Overview
This lecture explains the four English past tenses—simple past, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous—with definitions, examples, usage rules, and a quiz for practice.
Simple Past Tense
- Used for actions that happened and finished in the past with no connection to the present.
- Structure: Subject + past form of verb.
- Example: I watched a movie last night.
- Time expressions are important: yesterday, last week, 2 days ago, in 2021.
- After "did," always use the present verb (e.g., Did you go? not Did you went?).
Past Continuous Tense
- Used to describe an action in progress at a specific time in the past.
- The action started, continued for some time, and ended in the past.
- Structure: Subject + was/were + verb-ing.
- Use "was" with I/he/she/it and "were" with you/we/they.
- Example: I was watching TV at 8:00 p.m. last night.
Past Perfect Tense
- Used to show which of two past actions happened first.
- Structure: Subject + had + past participle (third form of verb).
- Example: I had finished lunch before they arrived.
- Use past perfect for the earlier action, simple past for the later one.
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
- Used for two completed past actions where one action continued for a duration before the other.
- Structure: Subject + had been + verb-ing.
- Example: I had been working for 5 hours before I took a break.
- Time expressions show the duration of the continued action.
Recap & Examples
- Simple past: I watched a movie. (completed action)
- Past continuous: I was watching a movie. (in progress at past moment)
- Past perfect: I had watched the movie before it was released online. (two actions, sequence)
- Past perfect continuous: I had been watching the movie for 2 hours before I fell asleep. (duration before another action)
Key Terms & Definitions
- Simple Past — Describes a completed action in the past.
- Past Continuous — Describes an ongoing action at a specific past time.
- Past Perfect — Indicates the earlier of two past actions.
- Past Perfect Continuous — Shows a past action that lasted for a duration before another past event.
- Time expressions — Words or phrases indicating when an action occurred (e.g., yesterday, last week).
Action Items / Next Steps
- Complete the quiz by filling in the blanks with the correct past tense forms and write your answers.
- Review and practice all four past tenses.
- Prepare for the next lesson on future tenses.