Lesson 4. Past Continuous Tense

Introduction

In this lesson you'll learn about the past continuous tense, which is used to describe an action that was in progress at a specific moment in the past. The lesson starts with a conversation between Sarah and Mary, where they discuss the the Business Communication class that Mary is taking.

Conversations

City

English

Sarah sees Mary downtown while she is on her lunch break. They stop and talk for a few minutes.

Sarah: I saw you riding your bike yesterday. Where were you going?

Mary: I was going to my Business Communication class. I have a class every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Sarah: How do you like it?

Mary: I was having trouble at first, but I’m starting to enjoy it now. This is the first course I’ve taken in years, so it took me a while to get used to studying again.

Sarah: Why are you taking the course?

Mary: I want to be a Project Manager. My work will pay for all the courses I need to take to get a Project Management Certificate.

Sarah: Wow! That’s very ambitious. How many courses do you have to take?

Mary: I have to complete ten courses. I was hoping to finish in two years, but I think it will take me a little bit longer.

Sarah: I guess you’re really busy these days.

Mary: Yeah. I have some free time on Saturday though. We should go for coffee.

Sarah: Sure. What time?

Mary: 1:00 at the usual place.

Sarah: See you then.

Mary: Bye.

Español

Sarah ve a Mary en el centro mientras está en su almuerzo. Se detienen y hablan por unos minutos.

Sarah: Te vi andar en bicicleta ayer. ¿A dónde ibas?

Mary: Iba a mi clase de comunicación empresarial. Tengo una clase todos los martes y jueves por la noche.

Sarah: ¿Te gusta eso?

Mary: Al principio estaba teniendo problemas, pero estoy empezando a disfrutarlo ahora. Este es el primer curso que he tomado en años, por lo que me llevó un tiempo acostumbrarme a estudiar nuevamente.

Sarah: ¿Por qué estás tomando el curso?

Mary: Quiero ser gerente de proyecto. Mi trabajo pagará todos los cursos que necesito tomar para obtener un certificado de gestión de proyectos.

Sarah: ¡Guau! Eso es muy ambicioso. ¿Cuántos cursos tienes que tomar?

Mary: Tengo que completar diez cursos. Esperaba terminar en dos años, pero creo que me llevará un poco más.

Sarah: Supongo que estás muy ocupado en estos días.

Mary: Sí. Sin embargo, tengo algo de tiempo libre el sábado. Deberíamos ir a tomar un café.

Sarah: Seguro. ¿A qué hora?

Mary: 1:00 en el lugar habitual.

Sarah: Hasta entonces.

Mary: Adiós.

Vocabulario y Frases

I saw you riding your bike. Te vi andar en bicicleta.
I was having trouble ___. Yo estaba teniendo problemas ___.
ambitious ambicioso
to finish acabar, terminar
busy ocupado, concurrido
to guess adivinar, suponer
We should go ___. Deberíamos irnos ___.

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Gramática

Present Participle

The present participle is a form of a verb that is used in the creation of the progressive tenses. The present participle is formed by adding ing to the end of a verb. If the verb ends in e and is more than three letters, the final e is dropped. The present participle (el participio presente) es una forma de verbo que se utiliza en la creación de los tiempos progresivos. El participio presente se forma añadiendo ing al final de un verbo. Si el verbo termina en e y tiene más de tres letras, la e final se elimina.
The following table shows some examples of the present participle. La siguiente tabla muestra algunos ejemplos del participio presente.
Verb Present Participle
be being
do doing
make making
see seeing
think thinking

The Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense, also called past progressive, refers to a continuing action or state that was happening at some point in the past. The past progressive se refiere a una acción continua o un estado continuo que estaba sucediendo en algún momento del pasado.
It is used to indicate:
  • action in progress at a specific time
    (At 8 p.m., I was cooking dinner.)
  • Two actions happening at the same time
    (They were talking while they were walking.)
  • background information in a story
    (The sun was setting.)
  • an action interrupted by another action
    (I was reading when the phone rang.).
 Se utiliza para indicar:
  • Acción en progreso en un momento específico
  • Dos acciones ocurriendo al mismo tiempo
  • Información de fondo en una historia
  • una acción interrumpida por otra acción.
The past continuous is formed by using the past tense of the verb be with the present participle of the main verb. The past progressive se forma utilizando el tiempo pasado del verbo be con el presente participio de un verbo.
The following table shows the past continuous tense for the verb go. La siguiente tabla muestra "the past progressive tense" del verbo go.
I was going
you were going
he / she / it was going
we were going
they were going

Ejemplos

What were you doing? ¿Qué estabas haciendo?
I was walking to the store when you phoned. Yo estaba caminando a la tienda cuando llamaste por teléfono.
The dog was sleeping when I walked by. El perro estaba durmiendo cuando cuando caminé por.
We were thinking about going to Costa Rica for our vacation, but eventually decided to go to Ecuador instead. Estamos pensando en ir a Costa Rica para nuestras vacaciones, pero al final decidimos ir a Ecuador en su lugar.

Past Continuous Quiz

Here are some practice questions to help you learn the past continuous tense.

Progress

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