simple past - past progressive - difference

past progressive - the continous form of the past

The past progressive is the continous form of the past and is used when an action is done in the past over an undefined period of time.

Often times people express themselves in the past progressive if an action is spread over an undefined period of time and nothing noteworthy happens:

for example:

I was playing basketball yesterday. = Meaning: while I was playing basketball nothing special happened.

formation:

Aussagesatz

I/we/you/they	were playing
he/she/it	was playing

The progressive form of the past uses the suffix -ing. Apart from that the same rules apply as in the present progressive.

negation

I/you/we/they	weren't playing were not
he/she/it	wasn't playing was not

The negation simply adds not to the auxiliaries was and were, the short forms are accordingly wasn't and weren't.

question:

Was	I/you/we/they	playing?
Were	he/she/it	playing?

The question puts the auxiliary to the front of the sentence. (inversion)

exercises past progressive

exercises past progressive affirmative

exercises past progressive question

exercises past progressive negation

exercises past progressive mixed