Past simple or continuous

Past simple or continuous

Both the past simple and the past continuous refer to completed actions in the past.

Most of the time when we are talking about such actions, we use the past simple. This is by far the most common way of talking about the past.

• I lived there for 6 years. / Viví allí 6 años.
• I asked her but she didn't know anything. / La pregunte pero ella no sabía nada.

Only use the past continuous when you want to emphasize the continuity of the action.

• Everybody was talking about it all evening. / Todo el mundo estaba hablando sobre ello toda la noche.
• They were really trying hard but couldn't do it. / Estaban intentandolo muy duro realmente pero no pudieron.
• I was thinking about you the other day. / Estaba pensando sobre tí el otro día.
• Were you expecting that to happen? / ¿Esperabas que eso pasara?

When we use these two forms in the same sentence, we use the past continuous to talk about the "background action" and the past simple to talk about the shorter completed action.

• It was raining hard when we left the building. / Estaba lloviendo fuerte cuando dejamos el edificio.
• I was reading the report when you rang. / Estaba leyendo el informe cuando llamante.
• He was going out to lunch when I saw him. / El estaba saliendo a comer cuando le ví.
• The company was doing well when I last visited it. / La compania estaba haciendo bien la última vez que la visité?

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