use and formation of past tenses: past simple, past continuous, past perfect

1. Formation
Uses
Past tenses

2. SIMPLE PAST: FORMATION
REGULAR VERBS:VERB ending in-ED:
Ex.:We invited our English teacher to the party.
Verbs ending in y-ied
Ex.: We studied English every day last year.
One syllable verbs ending in one vowel and one consonant, double the
consonant:
Ex.: He stopped studying English at school.
IRREGULAR VERBS: different words:
Ex.: We went to the party yesterday.
QUESTIONS AND NEGATIVES: DID and DIDN’T +VERB (Infinitive
without to)
Ex.: Did you do the English homework?
No, I didn’t do anything.

3. PAST CONTINUOUS: FORMATION
WAS/WERE+VERB+-ING:
Ex: He was/they were reading an English book.
NEGATIVES: WASN’T /WEREN’T
Ex.: He wasn’t/they weren’t reading an English book
QUESTIONS: Inversion subject and was/were:
Ex.:Were you reading an English book?

4. SIMPLE PAST/
PAST CONTINUOUS: USES
SIMPLE PAST: For completed actions in the past:
Ex.: Yesterday we got back home and did our English homework .
PAST CONTINUOUS: For actions in progress at a moment in the
past.
Ex.: I was studying English at 9 in the evenverbsing .
To describe the setting of the action (similar to the Spanish “imperfecto”.
Ex.: It was raining, people were walking. I was wearing warm clothes.
Often used for an action interrupted by another one in the past.
Ex.: She was having a shower when she heard a gun shot downstairs.
Often used with while for two actions happening at the same time
Ex.: While the teacher was explaining the past tenses, the students were
talking.

5. PAST SIMPLE VS. PAST CONTINUOUS
When he arrived, they watched the football match.
(both are finished actions: first he arrived, then they watched
the match)
When he arrived, they were watching the football match.
(the actions are simultaneous: when he arrived, they were
already watching the match).

6. PAST PERFECT:FORMATION
HAD+PAST PARTICIPLE:
Ex.: He had studied English before.
NEGATIVES. HADN’T (HAD NOT) +PARTICIPLE:
Ex.: He hadn’t studied English before.
QUESTIONS: (INVERSION of SUBJECT and HAD).
Ex.: Had you studied English before?

7. PAST PERFECT: USES
For action before another one in the past:
Ex.: When he arrived, they had had dinner.
(they had dinner before he arrived)
COMPARE with the simple past:
Ex.: When he arrived, they had dinner.
(First he arrived, then they all had dinner)