Past Tenses
Past Simple (Regular / Past Continuous (was/were +
Irregular)
1- Finished action in the
past
E.g.; They were in Mexico in
2016.
2- Repeated action in the
past
E.g.; When I lived in Paris, I
often went to this café.
Past Perfect (had + past
verb + ing) participle)
1- An action in progress 1- To talk about an
at a specific time in earlier past action
the past (NOT NON- E.g.; When they turned on the
ACTION VERBS) TV, the match had already
E.g.; What were you doing at finished.
six o’clock last night? As soon as I shut the door, I
2- Past action in realized that I’d left my keys
progress (present on the table.
continuous)
interrupted by
another action (past
simple)
E.g.; I was driving when it
started snowing.
3- With while for two
actions happening at
the same time
E.g.; While I was doing the
housework, the children were
playing in the garden.
4- To describe what’s
happening at the
beginning of a story
or an anecdote
E.g.; It was a cold night and it
was raining.