Past Simple
Last year, I _______ (travel) to Japan.
traveled
I ______ (meet) him before he became famous.
I´d met
We ____(cook) dinner when the electricity suddenly went off.
were cooking
I____(driving) on the highway for miles when I realized I was on the wrong one!
I´d been driving
A verb tense which is used to show that a completed action took place at a specific time in the past.
Past Simple, Simple Past
The bus ________ (come) as soon as I got to the bus stop.
came
We ______ (see)the movie before, so we watched a comedy show instead.
We´d seen
As I spoke, the children _______(laugh) at my cleverness
were laughing
I _____ (write)my essay for an hour when I decided to take a break.
I´d been writing
Is used to describe one action that happened before another action in the past.
Past Perfect Simple
They ____(sit) at the beach all day
sat
When I opened the document, I saw that I ________ (forget) to save yesterday’s work!
I´d forgotten
When we got to the ski resort, it _____(snow) so heavily that we couldn´t ski.
was snowing
I was disappointed the show was cancelled – I _____ (look) forward to it for weeks.
I’d been looking
A verb tense which is used to show that an ongoing past action was happening at a specific moment of interruption, or that two ongoing actions were happening at the same time.
Past continuous
I ________ (not come) swimming because Sheila hadn’t told me about it.
didn´t come
He ______ (live) here for three years by the time we met.
had lived
We____(not sit) in the garden when you called; we were in the kitchen.
weren´t sitting
Sylvia ______(swim) so her hair was wet.
had been swimming
A verb tense which is used to show that an action started in the past and continued up to another point in the past.
Past perfect continuous
How do you ask someone if they had dinner last night?
Did you have dinner last night?
By the time Doris got to the party, everyone ______ (go)home.
had gone
What _______(you/ do) at 8 o´clock last night?
were you doing
I went to the doctor’s because I_____(sleep) badly.
I´d been sleeping
Also called past perfect progressive
Past perfect continuous