What is the Past Continuous Tense?
The past continuous (also called the past progressive) describes an action that was already in progress at a specific moment in the past. Unlike the past simple — which records a completed event — the past continuous focuses on the ongoing, unfinished nature of an action.
Think of it as a camera shot: the past simple takes a still photo of a completed event, while the past continuous records a scene that was already playing when you pressed the shutter.
The past continuous rarely stands alone. It almost always teams up with the past simple in the same sentence — one tense paints the background, the other tells you what happened in the foreground. This pairing is what makes English narrative feel three-dimensional rather than flat. Strip a story of its past continuous verbs and it reads like a list of events; add them back in and you can see, hear, and feel the scene.
The past continuous also handles three less obvious jobs: it describes a temporary past situation that has since ended ("I was living in Tokyo at the time"), it expresses a planned future viewed from the past ("She was leaving the next morning"), and it shows polite distance in past statements ("I was wondering if you could help me"). Mastering these uses is what takes a B1 learner toward B2 fluency.
How to Form It
Use was with singular subjects (I, he, she, it) and were with plural subjects (you, we, they). Add -ing to the base verb.
Subject + was / were + verb‑ingPositive
| Subject | Auxiliary | Participle | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | was | reading | I was reading a book. |
| He / She / It | was | sleeping | She was sleeping on the sofa. |
| You / We / They | were | waiting | They were waiting at the bus stop. |
Negative
Add not after the auxiliary (was not / were not, contracted as wasn't / weren't).
| Subject | Auxiliary + not | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I / He / She / It | wasn't | He wasn't listening to the teacher. |
| You / We / They | weren't | We weren't expecting that news. |
Question
Invert the subject and auxiliary to form a question.
| Auxiliary | Subject | Participle | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Was | she | cooking? | Was she cooking dinner? |
| Were | you | working? | Were you working late? |
| What were | they | doing? | What were they doing? |
When to Use the Past Continuous Tense
Action in progress at a specific past time
Use the past continuous when you want to say what was happening at an exact moment in the past. The action started before that moment and may have continued after it.
- At 9 p.m. yesterday, I was watching a film.
- She was working in the garden all morning.
- The children were still sleeping when we arrived.
Interrupted action — when & while
This is one of the most common patterns. A longer, ongoing action (past continuous) is interrupted by a shorter, sudden event (past simple). The two clauses are joined by when or while.
- I was reading a book when the phone rang.
- While she was cooking dinner, the smoke alarm went off.
- We were driving to the airport when we got a flat tyre.
Two parallel ongoing actions
Use the past continuous for two actions that were happening at the same time. Both actions were in progress simultaneously.
- While she was talking on the phone, I was making coffee.
- He was reading the newspaper while his wife was watching TV.
Background setting in a story
In written and spoken narrative, the past continuous sets the scene — it describes what was happening around the main events (which are told in the past simple).
- It was raining heavily. People were running for cover. Suddenly, someone shouted.
- The sun was setting and birds were singing in the trees when he finally arrived.
Temporary past situations
Use the past continuous for situations that were temporarily true around a specific past period — not permanent states. The pattern mirrors the present continuous use for temporary now-situations: the past version simply places it in the past.
- I was living in Tokyo when the earthquake happened.
- She was working as a translator that summer.
- We were staying at a small guesthouse for a week.
Future seen from the past
When you describe a future event from the perspective of a past moment — a plan, an arrangement, or an expectation that someone had at the time — use the past continuous. This is the past-tense counterpart of the future use of the present continuous ("I am leaving tomorrow" → "He told me he was leaving the next day").
- He was flying to Berlin the next morning, so he packed early.
- She told me she was meeting her parents at the weekend.
- We were starting a new project the following Monday.
Repeated, irritating past behaviour — with always
As with the present continuous, using always (or constantly, forever) with the past continuous expresses irritation or surprise at a behaviour that happened repeatedly in the past. The neutral past simple with always describes a habit; the past continuous with always adds an emotional charge.
- My old neighbour was always playing loud music late at night.
- He was constantly losing his keys at university.
- They were always arguing about money.
Polite or tentative requests
Using the past continuous of verbs like wonder, hope, or think makes a request or suggestion sound softer and more tentative than the present continuous would. The past form puts polite distance between the speaker and the request, even though the situation is happening now.
- I was wondering if you could help me with this report.
- We were hoping you might join us for dinner.
- I was thinking we should reschedule the meeting.
Time Expressions
Past Continuous vs Past Simple
Choosing between the two tenses is one of the most important decisions at B1 level. The key difference is completeness: the past simple views an action as a finished whole; the past continuous views it as ongoing.
Past Continuous
I was reading when you called.
The reading was in progress. It probably continued after the call.
Past Simple
I read for two hours yesterday.
The reading is complete. Two hours = a finished, bounded period.
Past Continuous
She was cooking dinner when I arrived.
Dinner was not finished. Cooking = the background event.
Past Simple
She cooked dinner and we ate together.
Dinner was completed. Both actions are sequential and finished.
The past simple is preferred when a duration expression (for two hours, all day) shows the action as a completed unit of time.
Sequence test: if events follow each other one by one ("I woke up, made coffee, and left"), use the past simple for each. If one event is happening while another interrupts it ("I was making coffee when the doorbell rang"), use past continuous for the longer action and past simple for the interruption.
Past Continuous vs Used to / Would for past habits
All three forms can describe repeated past behaviour, but they signal subtle differences. Choosing well makes your descriptions of past routines sound natural rather than mechanical.
Used to — discontinued habit or state
I used to play tennis every weekend.
A regular past habit that has since stopped. Used to is neutral — it works for both habits and states (I used to live there).
Past Continuous — irritating repeated action
He was always playing tennis instead of studying.
Adds an emotional layer of annoyance or surprise. Use this when the speaker is judging the behaviour, not just reporting it.
Would — repeated past action only
Every Sunday, we would walk along the river.
Like used to, but only for repeated actions, not states. Cannot say 'I would live in Tokyo'. Slightly literary in tone.
Past Continuous — temporary past situation
I was living in Tokyo at the time.
A situation that was temporarily true around a specific past moment — not a discontinued lifelong habit.
Three-form summary: used to = habits/states that have stopped, would = repeated past actions (formal/literary), past continuous + always = repeated past actions with emotional colour. They are not interchangeable.
Stative Verbs — Do Not Use the Continuous
Stative verbs describe states, not actions — things like beliefs, emotions, possession, and perception. These verbs are not normally used in any continuous form, including the past continuous.
Incorrect
✗ I was knowing the answer when she asked me.
✓ I knew the answer when she asked me.
Know, believe, want, like, need, own, understand, hate, love — these are stative verbs. Use the past simple for them.
- know / understand / believe / think (= opinion) — mental states
- like / love / hate / prefer / want / need — emotions & desires
- own / have (= possess) / belong to — possession
- seem / appear / look (= seem) — appearances
Common Mistakes
Wrong auxiliary for the subject
✗ They was watching TV when I came in.
✓ They were watching TV when I came in.
Was is for I / he / she / it. Were is for you / we / they.
Using past simple instead of past continuous for the background
✗ I read a book when you called. (if the reading was in progress)
✓ I was reading a book when you called.
When the reading was already in progress before the call, use the past continuous to express that ongoing nature.
Past continuous for a quick sequence of events
✗ He was entering the room, was sitting down, and was opening his laptop.
✓ He entered the room, sat down, and opened his laptop.
For a sequence of short, completed actions, use the past simple. Reserve the past continuous for genuinely ongoing background events.
"Was going to" mistaken for past continuous of go
✗ Using "I was going to the supermarket" to mean "I intended to go to the supermarket but did not".
✓ For an unfulfilled past intention, "I was going to call you, but I forgot." For ongoing past action, "I was going to the supermarket when I saw him."
The string "was going to + base verb" is a fixed pattern meaning an unfulfilled past intention. The string "was going to + place" is the past continuous of go. Same words, different structures. Listen for whether a base verb or a place follows "to".
Adverb position with always / constantly / forever
✗ He always was complaining about his job.
✓ He was always complaining about his job.
Adverbs of frequency go between the auxiliary (was/were) and the participle (-ing form), not before the auxiliary. The structure is subject + was/were + always + verb-ing. The same rule applies in the present continuous ("He is always interrupting").
Using past continuous where past simple drives the story
✗ I was waking up, was getting dressed, and was leaving for work at 7 a.m.
✓ I woke up, got dressed, and left for work at 7 a.m.
In narrative, past continuous is the background scenery and past simple drives the plot forward. If you tell every plot event in the past continuous, your story has no momentum — nothing actually happens, everything is just "happening". Reserve the past continuous for genuinely ongoing scene-setting actions, not for the sequence of plot events.
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