Past simple vs past continuous
Finished past actions (I finished at six) vs longer actions in progress in the past (I was cooking when you called).
Examples use vocabulary from Unit 10. Both tenses talk about the past. First learn why we choose the past simple or the past continuous — then study the forms.
A — The past simple: when do we use it?
We use the past simple in the following situations:
1) To talk about finished actions in the past
the action started and ended. We often know when.
- I finished my homework at six o'clock.
- She visited Rome last year.
- We met at university in 2019.
2) To talk about a series of past actions
one thing after another.
- I woke up, had breakfast, and left for work.
3) To talk about past habits
things that were true in the past but maybe not now.
- When I was a child, I walked to school every day.
- He smoked for ten years, but he stopped in 2020.
The rest of this lesson is in the General English course:
- Past simple — form
- Time words that often go with the past simple
- B — The past continuous: when do we use it?
- Past continuous — form
- Time words that often go with the past continuous
- C — Past simple and past continuous together
- Common irregular past simple verbs
Try it: Past simple or past continuous?
Choose the best tense.
- I ___ my keys yesterday.
(a) lost (b) was losing (c) lose - At 10 p.m. last night, I ___ a shower.
(a) had (b) was having (c) have - While she ___ , her friend arrived.
(a) cooked (b) was cooking (c) cooks - We ___ to Rome in 2022.
(a) were travelling (b) travelled (c) travel
Check your answers in the course — it marks them instantly. This is one of the unit's 4 exercises; the other 3 are in the General English course too.
Practise this unit in the course →