Past Tense

Is a verb form used to describe actions or events that occurred in the past.

In English, there are several ways to express the past tense, including the:

simple past
past continuous "progressive"
past perfect
past perfect continuous.

The simple past tense is used to describe completed actions or events that occurred at a specific point in the past.

Regular verbs form the simple past by adding "-ed" to the base form of the verb.

However, irregular verbs have unique past tense forms that don't follow this pattern.

Examples with regular verbs:

I walked to school yesterday.
She watched a movie last night.

Examples with irregular verbs:

They drove to the beach last weekend.
He ate dinner at 6 PM.

is used to describe actions or events that were ongoing or in progress at a specific point in the past.

It is formed using the past tense of the verb "to be"
→ was · were
followed by the present participle (the base form of the verb + -ing).

Examples with regular verbs:

I was studying when the phone rang.
They were playing soccer when it started to rain.

is used to describe actions or events that occurred before another action or event in the past. It emphasizes the completion of an action before something else happened.

It is formed using the past tense of the verb "to have"
→ had
followed by the past participle of the main verb.

Examples:

She had already finished her homework when her friends arrived.

We had eaten dinner before the guests arrived.

The past perfect continuous tense is used to describe actions or events that were ongoing or in progress for a period of time before another action or event in the past. It emphasizes the duration of the action up to a certain point in the past.

It is formed using the past perfect tense of the verb "to have"
→ had been
followed by "been" and the present participle of the main verb.

Examples:

They had been waiting for over an hour when the bus finally arrived.

I had been working on the project for weeks before I finished it.

We can use all these forms:

to talk about the past:

He worked at McDonald's. He had worked there since July.
He was working at McDonald's. He had been working there since July.

to refer to the present or future in hypotheses:

It might be dangerous. Suppose they got lost.

This use is very common in wishes:

I wish it wasn't so cold.

and in conditions with if:

He could get a new job if he really tried.
If Jack was playing, they would probably win.

Past Tenses