past simple and continuous

1. PPAASSTT SSIIMMPPLLEE
oorr
PPAASSTT CCOONNTTIINNUUOOUUSS

2. How do we form the simple past tense?
English has two
types of verbs in
the past:
-regular
-irregular

3. Let’s read the following list of past tense verbs…..
Which are regular and which are irregular?
• walked regular
• studied regular
• taught irregular
• gave irregular
• became irregular
• cried regular
• lived regular
• did irregular

4. Regular verbs are verbs that end with -ed
Simple form verbs:
walk
study
cry
live
Past tense verbs:
walked
studied
cried
lived

5. Rules for adding –ed:
Add –ed to most verbs
Drop the “e” and add “ed”: smile = smiled
Drop the “y” and add –ied: study = studied
Double the consonant and add –ed: monosyllables, consonant +
vowel + consonant
stop = stopped
Double the consonant and add –ed: more than 1 syllable,
consonant + vowel + consonant, last syllable is stressed prefer
= preferred
Double the “l”: travel = travelled

6. Irregular verbs are verbs that don’t end in
–ed… you need to memorize these!

7. PAST SIMPLE: affirmative, negative
or interrogative
• AFIRMATIVA:
– He painted the wall
– We woke up very early
• NEGATIVA:
– He didn’t paint the wall
– We didn’t wake up very early
• INTERROGATIVA:
– Did he paint the wall?
– Did we wake up very early?

8. PAST CONTINUOUS
How do we form the simple past tense?
Past tense of verb to be
• I was
• He / She / It was
• We / You / They were
+ verb-ing
He was playing golf
They were studying

9. PAST CONTINUOUS: affirmative,
negative or interrogative
• AFIRMATIVA:
– He was painting the wall
– We were waking up very early
• NEGATIVA:
– He wasn’t painting the wall
– We weren’t waking up very early
• INTERROGATIVA:
– Was he painting the wall?
– Were we waking up very early?

10. SSiimmppllee PPaasstt vvss..
PPaasstt CCoonnttiinnuuoouuss

11. Use the simple
past for:
1) action that
happened in the
past and is . . .
over, done, finished
Use the past
continuous for:
1) action that was in
progress at a specific
point in the past
OR
2) focusing on an
action that continued
for a long time in the
past

12. Simple Past (Examples)
Action that was completed in the past:
Tom went fishing last week.
I worked until 2:00 p.m. yesterday.
*Time Expressions frequently used with the
simple past:
yesterday, last ______,
past dates (in 1990), _____ ago, etc.

13. Past Continuous (Examples)
Action that was in progress at a particular
point in the past:
At 2:00 yesterday, Tom was playing
soccer.
Sophia wasn’t home last night when I
called her. I think she was working.
Action that continued for a long time in
the past:
We were working all afternoon.

14. Construcciones con el pasado
simple y el pasado continuo juntos
• Se utilizan las conjunciones WHEN, WHILE, AS.
1. Una acción breve (Simple Past) interrumpe a una acción
larga (Past Continuous)
– John was watching TV when his friend arrived.
2. Dos acciones largas (Past Continuous) ocurren al mismo
tiempo.
- I was doing the washing up while my brother was
watching TV.
3. Dos acciones cortas (Simple Past) que ocurren una después
de la otra.
- When I heard the explosion, I phoned the police.