Past tenses in English

In this part of the course you will learn all about the English past tense. The English tense has the following past tenses:

• Past simple tense
• Past perfect tense
• Past continuous tense
• Past perfect continuous tense

This chapter will show you an overview of when to use the different past tenses. For a more detailed explanation of the tenses you can take a look at the different chapters of this course, where you will also find exercises to practice the tenses.

Usage of the English past verb tenses

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1) Past simple tense

The simple past of the English regular verbs are formed by adding '-ed' to the infinitive of the verb.

• He swam in the ocean.
• She watched a movie yesterday.
• I brought my laptop with me. 

2) Past perfect tense

For the past perfect the verbs 'to have' and 'to be' are used in the past tense together with the past participle.

• They had read the chapter.
• She had walked to the supermarket.
• I had worked on the project. 

3) Past continuous tense

The past continuous is formed with the past simple of the auxiliary verb 'to be' and the present participle of the verb.

• I was reading a book. 
• He was making his lunch.
• They were watching the game. 

4) Past perfect continuous tense

To form the past perfect continuous the past perfect of the verb 'to be' is used followed by the present participle of the main verb (verb + ing). 

• She had been crying. 
• I had been working all day.
• He had been studying. 

The table below gives you an overview of the different past tenses in English. 

Do the exercise to practice the different tenses!