Past tenses in English

We use this tense in English to talk about events or situations that are finished. Normally we use a time reference.

For example:

"Last year I went to Spain."

"In 1997, he changed his job."

"She called an hour ago."

We also use the Past Simple tense in English to talk about long-lasting events or situations in the past.

"When I was a child, I lived in the countryside."

To talk about repeated activites in the past, we also use the Past Simple.

"I often went to the beach as a child."

Past Continuous Tense ("I was doing")

There are three main uses of this tense:

1. To talk about what was happening at a particular time in the past and to give descriptions and background information.

2. To talk about temporary situations in the past.

3. To make polite requests.

1. Talking about what was happening at a particular time in the past.

"This time yesterday, I was reading a book."

We often use the Past Continuous tense with the Past Simple tense. The Past Continuous gives the background to an event in the Past Simple:

"When he got home, the children were playing in the garden." (The children started playing in the garden before he got home.)

"I was eating dinner when there was a knock on the door." (The knock on the door came in the middle of my meal.)

We can use the Past Continuous to give descriptions.

"The girl was wearing a yellow dress. She was eating ice-cream and was watching television."

2. Talking about temporary situations in the past.

"When I was living in London, I often went to the theatre." (Living in London was temporary – perhaps I only lived there for a short while.)

Compare with: "When I was a child I lived in the countryside." Living in the countryside was a longer event – I was a child for more than a couple of years. For more permanent situations, we use the Past Simple tense.

3. Making polite requests.

If we want to make polite requests, we can use the Past Continuous tense. This is because we put a distance between ourselves and the person we are asking.

"I was wondering if you had time to see me."

"I was hoping we could discuss a pay raise."

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59 comments on “Past tenses in English”

ahgirl

now i can differentiate the different btw past continous and past tense.
thats great.
i had improved myself.
thanks.

romana

now i am trying to differentiate btn past tense and past continuos tense, so continue to help me

Parvin

I really appreciate your affort to teach us good english, but i have a doubt about this sentence"I was wondering if you had a time to see me" so why we have to use HAD instead of HAVE.The meaning of this sentence is like you are hoping to see you by someone means you have not seen yet so why do we have to use HAD? please clear my concept.

I think it would also be correct to use "have", but as "was wondering" is in the past continuous, using "had" helps to maintain the sense of distance that we use when we want to be very polite.

Chirag

Thnax for teaching as a good way but i didn't understand the 3rd point of using the past continuous tense to make a polite request.

We just use this tense in polite, formal situations. We could also say "Could I…" or "Would you…" but the past continuous creates a distance between us and the other person, so is considered very polite.

ella

Is this sentence correct… When I was a child, I used to live in the countryside.

Yes, it's correct.

Francisco Arias

As an English teacher, I find your page very useful. I would really like your adding readings containing the tenses you explain so well in short sentences. This enhances the students' comprehension and use of the tenses. Thank you very much.

Ali

this is very useful information

ho tran

this is a lovely site, it helps me understand more about grammar, please keep teaching us more and more example, thank you very much

Piet

Hi, I'm Indonesian!!! I had a grammar task n fortunately I found this site! Thnk y vr much 4helping me 4containing my paper. Terima kasih..

zakia

It's very interresting lesson.
thank you.

Qi

I just saw the following two sentences:
I’m not sure either. I just wanted to point out that we need to be careful in sth

Here, the past tense is used to be polite instead of past continuous tense. Is there any reason?

Clare

Qi » Yes – it's more normal to use "want" in the simple rather than continuous form. Want is a state verb, and not generally used in continuous tenses.

jakarta boy

help me clare! is this sentence correct " i had hoped that you would call me yesterday" or we use word "wish" instead of "had hope". help me!

Clare

Yes, "I had hoped…" is correct.

Amirul

this is the best english learning website ever

anil

i really like this websites

fatima

Hi,i have a question:coud you tell me in what ways these two sentences are different in their tenses?"1.I lived in Oxford for three years." and "I HAD BEEN LIVING in Oxford for three years"
thanks,

Clare

The first is just a statement about a past event. The second gives you the background of a story – it explains what had happened / what had been happening before another event in the past.

Lina

wich sentence is correct * She was looked the castle *she looked the castle

Clare

"She looked at the castle" is correct.

Joey

Which one is correct.
Your tire burst because it is over pressured.
or
Your tire burst because it is over pressure.

Thanks in advance.

Clare

I'd say the first.

fatima

hi,whats the tense we can use for an action which had a lot of pauses in the past and now its happeninig or is going to happen in the future?

Clare

I don't really understand what you are asking. Can you give me an example?

fatima

just imagine i taught english for six years, 2 years i taught then ididnt teach for 1 Year again i taught for one year and istopped teaching for another one year and im teaching for two years until the last pause up to now. for the action "teaching for six years with a lot of pauses" what tense should i use?
thanks,

Caimin

I've taught English on and off for six years. (present perfect)

monika

"He has his court case tomorrow so I suppose he wants to put word around that he is being helpful."

Are verb forms "has", "is being" right?

Clare

Yes, they are fine.

fatima

Hi,about "until" i wonder if we can use it before an exact hour?if so what is the problem with this sentence: Until 2:00 a.m i am at university but after 3:00 a.m i am available.

Clare

Your sentence is OK, but are you sure you're at the university until two in the morning?!

leyla

hi dear clare
what is different between " I did sleep" and " I slept" some times i here peple insted of using past tens they use did+ present tense
please explain for me thanks.

Clare

We use "did" when we are emphasising. Normally we'd use the past simple to talk about events in the past.

You didn't go to the shops for me.
I did go!

carlha

hello this is great i can learn all about past tenses.thanks anyway!!!!

essaya

I gave you part 1 when we went there Sat. just void that part 1, that was incomplete.

Let me know if this sentence is correct

Clare

Yes, it's correct for spoken English. For written English it would be "… on Saturday. Just void that part 1 which was incomplete."

lily

i found this in the story book..please explain me why the words store and collect are not in past tense in this sentence.."..He helped the ants collect food and store them away for the winter.."

Clare

Because it's part of the construction help + verb without "to":

He helped them collect…

rishi

Hi Clare,

Is it ok to say " I came to understand that there is a vacancy …….." in the job applications ?

Clare

It sounds strange. You could say "I'm applying for the job of … advertised in …" but this sort of sentence is also often unnecessary. You can mention someone's name if they've told you about the vacancy and work in the same company. What's the context?

rishi

Hi Clare, Thanks for your clarification.

Here, I see some writting their job applications in that style. ( I came to understand or know ……..) It appeared a bit strange to me also. But I needed someone like you to explain. I got many of my doubts cleard from your website.The website and your clarifications to doubts are beauiful. I keep Leaning . Thanks again.

spandy

hi Clare,
when we use did, the verb is not in past tense ..for eg: Did u have your dinner?, in this sentence we do not use "had" as did is already past tense of do. If this is a reason we do not use "had", then why do we say "Could you help me with this?", why dont we use helped here….
please explain
thank you :)
it would be helpful if u can email it to me as it was easier and faster to work on.
thanks Clare

Clare

We don't need the auxiliary "did" with some types of verbs, which are the verb to be, and auxiliary verbs. With these verbs we do an inversion, rather than use the auxiliary "did".

"Could" is an auxiliary verb, so all we need to do is an inversion:
You could help me = Could you help me?
He was French = Was he French?

Farid Nooryar

Yes, thanks for the useful grammar and it's really helpul for everyone who want to read and write profect english. so good luck to everyone and be good and study hard .

radha

HELLOW
IN INVERSION: DID YOU HAVE A DINNER? = HAVE YOU DID A DINNER.
IS IT CORRECT SENTENCE

Clare

"Did you have dinner?" is correct.

radha

HELLOW,

DID IS AN AUXILIARY VERB.
YOU HAVE DID DINNER =
DID YOU HAVE DINNER?
THE ABOVE SAID TWO SENTENCE ARE CORRECT OR NOT? IF WRONG THEN GIVE THE CORRECT ONE.

Clare

Only the second one is correct. We use "did" as the auxiliary for the verb "have" in the past simple tense.

Bhumika

Price hovered around xyz
&
Price was hovered around xyz

Please suggest which is correct. Can 'was' be used with 'hovered'?

Clare

Either "hovered" or "was hovering", but not "was hovered".

troy eziquel

is this sentenze correct.. ahm "there he languished for many years."

Clare

Yes, but what's the context?

alex

hi clare
can you tell me when we can use the past perfect continuousand what difference is between a following sentances
I have been in pain all day
I had had in pain all day
thinks

Clare

I have been in pain all day = the day hasn't finished yet. It's probably now the evening.

I had been in pain all day = describing an evening in the past, just before something else happened.

We use the past perfect continuous to talk about an ongoing event before something else happened in the past:
"It had been raining all day when I finally left the office. The roads were wet and slippery, and there were large puddles at the side of the road."

ridvanlee

Can we use "would" or " was going to" for the things we plan for the future but we are not going to be able to do it.. or do we just say " i am planning to…. but i am not going to be able to do it …." ?

Clare

To talk about things we are planning for the future now, we can use "I'm planning to / I'm going to".

In the past, we can say "I was going to" or "I was planning to", but not "would". (Unless you use a 3rd conditional type – "I would have gone there yesterday, but then my cousin called me and I changed plan".

pradeepa

hi clare,

could you please explain the usage of modal verb.

could have.

i was so tired,so i could have slept more than 2 hours..
is this correct one?
1) He has broken the window.
2) He could have broken the window.
pls explain in detail above
both sentences

Clare

Have a look at the page on modals in the grammar section of the site for explanations and examples:
http://www.english-at-home.com/grammar/changing-the-mood-of-a-sentence-modals/

We use "could" to talk about possibility, so "could have done" to talk about something that was possible in the past.

king

"He had been employed with us from January 2008 to January 2009."Is it right, is my tense correct, "had been"? The person is no loger connected with us. He ceased to work last January 2009.

Clare

"He was employed from X to X". You don't need to use the past perfect to talk about an event in the past, unless you want to show it happened before another event in the past.

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