Past Continuous (Pasado continuo)

Past Continuous

The past continuous is used for actions that occurred at a specific time in the past. As the present continuous is formed with the verb "to be" and the gerund.

Grammatical Rules (Reglas gramaticales)

Form (Forma)

To form the past continuous auxiliary verb "to be" and the gerund (infinitive + "-ing") of the verb is used. The auxiliary verb "to be" is in the simple past, but keep in mind that "to be" is an irregular verb.

Sujeto	Auxiliar (to be)	Gerundio
I, He, She, It	was	talking, eating, learning, doing, going...
You, We, They	were	talking, eating, learning, doing, going...

Structure (Estructura)

Structure

Subject + auxiliary verb ("to be") + gerund.

Examples:

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  I was talking. (Estaba hablando.)
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  He was eating. (Estaba comiendo.)
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  They were learning. (Estaban aprendiendo.)

 Negative Sentences (Frases negativas)

Structure

Subject + auxiliary verb ("to be") + "not" + gerund.

Examples:

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  I was not [wasn't] talking. (No estaba hablando.)
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  He was not [wasn't] eating. (No estaba comiendo.)
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  They were not [weren't] learning. (No estaban aprendiendo.)

Interrogative Sentences (interrogative phrases)

Structure

Auxiliary verb ("to be") + subject + gerund?

Examples:

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  Were you talking? (¿Estabas hablando?)
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  Was he eating? (¿Estaba comiendo?)
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  Were they learning? (¿Estaban aprendiendo?)

• Uses (Usos)

• We use the past continuous for a long action and in the past was interrupted. The action is constantly interrupted past and the action that causes the interruption is in the past simple. "When" and "while" point to the use of simple and past continuous. In general, we use the past simple right after "when" and continued past after "while."

Examples:

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  Jose called while I was watching the news. (Jose llamó mientras estaba mirando las noticias.)
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  He was walking to work when he fell. (Estaba caminando hacia su trabajo cuando se cayó.)
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  Was it raining when you left? (¿Estaba lloviendo cuando te fuiste?)

The past continuous is used to talk about actions in a specific time in the past.

Examples:

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  Paula wasn't living in Spain in 2005. (Paula no estaba viviendo en España en el 2005.)
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  We were still working at 10 o'clock last night. (Todavía estabamos trabajando a las 10 de la noche. )

The past continuous for two actions were happening at the same time used in the past.

Examples:

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  My son was reading while I was cooking. (Mi hijo estaba leyendo mientras que yo estaba cocinando.)
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  They were talking very loudly while we were trying to watch the movie. (Estaban hablando muy alto mientras nosotros estábamos intentando mirar la pelicula.)