Past continuous

It is a complex tense (two verbs) that expreses an action completed during a period of time in the past.

The structure is the same than the present continuous, but the verb to be is in past. The rest works exactly the same.

— She was driving a lorry.

→ She wasn’t driving a lorry.

→ Was she driving a lorry?

Differences between the past simple and the past continuous:

Past simple

→ It is a simple tense (only one verb)

→ It expresses an event (punctual action) in the past.

→ In a subordinate sentence it is introduced by the nexus when.

Past continuous

→ It is a complex tense (two verbs, the auxiliary be (in past) + -ing)

→ It expresses a period of time in the past.

→ In a subordinate sentence it is introduced by the nexus while.

— I was listening to the radio when my mother called me for supper.

— My mother called me for supper while I was listening to the radio.

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