Infografia ingles past simple

Past continuous

Past simple

vs

To fully understand the use of the past continuous, it is important to understand why and when it should be used instead of or together with other verb tenses. Let's see a comparison between them: Past simple and past continuous: they are usually used together when there is a longer or "background" action and a shorter one that shortens it or happens simultaneously

Structure of the simple past Subject /Object + Verb in past Subject or object + the Verb in the past tense. Verb in past tense would be to write the verb and add ed or d (if it already has the e). Be careful, there are irregular verbs that are written differently in the past tense.

Structure of the continuous past Subject+Verb to be (past) +Verb +ing Subject + Verb to be, to be in the past tense + the verb you are going to use adding ing at the end.

On the other hand, the past continuous is a verb tense that is usually used to talk about an action from the past that has not yet finished when we refer to it. It is also often called past progressive.

The past continuous (past continuous) expresses the duration of a past action and does not indicate whether it is finished, while the past simple (past simple) refers to a specific action that began and ended in the past. I worked last Saturday. I worked last Saturday. It was snowing at half past four yesterday.

Simple present

1: John had been living in that house for five years 2: She was forgetting she was angry but he started a fight. 3: he wasn´t paying enought.

Present continuous

1: my brother played with the computer 2: Melany swam in the pool