Past Simple & Past

Continuous
Time sequencers
Past simple: structure
 Past simple: use
● We use past simple for finished actions that
happened once or more than once in the past.
“ I booked the flight yesterday”
“ When I was at uni, I worked as a waiter every
weekend”
● The form of the Past Simple is the same for all
persons.
Past simple: regular verbs
● Contraction:
didn’t = did not
● We use did /didn’t for ?
and - .
● Regular verbs in the
past + end in -ed
● The past simple is = for
all persons.
 Past simple: irregular verbs
● Some verbs are irregular and change
their form: e.g. go-went, have-had,
do-did…You have a complete list on
your books (final pages).
● We only use the irregular past form in
positive sentences “I bought (buy) this
last night”. We use the infinitive in ?
and - “Did you go?, Did you went?”
● Remember word order in questions:
QuASI:
(Question, Auxiliary,
Subject, Infinitive)
Past Continuous: structure
 Past Continuous: Use
● We use the past continuous:

- To describe an action in progress at a specific moment in

the past: “Last Saturday I was walking in the park...”

- To describe the
situation at the
beginning of a story
“ In 1972 I was
living in London...”
 Past simple vs.
Past continuous
● We often use the past continuous and the past simple
together in the same sentence. We use the past
continuous to talk about a longer situation that was
happening in the background when the shorter past
simple action happened.

Mientras estaba cocinando la cena,

sonó el teléfono.
 Time sequencers
● We use time sequencers to say when or in what order
things happened.
● We use “when” as a time sequencer and also to join two
actions: “I was cooking when the phone rang”
 So, because, but, although
● Time sequencers, we use:
- Because (porque): to express reason
“ She was driving fast because she was in a hurry”
● - So (por eso): to express result
“She was in a hurry, so he was driving fast”
● - But (pero) / although (a pesar de): to express contrast.
Although can go at the beginning or in the middle of a
sentence.
“She was very tired but she couldn’t sleep”
“ She couldn’t sleep although she was very tired”
“Although she was very tired, she couldn’t sleep”