How to Build the Past Continuous

The past continuous is made with was / were + verb-ing. That's the whole structure. Pick the right form of be in the past, add your main verb with an -ing ending, and you're done.

Subject	was/were	verb-ing
I / he / she / it	was	working
you / we / they	were	working

For negatives, slot in not after was/were: She was not (wasn't) sleeping. For questions, flip the subject and was/were: Were you listening?

What the Past Continuous Actually Does

Use it when you want to show that an action was already in progress at a particular moment in the past. The action had started before that moment and hadn't finished yet — you're zooming in on the middle of it.

✅ At eight o'clock last night, I was reading a novel.

This tells us that the reading started before eight and was still going on at eight. Compare it with the past simple:

I read a novel last night.

Here the focus is on the completed event, not the moment inside it.

The past continuous also sets the background scene for a shorter, sudden action (past simple). Think of it as the wide shot before the close-up:

✅ We were walking through the park when it started to rain. ❌ We walked through the park when it started to rain.

The second version isn't grammatically impossible, but it changes the meaning — it suggests we walked through the park because it started to rain, or that the two finished actions happened in sequence. The past continuous makes clear that the walking was already happening and the rain interrupted it.

Two past continuous verbs side by side show two actions happening at the same time:

✅ While Tom was cooking dinner, Sarah was setting the table.

Stative Verbs — The Big Exception

Some verbs describe states rather than actions: know, believe, want, love, own, belong, seem, understand. These verbs almost never appear in any continuous form, including the past continuous.

❌ I was knowing the answer when the teacher asked. ✅ I knew the answer when the teacher asked.

❌ She was wanting a new phone at that time. ✅ She wanted a new phone at that time.

A few verbs live a double life — have, think, see — where one meaning is stative and the other is active. I was having dinner (eating — action, fine). I was having a car (owning — state, wrong).

Mistakes That Keep Coming Back

1. Mixing up was and were. This sounds basic, but under time pressure learners slip:

❌ They was talking loudly. ✅ They were talking loudly.

The rule is the same as for present am/is/are — just shifted to past. Was goes with I / he / she / it; were goes with you / we / they.

2. Using past continuous for completed or sequential actions. If the action finished and you know when, the past simple is usually the right choice:

❌ Yesterday I was finishing my homework at five o'clock. (if you mean you completed it at five) ✅ Yesterday I finished my homework at five o'clock.

Reserve the past continuous for the action that was ongoing, not the one that wrapped up.

3. Forgetting the -ing. It sounds obvious, but writing She was talk to her friend instead of She was talking to her friend is one of the most frequent slips in written work. Both parts — the past form of be and the -ing form — are required. Drop either one and the tense falls apart.

Keep these three checks in mind: right form of was/were, the -ing ending on the main verb, and a genuine in-progress action rather than a completed event. That covers nearly every past continuous question you'll face.