the past continuous to:

• talk about something in progress over a certain past period;
• talk about something in progress at a certain past moment or time;
• talk about something in progress at the same time as something else was in progress;
• set the background when telling stories and anecdotes;
• make polite requests.

Past continuous to talk about something in progress over a certain past period

We normally use the past simple to talk about repeated actions in the past but the past continuous is also possible when the action acts as “the background” for the main event. This suggests that it’s a temporary action.

For example:

• She was doing the same boring job when she was in her 30s. One day she decided she needed a change, so she quit.
• They were making a mess in that room. That’s why I went there to check.
• Our customers were complaining all the time. So we realised we had to take action and improve the service. 

Notice, however, that we don’t use the past continuous to talk about repeated actions if these aren't part of “the background”. 

For example, we don’t say “I was calling you five times this morning. Why didn’t you pick up the phone?” because “calling” is seen as the main event. 

So we say, “I called you five times this morning. Why didn’t you pick up the phone?”

But we can say “I was calling you this morning but you never picked up the phone!” because here the action of calling forms the background for the main event (the fact that you never answered).

Past continuous to talk about something in progress at a certain past moment or time.

For example:

• What were you doing yesterday evening at 7 pm?
• It was 2003. I was working in a factory at the time.
• Why were you walking alone around the neighbourhood at 2 in the morning?
• She wasn’t eating when we came.

Past continuous to talk about something in progress at the same time as something else was in progress

For example:

• She was reading her favourite magazine while I was writing an email.
• The kids were playing in the park while their parents were chatting on a bench.
• The teacher was speaking while the students were listening.

We can also use the past simple for one of these events. So:

• She was reading her favourite magazine while I wrote an email.
• The kids were playing in the park while their parents chatted on a bench.
• The teacher was speaking while the students listened.

Past continuous to set the background when telling stories and anecdotes

Here’s an example from my book, “Intermediate Short Stories in English”:

“The next day my father was giving a speech at a party and someone dropped a spoon on the floor. Of course, it made a really loud sound and startled everybody. The dream came true.” (P.3)

Here are a few more:

• While I was walking to the store, I found a stray puppy, so I took it home with me and…
• She was reading a book when the lights went out. She started panicking and then…
• They were having dinner when the news broke on the television, Everyone was shocked by the event and…
• The sun was setting over the sea. The last few birds were flying in the sky. Suddenly, there was a loud noise.

Past continuous for polite requests (in the present)

We sometimes use the past continuous to make formal or very polite requests in the present. But if we’re talking about the present, why do we use the past? 

The reason is that using the past tense is a way of showing distance or remoteness from the present moment. This can be a distance in time, but also one between people and relationships. 

When we want to be formal, we naturally want to keep a social distance between us and the person we’re communicating with. And so we use the past tense.

So “I was wondering if you could give me your email address” is more formal (distant from a relationship point of view) than “I wonder if…”

Here are a few typical examples:

• I was hoping you might help me with this report.
• I was wondering if you could review this document for me.
• I was hoping you could spare a few minutes to discuss the project.
• Were you looking for anything in particular? (In a shop)

We can also use the past simple in the same way.

• I wondered if you could tell me what time it is.
• I just wanted to ask you if you could come at 5 pm instead of 2 pm.

Past continuous in the “if” clause of imaginary conditional sentences with present meaning

We often use the past simple in conditional sentences when we want to describe an imaginary, unreal, hypothetical situation. 

But we can also use the past continuous if we want to convey the meaning that the action in the “if” clause is in progress in the present.

Here are some examples to help you understand:

• If you were walking on the moon right now, how would you feel?
• I would laugh if I were joking, but I’m not!
• They would have come with us if they weren’t working today.

Common Mistakes With Past Continuous

I’ve seen learners of English make various mistakes with the past continuous. Here are the most frequent ones:

Using the past simple instead of past continuous when describing background activities: 

Past continuous and past simple are sometimes confused this way.

Incorrect: I had dinner when they arrived.

Correct: I was having dinner when they arrived. 

Using the past continuous with stative verbs:

In English there are stative and action verbs. Stative verbs (e.g. be, have, own, believe) describe states and are not normally used in continuous form. Action verbs (e.g. drink, jump, sleep, play), on the other hand, describe actions. These can take a continuous form.

So a typical mistake I’ve often seen is this:

Incorrect: I was having a great car when I was in my 20s.

Correct: I had a great car when I was in my 20s.

But why is the following sentence correct then?

I was having dinner when he rang me.

Easy: because “have” can be both a stative verb to describe possession and an action verb that describes, in this case, the act of eating dinner.

It all and always depends on the context. This is key to learning any language.

Believing that the past continuous is used only to talk about long actions while the past simple describes shorter events. 

This is not true. I’ll prove it to you:

• The Romans invaded and conquered many lands for hundreds of years.
• I was standing in front of the Colosseum to take a selfie when an Italian approached me.

Learning The Past Continuous In Context

Aaaand here you go – you've reached the end of another grammar guide. Was it useful? 

I hope so.

Now that you've seen many examples of past continuous tense, why not assimilate it by watching a movie, listening to music, or reading a book?

This is how you will optimise everything you have learned in this guide.

Remember what I said before about context? That’s key! So try to learn the past continuous in the context of short stories in English. The StoryLearning method can help you a lot with this!

You’ll meet this verb structure again and again in engaging narratives that will help you learn and consolidate it!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.