Past simple vs past continuous

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• mavo
• Leerjaar 3

Past simple & Past continuous

Two tenses of the past

- Past simple 

- Past continuous 

The past simple: When do you use it?

PAST SIMPLE

Past simple / past continuous

Past simple

If something happened in the past, you use the past simple.

The past simple often ends with -ed. 

Positive	Negative	Question
I played You played He/she/it played We played They played You played	I did not play You did not play He/she/it did not play We did not play They did not play You did not play	Did I play? Did you play? Did he/she/it play? Did we play? Did they play? Did you play?

Past continuous

If something happened in the past for a longer period of time, you use the past continuous.

The past continuous is made with the past form of 'to be' + verb + ing

Positive	Negative	Question
I was playing You were playing He/she/it was playing We were playing They were playing You were playing	I was not playing You were not playing He/she/it was not playing We were not playing They were not playing You were not playing	Was I playing? Were you playing? Was he/she/it playing? Were we playing? Were they playing? Were you playing?

Form of past simple & past continuous

Past simple	Past continuous
EITHER: verb + (e)d	3 steps
Example: walk - walked, dance - danced	1. Past tense of 'to be' ( was of were )
OR: irregular	2. verb
teach - taught, drive - drove, pay - paid	3. ing
	He was danc ing , they were talk ing , I was sleep ing

When to use the past simple & past continuous

Past simple	Past continuous
A finished action in the past - I went to London last year	Duration: An activity that lasted for a longer period of time - This morning I was cleaning the house
Actions which follow each other in a story - She went to school and sat down in the classroom	To express an interrupted past activity and habit - I was reading a book when the doorbell rang
A past situation or habit - When I was younger, I always went to the shopping mall in the weekend	To indicate something took long, or seemed to take long - The garage was checking my car for 5 hours!

Past simple / Past Continuous
He .... (listen) to music when his mother ...(call) him

1. listened / was calling
2. were listening / called
3. is listening / calls
4. was listening / called

Past simple / Past continuous
I ....( break) my mirror while I ...( park) my car.

1. breaked / was parking
2. broke / was parking
3. broke / were parking
4. break / am parking.

past simple / past continuous
While I ...( study) my sister suddenly ( knock) on the door.

1. was studying / knocked
2. were studying / knocked
3. studied / knocked
4. studied / was knocking.

Past Simple <> Past Continuous
My friend ___ (to ring) me while I was watching TV.

1. were ringing
2. rang
3. rung
4. was ringing

past simple / past continuous

He ... (to do) the dishes while I was having a bath.

1. did
2. was doing
3. is doing
4. had been doing

Past simple / Past continuous
We ...(have) dinner when the doorbell ...(ring).

Past Simple / Past Continuous
David ___ (send) me an email five minutes ago.

Past Simple / Past Continuous
What ___ Leo ___ (do) when you ___ him yesterday?

Past simple / Past continuous
I ... (cry) so much last Friday.

Past Simple / Past Continuous
The internet ___ (not exist) in 1980.
GEEN AFKORTING

Give one sentence with a past simple & past continuous form

ik begrijp de past simple/past continuous nu

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