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Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense is used to describe actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past. It is formed by using the past tense of the auxiliary verb “to be” (e.g. “was,” “were”) and the present participle of the main verb (which ends in “-ing,” such as “eating,” “drinking,” “walking”).

Here are some examples of the past continuous tense:

  1. “I was eating breakfast at 8 o’clock this morning.” (action that was in progress at a specific time in the past)
  2. “The sun was rising in the east at 6 o’clock this morning.” (action that was in progress at a specific time in the past)
  3. “She was speaking Spanish on the phone with her friend at 7 o’clock this morning.” (action that was in progress at a specific time in the past)

In the past continuous tense, the verb “to be” is conjugated to match the subject of the sentence, and the present participle is used to describe the action that was in progress.

Conjugation Table

Here is a conjugation table for the past continuous tense, showing the verb forms for the subject pronouns “I,” “you,” “he/she/it,” “we,” and “they”:

Subject pronouneatdrinkwalk
Iwas eatingwas drinkingwas walking
youwere eatingwere drinkingwere walking
he/she/itwas eatingwas drinkingwas walking
wewere eatingwere drinkingwere walking
theywere eatingwere drinkingwere walking
Conjugation Table

As you can see, the verb “to be” is conjugated to match the subject of the sentence, and the present participle is used to describe the action that was in progress.

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