past continuous

 

You know it by different names: past continuous, past continuous, or past progressive. In the end, it is one of the most important and used tenses in English. For this reason and in order to improve your verbal and written expression when using it, here you can find when you should use it, the affirmative, negative and interrogative structures, as well as examples.

How and when is the past continuous used?

The past continuous in English is used to:

1. Express actions or states that were taking place in the past when another action or state interrupts or reinforces it. For example:

• I was walking when I saw an eagle (Estaba caminando cuando vi un águila).

2. Offer context, that is, give information about events or situations at a specific time.

• Last year, I was studying for the exams (El año pasado, estaba estudiando para los exámenes) 

3. Mention two or more actions from the past that happened at the same time.

• While my son was playing videogames, I was sleeping in his bedroom (Mientras mi hijo estaba jugando videojuegos, yo estaba durmiendo en su recámara).

How is the past continuous formed?

The structures of the past continuous in its affirmative, negative and interrogative forms are the following:

Formas del past continuous en inglés
Modo	Estructura	Ejemplo	Traducción
Afirmativo	Sujeto + verbo auxiliar (to be) + verbo en gerundio (ing) + complemento	Your dog was playing with its toys when I arrived	Tu perro estaba jugando con sus juguetes cuando llegué
Negativo	Sujeto + verbo auxiliar (to be) + not + verbo en gerundio (ing) + complemento	I was not studying Physics at that time.	No estaba estudiando Física en aquel entonces
Interrogativo	Verbo auxiliar (to be) + sujeto + verbo en gerundio (ing) + complemento + ?	Were you eating candies when I entered the room?	¿Estabas comiendo dulces cuando entré al cuarto?