Past Continuous Tense (الماضي المستمر): Formation, Uses and Exercises — English — 3rd Year Middle School — Algerian Curriculum

Past Continuous Tense: Formation, Uses and Exercises

Lesson Objectives

• To understand the formation of the Past Continuous tense
• To use the Past Continuous in affirmative, negative, and interrogative forms
• To distinguish between Past Simple and Past Continuous
• To apply the tense in real-life situations

Introduction

The Past Continuous tense describes an action that was in progress at a specific time in the past. It is often used to set the scene in a story or to talk about an action that was interrupted by another action.

Formation

Form	Structure	Example
Affirmative	Subject + was/were + verb-ing	I was studying at 8 pm.
Negative	Subject + was/were + not + verb-ing	They were not (weren’t) playing football.
Interrogative	Was/Were + subject + verb-ing?	Were you sleeping when I called?

Uses of the Past Continuous

1. An action in progress at a specific past time:
   Example: At 7 o’clock yesterday evening, I was watching TV.
2. An interrupted action (with Past Simple):
   Example: While I was walking to school, I met my friend.
3. Two simultaneous actions in the past:
   Example: While my mother was cooking, my father was reading a book.
4. Setting the scene in a story:
   Example: The sun was shining and the birds were singing.

Signal Words / Markers

• While + Past Continuous (while I was sleeping)
• When + Past Simple (when she arrived)
• At + specific time + yesterday/last (night, week…)
• All day / all morning

Examples in Context

Affirmative: Ahmed was doing his homework when his father came home.

Negative: We weren’t listening to the teacher because we were talking.

Question: Was it raining when you left the house?

Exercises

Exercise 1: Put the verbs in brackets into the Past Continuous tense.

1. I ________ (read) a book at 9 pm last night.
2. They ________ (not / play) football when it started to rain.
3. ________ she ________ (cook) dinner when you arrived?
4. We ________ (watch) a film while the kids ________ (sleep).

Exercise 2: Correct the mistakes in these sentences.

1. He were playing tennis yesterday at 5 pm.
2. She wasn’t study when I called her.
3. While we watched TV, the phone rang.

Summary

The Past Continuous (was/were + verb-ing) is used to describe ongoing actions at a specific past time. It is frequently used with while and when to show simultaneous or interrupted actions. Practise forming all three forms (affirmative, negative, interrogative) to master this tense.

📍 دروس مشابهة:

• اللغة العربية — الضمائر (ضمائر المتكلم والمخاطب والغائب) — السنة الرابعة إبتدائي — المنهاج الجزائري
• التربية الإسلامية — سورة القارعة (تفسير مبسط وحفظ للأطفال) — السنة الثالثة إبتدائي — المنهاج الجزائري
• الرياضيات — القسمة الإقليدية على عدد ذي رقمين (طريقة الحساب والأمثلة) — السنة الخامسة إبتدائي — المنهاج الجزائري