Past Continuous Tense

In the Past Continuous tense, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past. This tense is used to talk about an action at a particular time in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	WAS / WERE	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
You	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
He	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
Mohan	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
The boy	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
She	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
Pooja	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
The girl	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
We	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
You	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
They	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
The children	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.

For making positive statements in the past continuous tense, notice how we use

‘was’ for the subjects ‘I’, ‘He’ and ‘She’ and ‘were’ for the subjects ‘You’, ‘We’ and ‘They’

And the verb +ing all subjects.

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	WAS NOT/ WERE NOT	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
You	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
He	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
Mohan	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The boy	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
She	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
Pooja	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The girl	was not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
We	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
You	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
They	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The men	were not	listening	to music at 4 p.m. yesterday.

For making negative statements in the past continuous tense, notice how we use

‘was not’ for the subjects ‘I’, ‘He’ and ‘She’ and ‘were not’ for the subjects ‘You’, ‘We’ and ‘They’

And the verb +ing all subjects.

INTERROGATIVE STATEMENTS / QUESTIONS

WAS / WERE	SUBJECT	VERB (in base form)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
Was	I	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	you	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	he	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	Mohan	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	the boy	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	she	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	Pooja	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Was	the girl	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	we	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	you	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	they	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?
Were	the men	eating	breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday?

For asking questions in the past continuous tense, notice how we use

‘was ’ for the subjects ‘I’, ‘He’ and ‘She’ and ‘were ’ for the subjects ‘You’, ‘We’ and ‘They’

And the verb +ing all subjects.

What is Past Continuous Tense?

PAST CONTINUOUS

USE: We use PAST CONTINUOUS to talk about something which is in progress in the past time. The action or situation had started but it had not finished at that time.

Example:

- I saw you were waiting for the train this morning.

- Last week this time, I was driving a car.

- Yesterday evening, they were playing tennis.

FORMULA

Positive Sentence:

Subject + was/were + verb-ing + object/complement

Example:

- I was reading my lesson at 9 o’clock last night.

- They were doing exercise this morning.

- Sophy was writing a letter to her friend at 10 a.m.

Negative Sentence:

Sub + was/were + not + verb-ing + obj/comp

Example:

- Yesterday morning, I was not cleaning my clothes.

- Last night this time, Dany was not sleeping.

- You were not doing your homework at 8 o’clock last night.

Question:

Was/Were + sub + verb-ing + obj/comp ?

Example:

- Where were you going yesterday morning?

- Were you watching TV this evening?

- What were you doing at 11 o’clock this afternoon?

Related page

What is Tense? Definition of Tense.

What is the type of tense?

What Is the Past Tense?

What Is the Present Tense?

What is the Future Tense?

Structure of All Tense

Simple Present Tense

Present Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Past Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Future Tense

Future Continuous Tense

Future Perfect Tense

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

All Tense with example

Table of English Tenses with example

TENSE CHART