Past Tense | Past Indefinite, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous

Past tense is used when we talk about actions that took place in the past. In this article, we will learn about past tense and its states.

Past Indefinite

The Past Indefinite Tense is used to indicate a single act or an action of the past.

Sentence structure:

Affirmative:

 S + 2^nd  form of verb + O

Examples:

He wrote a letter.

He is the subject in this sentence, “wrote” is the 2nd form of the verb. The first form of “wrote” is “write”. A letter is an object in this sentence.

He won the match.

Amina broke the cup.

It rained heavily.

Negative:

In negative sentences helping verb “did” will be used after the subject. And after the helping verb, we will use the “not”.

Sentence structure:

• S + Did+  not + 1^st  form of verb + O

Examples:

• She did not win the game.

In this sentence “she” is the subject.

Did is a helping verb and win is the first form of the verb. The game is the subject here.

• Ali did not make a painting.
• They did not eat the food.

Interrogative:

Did + S + 1^st  form of verb + O

Examples:

Did she eat the chicken?

Did they watch the match?

Interrogative and Negative:

   Sentence Structure:

Did + S + not + 1^st  form of verb + O

Examples:

Did he not go to school?

Past Continuous Tense

The ‘Past Continuous Tense’ represents an action, which was going on at some point in the past.

e.g. Ali was learning his lesson.

This tense is used for the description of that action, which was continued in the past as;

It was raining.

Affirmative Sentence:

This tense is made by using the helping verb (was, were) after the subject and the first form of the verb is modified by adding ing with it.

Sentence Structure:

• S + was/ were + 1^st form of verb + ing  + O

Subject	Helping Verb	Main Verb	Object
He/ she/ it/ I	was	1st  form of verb + ing	Object
We/ they/you	were	1st  form of verb + ing	Object

With singular noun or the pronoun “was” will be used and a plural noun or the pronoun “were” will be used

Examples:

• She was singing.

In the above example, “she” is the subject, “was” is the helping verb, and “singing” is the fourth form of the main verb.

• They were laughing.

Negative:

S + was/ were + not +1^st form of verb + ing  + O

Subject	Helping Verb	Main Verb	Object
He/ she/ it/ I	Was + not	1st  form of verb + ing	Object
We/ they/you	Were +  not	1st  form of verb + ing	Object

In negative sentences ‘not’ will be added after the helping verb(was, were).

Examples:

• She was not weeping.
• They were not running

Interrogative:

To make interrogative sentences, the helping verb (was, were) is placed at the beginning of the sentence before the subject. Lastly the question mark (?) is added at the end of a sentence.

Sentence Structure:

• Was / were + S + 1^st  form of verb + ing + O ?

Helping Verb	Subject	Main Verb	Object
Was	He/ she/ it/ I	1st  form of verb + ing	Object
Were	We/ they/you	1st  form of verb + ing	Object

Examples:

• Was it raining yesterday evening?
• Was she laughing at the stranger?
• Were they laying on the grass?

Interrogative and Negative:

Was /were  + S + not + 1^st  form of verb + ing + O

• Were they not drinking water?
• Was he not sleeping there?
• Was she not crying?

Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect Tense is used to describe an action completed at some point in the past.

In Past Perfect Tense with the helping verb (had), the third form of Verb will be used.

Affirmative Sentences:

• S + had + 3^rd form of verb + O

Subject	Helping Verb	Main Verb	Object
He/ she/ it/ I	Had	3rd form of the verb	Object
We/ they/you	Had	3rd   form of the verb	Object

Examples:

• The postman had distributed the posts.
• We had finished our homework.
• Our team had made a goal.
• She had decorated the room.

Negative:

S + had + not + 3^rd form of verb  + O

To make negative ‘not’ is placed after the use of ‘had’

Examples:

Interrogative:

To make interrogative of this tense ‘had’ is placed before the subject and a question mark (?) is put at the end of the sentence.

Sentence Structure:

• had + S + 3^rd form of verb+ O ?

Examples:

Interrogative and Negative:

had + S + not + 3^rd form of verb+ O ?

Examples:

• Had they not made a noise?
• Had the game not ended?

Past Perfect Continuous.

In ‘Past Perfect Continuous Tense’ Helping Verb ‘Had been’ will be used after the helping verb 4th form of the verb is placed (1^st form + ing). And at the end of the sentence ‘since and for’ will be used with time. “Since” is used with ‘point of time’ and “for” is used with ‘period of time’.

Affirmative:

•  S + had been + 1^st  form of verb+ ing + O + since/for

Subject	Helping Verb	Main Verb	Object	Time
He/ she/ it	Had been	1st  form of verb + ing	Object	Since/ for
I/ We/ they/you	Had been	1st  form of verb + ing	Object	Since/ for

Examples:

• It had been raining for an hour.
• She had been singing since evening.

Negative:

• In negative sentences not is placed after had.
• S + had +  not + been + 1^st  form of verb+ ing + O + since/for 

Subject	Helping Verb	Main Verb	Object	Time
He/ she/ it	Had + Not + been	1st  form of verb + ing	Object	Since/ for
I/ We/ they/you	Had + Not + been	1st  form of verb + ing	Object	Since/ for

Examples:

• Ali had not been playing for two weeks.
• She had not been taking rest since morning.

Interrogative:

To make interrogative sentences, the helping verb (had) is placed at the beginning of the sentence before the subject after this being will be added. Lastly the question mark (?) is added at the end of the sentence.

• had  + S + been + 1^st  form of verb+ ing + O + since/for?

Helping Verb	Subject	Main Verb	Object	Time
Had	He/ she/ it	Been + 1st  form of verb + ing	Object	Since/ for?
Had	I/ We/ they/you	Been + 1st  form of verb + ing	Object	Since/ for?

Examples:

• Had Ali been studying since morning?
• Has she been playing for two hours?

Interrogative and Negative:

• Had + S + not + been + 1^st  form of verb+ ing + O + since/for?

Examples:

• Had she not been cooking since 2 o’clock?
• Had they not been working for two hours?

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