The Past Continuous

(or past progressive tense)

Click here to download this explanation as a pdf.

Click here for practice on how to USE the past continuous.

Here's the positive form:

• I was sleeping
• you were working
• he was coming
• she was reading 'War and Peace'
• it was raining
• we were shopping
• they were watching a film

Next, here's the negative - it's very easy, just add 'not':

• I was not (wasn't) sleeping
• you were not (weren't) working
• he was not (wasn't) coming
• she was not (wasn't) reading 'War and Peace'
• it was not (wasn't) raining
• we were not (weren't) shopping
• they were not (weren't) watching a film

Here's an exercise about the positive and negative verb forms

And, just like the past simple with 'be', to make a 'yes / no' question, put 'was / were' in front of the subject:

• Was I listening?
• Were you working?
• Was she working?
• Was he living in Paris at the time?
• Was it snowing when you arrived?
• Were we eating?
• Were they studying?

To make a 'wh' question (of course) put the question word at the beginning:

• Why was I working?
• Where were you living?
• How was she travelling?
• Where was he going?
• Why was it snowing in the summer?
• What were we eating?
• Why were they studying?

Here's an exercise about past continuous questions (both 'yes/no' and 'wh')

Mixed exercise 1 (includes all positive, negative and question forms)

Mixed exercise 2 (includes all positive, negative and question forms)