What is the Past Progressive Tense? Definition, Examples of English Tenses

Past progressive definition: The past progressive tense is a verb tense that indicates a continuing action or an action in progress that started in the past.

What is the Past Progressive?

The past progressive tense is a verb tense.

The past progressive tense indicates a continuing action or an action in progress that started in the past. The past progressive expresses events that lasted for a duration of time in the past.

The past progressive tense is also used in the past perfect progressive.

Examples of sentences with past progressive:

• I was riding a bike when I saw the accident.
• I was working on that paper yesterday.

Forming the Past Progressive

The past progressive tense is formed with a past “to be” verb conjugation and the present participle of a verb (-ing ending).

To form the past progressive:

• Subject + was/were + present participle of verb

Subjects with their appropriate past “to be” conjugation for past progressive:

• I was
• You were
• He/She/It was
• We were
• They were

Examples:

• Subject (you)
• Verb (to be=were)
• Participle (going)
• Sentence: You were going to the party.

• Subject (I)
• Verb (to be=was)
• Participle (trying)
• Sentence: I was trying a new recipe.

Uses of the Past Progressive

The past progressive is used to express:

• Duration
  • This refers to events that started in the past but were ongoing. That is, they continued for a period of time.
    • I was reading.
    • You were thinking.
    • They were recalling.
    • We were remembering.
    • She was insinuating.

• Interrupted actions in progress
  • This refers to actions that were taking place in the past when another action took place and interrupted them (simple past).
    • My wife was sleeping when I woke her up.
    • They were recalling the event when the alarm sounded.
    • He was finishing his homework when I called.
    • We were ordering when you interrupted.
    • I lost my headphones while I was visiting New York.

• Actions happening at the same time
  • This refers to events in the past that happened simultaneously.
    • I was lying on the bed while I was reading.
    • You were talking as you were thinking.
    • They were sitting by the fire and recalling the day’s events.
    • We were ordering and you were interrupting.
    • She was reading as I was arriving.

• Polite question
  • This refers to using a particular tone when inquiring. This is used in formal situations.
    • He was wondering if you could assist him.
    • I was wondering if you know where to find the restroom.
    • We were wondering how to get to the train station.
    • I was hoping you could help me.

Summary

Define past progressive: the definition of past progressive is the tense used to describe ongoing activity in the past.

In summary, the past progressive tense:

• is used to express past actions that occurred over a length of time
• is formed with the “to be” verb and a present participle
• is also used to form the past perfect progressive