Past Continuous
Lesson 1 of 7 · ~5 minutes

Lesson 1 · Past Continuous

Was working

Form

The past continuous is built from familiar parts. It's the present continuous frame with am / is / are replaced by was / were. The -ing verb stays the same.

Person + was / were + action

  • II was working — after I comes was
  • he / she / itShe was reading — one person or thing takes was
  • you / we / theyThey were playing — you and plurals take were

Who

I
he / she / it
you / we / they

Now

I am working
she is working
they are working

Then

I was working
she was working
they were working
Who
Now
Then
I
I am working
I was working
he / she / it
she is working
she was working
you / we / they
they are working
they were working

I was reading at nine.

They were playing outside.

Where people usually slip

There are still three parts: the person, was / were, and the verb with -ing.

Not I working at nine and not I was work at nine — only I was working at nine.

There's nothing new to learn here. You already used was / were in the past simple course, and the spelling of -ing in the present continuous. This lesson only uses verbs where -ing changes nothing: work, play, read, wait, watch, cook, talk, listen, sleep, rain.

In short

  • I / he / she / itwas + verb-ing
  • you / we / theywere + verb-ing
  • where was / were comes fromthe past simple
  • where -ing comes fromthe present continuous
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