The simple past and past continuous are both verb tenses used to describe actions or events that occurred in the past. Here’s a table that explains the differences between the two tenses and provides examples of each:
| Verb Tense | Grammar Pattern | Explanation | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Past | [Base Form + –ed / Irregular Verb Past Form] | Used to describe a completed action or event in the past. | She studied for three hours yesterday. He played soccer with his friends last weekend. They traveled to Europe last summer. I cooked dinner for my family last night. |
| Past Continuous | [Past form of “be” (was/were) + Present Participle (-ing)] | Used to describe an ongoing action or event that was happening at a specific time in the past. | She was studying for three hours yesterday. He was playing soccer with his friends when it started to rain. They were traveling to Europe when they heard about the hurricane. I was cooking dinner when my friend called me. |
Past Simple
It’s important to note that the simple past is formed by adding –ed to regular verbs, or using the second form (Verb II) of irregular verbs.
How to pronounce past regular verbs
| Base form | Simple Past |
|---|---|
| be | was/were |
| begin | began |
| break | broke |
| bring | brought |
| build | built |
| buy | bought |
| choose | chose |
| come | came |
| do | did |
| draw | drew |
| drink | drank |
| drive | drove |
| eat | ate |
| fall | fell |
| feel | felt |
| find | found |
| fly | flew |
| forget | forgot |
| get | got |
| give | gave |
| go | went |
| have | had |
| hear | heard |
| hit | hit |
| hold | held |
| keep | kept |
| know | knew |
| leave | left |
| lose | lost |
| make | made |
| meet | met |
| pay | paid |
| put | put |
| read | read |
| run | ran |
| say | said |
| see | saw |
| sell | sold |
| send | sent |
| sing | sang |
| sit | sat |
| sleep | slept |
| speak | spoke |
| spend | spent |
| stand | stood |
| swim | swam |
| take | took |
| teach | taught |
| tell | told |
| think | thought |
| understand | understood |
| wake | woke |
| wear | wore |
| win | won |
| write | wrote |
How to pronounce past irregular verbs
The past continuous is formed by using the verb “to be” in the past tense (was/were) and adding the present participle (-ing) of the main verb.
Past Continuous
Here’s a table with the spelling rules of the present participle (-ing verbs):
| Rule | Example |
|---|---|
| Add -ing to most verbs | talk → talking |
| If the verb ends in -e, drop the e and add -ing | dance → dancing |
| If the verb ends in -ie, change -ie to -y and add -ing | lie → lying |
| If the verb ends in a single consonant after a single vowel, double the consonant and add -ing | run → running |
| If the verb ends in -c, change -c to -ck and add -ing | picnic → picnicking |
| If the verb ends in a vowel followed by -l, double the -l and add -ing | travel → travelling |
| If the verb ends in -w, -x, or -z, add -ing without any changes | chew → chewing |