Categories: GrammarTenses

Past Continuous Tense in English

Past Continuous Tense indicates an action which started in the past and continued in a certain time period. The point to be taken into consideration is that the action started in the past and the continuity of the action was also in the past, so it does not continue at this moment.

The verb ‘to be ( am, is, are )’ has two forms in the past; was and were.

Present	Past
am, is	was
are	were

We use “was” for I, he she, it.

We use “were” for you,we,you,they.

POSITIVE FORM (+) :

Subject + BE ( was / were ) + Verb-ING

NEGATIVE FORM (-) :

Subject + BE ( was / were ) + NOT + Verb-ING

QUESTION FORM (?) :

BE ( was / were ) + Subject + Verb-ING

NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?):

BE ( was / were ) + NOT + Subject + Verb-ING

SHORT ANSWER FORMS ( + / – ) :

YES + Subject + BE ( was / were )

NO + Subject + BE ( was / were ) + NOT

POSITIVE(+)	NEGATIVE(-)	POSITIVE QUESTION (?)	NEGATIVE QUESTION (?)
He was staying	He was not (wasn’t) staying	Was he staying?	Wasn’t he staying?
She was staying	She was not (wasn’t) staying	Was she staying?	Wasn’t she staying?
It was staying	It was not (wasn’t) staying	Was it staying?	Wasn’t it staying?
I was staying	I was not (wasn’t) staying	Was I staying?	Wasn’t I staying?
You were staying	You were not (weren’t) staying	Were you staying?	Weren’t you staying?
We were staying	We were not (weren’t) staying	Were we staying?	Weren’t we staying?
They were staying	They were not (weren’t) staying	Were they staying?	Weren’t they staying?