hello and welcome everyone you're back
with me new at anglo-link for our eighth
video in the series learn the tenses
today we're going to look at three past
tenses past continuous I was doing
pastel effect I had done and past
perfect continuous I had been doing by
the end of the video you will have a
clearer idea of how to use these fences
to speak about past events and how they
work in conjunction with the past simple
tense so when you're ready we can be
right then past continues past perfect
and past perfect continuous let's start
by looking at the formulation past
continuous the verb to be in the past
and the ing form of the verb I was
playing you were playing he she it was
playing you we and they were playing
let's look at the past perfect had and
the participle for all the pronouns I
had played you had played he she it we
you and they had played and finally the
past perfect continuous had been and the
ing form of the verb I had been playing
and it stays the same for all the
pronouns you he she it we you and they
had been playing
right let's look at usage now starting
with past continues the past continuous
tense refers to an action in progress in
the past either when a shorter action
took place or has a very precise moment
in the past let's look at some examples
we were playing cards when she arrived
he was sleeping when the phone rang it
was snowing at 10:00 a.m. yesterday they
were flying to Tokyo at this time
yesterday
note that the shorter action is always
in the past simple tense this past
simple action may or may not stop the
action in progress
let's look at the timeline for the past
continuous tense we were playing cards
that's the action in progress when she
arrived when another action took place
in the middle of it now let's look at
the usage of the past perfect tense the
past perfect tense refers to an action
that was completed in the past either
before another action took place or
before a very precise moment let's look
at some examples
we had played cards she arrived after we
had played cards he had slept a little
before the phone rang it had started to
snow by 10 a.m. yesterday they had left
for Tokyo by this time yesterday I was
sure but I had seen him before
note that the second or the later action
is always in the past simple tense let's
have a look at the timeline for the past
perfect tense we had played cards before
she arrived one action was completed
before the second later action right
then let's move on to the usage of past
perfect continuous this tense refers to
an action that had started had continued
for some time and was still in progress
either before another action or before a
very precise moment in the past let's
look at the examples now we had been
playing cards for two hours when she
arrived he had been sleeping for a long
time when the phone rang
it had been snowing for several hours by
10:00 a.m. yesterday they had been
flying to Tokyo for a few hours by this
time yesterday note again that the
second or later action is always in the
past simple tense okay let's have a look
at the time line we had been playing
cards for two hours when she arrived
right then that must of easily clarified
the differences between these tenses for
you let's now look at some common
mistakes the most common mistake is
using the past simple instead of past
continuous or past perfect or past
perfect continuous let's look at some
examples
I saw the accident when I drove now here
clearly one action was longer and was
interrupted by another action so one of
these either saw or drove has to be in
the past continuous which one do you
think it is let's find out that's right
drove should be in the past continuous
I saw the accident when I was driving
let's look at another example
I spoke when he put the phone down
now putting the phone down interrupted
the action of speaking so
spoke should be I was speaking when he
put the phone down let's look at our
third example he was late because he
missed the bus now here it's important
that one action was completed before the
other one which one happened first
that's right he missed the bus fast so
that should go into the past perfect
tense he was late because he had missed
the bus let's look at another example I
didn't know that he left well clearly
one action has happened before the other
which one do you think it is right the
correct sentence is I didn't know that
he had left and one final example in
this final example you have three verbs
walked realized and forgot two of them
happened before the third one which is
realize so let's change the verbs walk
and forget to the correct tense I had
been walking to work for 15 minutes when
I realized I had forgotten my key
right then just a couple of notes of
some situations where you might see past
simple tense use twice in the same
sentence if you use the past simple
tense for both verbs in a sentence it
means that the two actions happened at
the same time have a look at this
example he said hello when he arrived
the two actions happened at the same
time and they were the same length too
quick actions another example I gave it
to her when I saw her also if the two
actions happen quickly one after the
other very close to each other you can
use the past simple tense instead of the
past perfect let's have a look for
example someone switches off the light
and goes to bed immediately you can say
she had switched off the light before
she went to bed or she switched off the
light before she went to bed another
example I left as soon as we had
finished because the two actions
happened very close to each other you
can use the past simple tense twice I
left as soon as we finished right then
that's all for the three past tenses
we've looked at today I hope you've
enjoyed this video as you know you can
go to our website under link calm for
more explanations and to do some
exercises to reinforce these points
thank you for watching and I look
forward to seeing you in our next video
bye now