Simple past • Past continuous • Past perfect • Past perfect continuous

Simple Past

SIMPLE PAST

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The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning may be different.

1. Simple Past: Form

Regular verbs: base+ed
e.g. walked, showed, watched, played, smiled, stopped

Irregular verbs: see list of verbs

Simple past, be, have, do:

Subject	Verb
	Be	Have	Do
I	was	had	did
You	were	had	did
He, she, it	was	had	did
We	were	had	did
You	were	had	did
They	were	had	did

Affirmative

·          I was in Japan last year

·          She had a headache yesterday.

·          We did our homework last night.

Negative and interrogative

Note:

For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "do", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night. The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "do", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "do".

·         They weren't in Rio last summer.

·         We hadn't any money.

·         We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.

·         We didn't do our exercises this morning.

·         Were they in Iceland last January?

·         Did you have a bicycle when you were a boy?

·         Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Simple past, regular verbs

Affirmative
Subject	verb + ed
I	washed
Negative
Subject	did not	infinitive without to
They	didn't	visit ...
Interrogative
Did	subject	infinitive without to
Did	she	arrive...?
Interrogative negative
Did not	subject	infinitive without to
Didn't	you	like..?

Example: to walk, simple past.

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I walked	I didn't walk	Did I walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
He,she,it walked	He didn't walk	Did he walk?
We walked	We didn't walk	Did we walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
They walked	They didn't walk	Did they walk?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.

Examples: Simple past, irregular verbs

to go

·          He went to a club last night.

·         Did he go to the cinema last night?

·          He didn't go to bed early last night.

to give

·          We gave her a doll for her birthday.

·         They didn't give John their new address.

·         Did Barry give you my passport?

to come

·          My parents came to visit me last July.

·         We didn't come because it was raining.

·         Did he come to your party last week?

2. Simple past, function

The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.

·         John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.

·         My father died last year.

·         He lived in Fiji in 1976.

·         We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions

Examples

·         frequency:
often, sometimes, always;

·         a definite point in time:
last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago.

·         an indefinite point in time:
the other day, ages ago, a long time ago etc.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placedafter the period of time e.g. a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Examples

·         Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.

·          She finished her work at seven o'clock.

·          We saw a good film last week.

·          I went to the theatre last night.

·          She played the piano when she was a child.

·          He sent me a letter six months ago.

·          Peter left five minutes ago.

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Verb Tenses: Past Continuous

PAST CONTINUOUS

Past continuous - form.

The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb to be (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

Subject	was/were	base-ing
They	were	watching

Affirmative
She	was	reading
Negative
She	wasn't	reading
Interrogative
Was	she	reading?
Interrogative negative
Wasn't	she	reading?

Example: to play, past continuous

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I was playing	I was not playing	Was I playing?
You were playing	You were not playing	Were you playing?
He, she, it was playing	She wasn't playing	Was she playing?
We were playing	We weren't playing	Were we playing?
You were playing	You weren't playing	Were you playing?
They were playing	They weren't playing	Were they playing?

Past continuous, function

The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and was still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses anunfinished or incomplete action in the past.

It is used:

·         often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sunwas shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."

·         to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action: "Iwas having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."

·          to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to go on an excursion instead."

·         with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

More examples

·          They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.

·          Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.

·          When we arrived he was having a bath.

·          When the fire started I was watching television.

Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used. See list in Present continuous

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Verb Tenses: The Past Perfect

PAST PERFECT

Past perfect, form

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Subject	had	past participle
We	had	decided...
Affirmative
She	had	given.
Negative
We	hadn't	asked.
Interrogative
Had	they	arrived?
Interrogative negative
Hadn't	you	finished?

Example: to decide, Past perfect

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had decided	I hadn't decided	Had I decided?
You had decided	You hadn't decided	Had you decided?
He, she, it had decided	He hadn't decided	Had she decided?
We had decided	We hadn't decided	Had we decided?
You had decided	You hadn't decided	Had you decided?
They had decided	They hadn't decided	Had they decided?

Past perfect, function

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

In these examples, Event A is the first or earliest event, Event B is the second or latest event:

Event B Event B

a.	John had gone out	when I arrived in the office.
	Event A	Event B
b.	I had saved my document	before the computer crashed.
	Event A
c.	When they arrived	we had already started cooking
	Event B	Event A
d.	He was very tired	because he hadn't slept well.
	Event B	Event A

Past perfect + just

'Just' is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.

·          The train had just left when I arrived at the station.

·          She had just left the room when the police arrived.

·          I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.

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Verb Tenses: Past Perfect Continuous

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Past Perfect Continuous Form

The past perfect continuous is composed of two elements - the past perfect of the verb to be (=had been) + the present participle (base+ing).

Examples

Subject	had been	verb-ing
I	had been	walking

Affirmative
She	had been	trying
Negative
We	hadn't been	sleeping
Interrogative
Had you	been	eating
Interrogative negative
Hadn't they	been	living

Example: to buy, past perfect continuous

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had been buying	I hadn't been buying	Had I been buying?
You had been buying	You hadn't been buying	Had you been buying
He,she,it had been buying	He hadn't been buying	Had she been buying?
We had been buying	We hadn't been buying	Had we been buying?
You had been buying	You hadn't been buying	Had you been buying
They had been buying	They hadn't been buying	Had they been buying

Past Perfect Continuous: Function

The past perfect continuous corresponds to the present perfect continuous, but with reference to a time earlier than 'before now'. Again, we are more interested in the process.

Examples

·         Had you been waiting long before the taxi arrived?

·         We had been trying to open the door for five minutes when Jane found her key.

·         It had been raining hard for several hours and the streets were very wet.

·          Her friends had been thinking of calling the police when she walked in.

This form is also used in reported speech. It is the equivalent of the past continuous and the present perfect continuous in direct speech:

·          Jane said "I have been gardening all afternoon."   Jane said she had been gardening all afternoon.

·          When the police questioned him, John said "I was working late in the office that night."   When the police questioned him, John told them he had been working late in the office that night.

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