Past Continuous - Inglês

O Past Continuous é usado para expressar um evento ou ação em progresso em um momento específico no passado.

Ouvir | I was reading my favorite book last night

Ouvir | It was raining a lot when we left.

Para expressar a interrupção de uma ação ou evento de longa duração, podemos combinar o Simple Past e o Past Continuous:

Ouvir | She was leaving when I arrived.

Ouvir | He was going to bed when the phone rang.

Mas se a idéia a ser transmitida é de que mais de um evento estava ocorrendo simultaneamente, devemos utilizar o Past Continuous em todas as sentenças.

Ouvir | I was not listening when he was talking to you.

Podemos também usar o Past Continuous para descrever uma situação ou ambiente no passado, transmitindo a idéia de simultaneidade novamente:

Ouvir | When I was at the park, birds were flying, kids were playing, ladies were chattering and couples were holding hands.

Podemos ainda usar o Past Continuous para expressar uma idéia ou opinião, normalmente com má conotação, transmitindo a idéia de rotina, repetição.

Ouvir | The neighbour's dog was always barking.

Para formar sentenças no Past Continuous, usamos as seguintes regras:

Afirmativa: was verbing , were verbing => to be (Simple Past) + verbo principal no gerúndio.

Ouvir | We were working hard during the campaign.

Negativa: Adicione "not" depois do verbo auxiliar. was not verbing , were not verbing

Ouvir | He was not listening to what you were saying.

Interrogativa: Inverta o verbo auxiliar e o sujeito.

Ouvir | Were you sleeping when I rang the bell?

Note que existem algumas expressões indicadoras deste tempo verbal, sendo as mais comuns: when, while, during.