Past tenses

To talk about the past, English mainly uses four forms: the Past Simple, the Past Continuous, the Past Perfect and used to/would. Together they arrange events by sequence and background: the main events, the activity going on around them, something that happened even earlier, and past habits. Storytelling (the “describe a past event” tasks in Writing and Speaking) and historical or biographical Reading texts are built on these forms. This lesson explains how each form is made, what it means and how the forms work together.

§1. Past Simple — a finished event

The Past Simple describes an action completed in the past, with no link to the present.

• An action finished at a definite time: I visited Khiva last year.
• A sequence of events: He opened the door, turned on the light and sat down.
• A past habit or state: We played football every evening. She lived in Fergana for ten years. (she no longer lives there)

Form. Regular verbs add -ed: work → worked, live → lived, study → studied (consonant + y → -ied), stop → stopped (short words double the final consonant), travel → travelled (BrE). Irregular past forms must be learned: go → went, see → saw, buy → bought, take → took, write → wrote.

Time markers: yesterday, last week, two years ago, in 2019, when I was a child.

Worked example

She ___ (not / buy) the dress because it was expensive.

1. The sentence is negative and past → auxiliary didn’t.
2. did already shows the past, so the main verb stays in the base form: buy.
3. didn’t bought marks the past twice, which is wrong.
4. Answer: She didn’t buy the dress because it was expensive.

§2. Past Continuous — an activity in progress

The Past Continuous describes an action in progress at a moment in the past; we join it in the middle.

• In progress at a specific time: At 8 p.m. yesterday I was watching TV.
• A background for another event: I was cooking when the phone rang. (the cooking was interrupted)
• Parallel activities: While she was reading, he was cleaning.
• Setting the scene in a story: The sun was shining and birds were singing.

Form: was/were + V-ing. Negative: wasn’t/weren’t + V-ing; question: Were you sleeping?

While I was walking home, it started to rain. I was walking home when it started to rain.
State verbs (know, like, want, believe, own) are not used in the continuous: ✗ I was knowing → ✓ I knew.

Worked example

I ___ (drive) to work when I ___ (see) the accident.

1. There are two actions: driving (a longer activity) and seeing (a short event).
2. The longer background activity → Past Continuous: was driving.
3. The short event after when → Past Simple: saw.
4. Answer: I was driving to work when I saw the accident.

§3. Past Perfect — the past before the past

The Past Perfect shows which of two past events happened earlier: When we arrived, the film had already started. (first the film started, then we arrived). Compare: When we arrived, the film started. — we arrived, and then the film began.

Form: had + V3 (the same for every person).
Time markers: before, after, already, just, by the time, never … before.

If after or before already makes the order clear, the Past Simple is also possible: After he finished, he left.

The Past Perfect Continuous (had been + V-ing) stresses the duration of an earlier activity and its effects: She was tired because she had been working all day.

Worked example

By the time the police came, the thief ___ (escape).

1. There are two past events: the police came and the thief escaped.
2. By the time shows the escape had already happened when the police arrived.
3. The earlier event → Past Perfect: had + V3.
4. Answer: By the time the police came, the thief had escaped.

§4. used to and would — past habits

• used to + V — a past habit or state that is no longer true: I used to live in Fergana. He used to be shy.
• In questions and negatives use use to (no -d): Did you use to play chess? I didn’t use to like vegetables.
• would + V — a repeated action in the past (not a state!): Every summer we would go to the mountains.

be used to + V-ing (be accustomed to) and get used to + V-ing (become accustomed to) are different structures: I’m used to getting up early. Here to is a preposition, so a gerund follows.

§5. Combining tenses in a story

A good story mixes tenses to give events depth:

It was raining. People were hurrying home. Suddenly Anvar saw a woman he had met years before. He stopped and called her name.

Sequencing words link the story: first, then, after that, suddenly, eventually, in the end.

Worked example

Last summer we ___ (travel) to Khiva. While we ___ (walk) around Itchan Kala, we ___ (meet) a guide who ___ (live) there all his life.

1. The main, completed event → Past Simple: travelled.
2. While + background activity → Past Continuous: were walking.
3. A short event during that activity → Past Simple: met.
4. The guide had lived there all his life before the meeting → Past Perfect: had lived.
5. Answer: travelled, were walking, met, had lived.

§6. Learning irregular verbs

The most common irregular verbs are easier to learn in groups:

Revise ten verbs a day inside sentences: Yesterday I bought… I have never bought….

Check yourself

1. I ___ (see) him two days ago.

2. What ___ you ___ (do) at 9 o’clock last night?

3. The train ___ (leave) when we got to the station.

4. While I ___ (sleep), someone knocked at the door.

5. She ___ (use) to have long hair.

6. Did he ___ (call) you?

7. The past participle (V3) of teach.

8. I ___ (never / fly) before that trip.

Common mistakes

• A past form after did: ✗ Did you went? → ✓ Did you go?
• Adding -ed to irregular verbs: ✗ goed, buyed → ✓ went, bought.
• Mixing up when and while: while is normally followed by a longer activity (Past Continuous).
• Overusing the Past Perfect — it is only for an event earlier than another past event.
• would for states: ✗ I would have a dog → ✓ I used to have a dog.
• State verbs in the Past Continuous: ✗ I was wanting → ✓ I wanted.