Past continuous tense itu sama konteksnya dengan present continuous tense. Hanya saja, tenses ini merujuk pada spesifik waktu tertentu di masa lampau.

Pelajari konteksnya:

Yesterday I made an appointment with Tara to watch movie together. The movie started at 6.45 pm and finished at 9 pm. So, we were watching movie at 7 pm yesterday.

A. Struktur Kalimat: Subject + was/were + verb-ing

Struktur kalimatnya sama dengan present continuous tense, hanya saja kata kerja bantunya diganti ke bentuk past (dari is/am/are menjadi was/were)

I/he/she/it         was      playing, doing, working, etc.

We/you/they     were    playing, doing, working, etc.

Konteks: merujuk aktifitas di waktu lampau yang sedang terjadi.

Contoh:

What were you doing last night at 8 pm?

This time last year, I was living in Salatiga.

B. Past continuous (I was doing) VS simple past (I did)

C. Gabungan Konteks Past Continuous Tense dan Simple Past Tense

Seringkali kita menggabungkan dua tenses ini dalam satu kalimat. Sederhananya, satu aktifitas terjadi di tengah aktifitas yang lain.

Contoh:

It was raining when I got up.

I saw you yesterday with Maria at the park. You both were having conversation.

I hurt my leg while I was working in the garden.

Coba bandingkan ini:

When Kim arrived, we were having dinner. (= kita sudah makan sebelum Kim datang)

When Kim arrived, we had dinner. (=Kim datang, lalu kita makan malam bersama)

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