Past Continuous
Affirmative Form Negative Form
Formation:
Subject + Was / Were (Verb to be in past) + Gerund
+ Complement
Formation:
Subject + Was / Were (Verb to be in past) + Not +
Gerund + Complement
Subjects Example Subjects Example
I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They
I was studying maths.
You were studying maths.
He was studying maths.
She was studying maths.
It was studying maths.
We were studying maths.
You were studying maths.
They were studying maths.
I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They
I was not / wasn’t talking to you.
You were not / weren’t talking to you.
He was not / wasn’t talking to you.
She was not / wasn’t talking to you.
It was not / wasn’t talking to you.
We were not / weren’t talking to you.
You were not / weren’t talking to you.
They were not / weren’t talking to you.
Interrogative Form
Formation: Was / Were (Verb to be in past) + Subject + Not + Gerund + Complement
Subjects Example Short Answers
I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They
Was I cooking dinner?
Were you cooking dinner?
Was he cooking dinner?
Was she cooking dinner?
Was it cooking dinner?
Were we cooking dinner?
Were you cooking dinner?
Were they cooking dinner?
Yes , I am / No, I’m not
Yes, you are / No, You’re not
Yes, he is / No, He’s not
Yes, she is / No, She’s not
Yes, it is/ No, It’s not
Yes, we are / No, We’re not
Yes, you are / No, You’re not
Yes, they are / No, They’re not
Past Continuous Auxiliary Verb
The auxiliary verb which goes with past Continuous tense is the past form of the verb
to be. In fact, every continuous tense has the verb to be as auxiliary verb.
For I, He, She or It: WAS.
For You, We and They: WERE.
To form the negative auxiliary for the present continuous tense, we need to write
down NOT after WAS or WERE. There are short forms each of them.
When we form interrogative sentences, we put WAS or WERE. just before the
subject.
Contrary to past simple, in past continuous we always keep the main verb in gerund.
Short Forms
(Aux + not)
I wasn’t
You weren’t
He wasn’t
She wasn’t
It wasn’t
We weren’t
You weren’t
They weren’t
