Группа прошедших времен. Past Tenses

Past Simple
Past Continuous
Past Perfect
Past Perfect Continuous

Past Simple
? Did ☺ V1
- didn’t V1
+ V 2/ed
yesterday, yesterday morning / evening etc., last night / week / Monday etc., two weeks / a month / ago etc., in 1998, when

Use Past Simple:
- Действие произошло в указанное время в прошлом
- Последовательные действия в прошлом
e.g. He bought a new car two days ago.
e.g. She put on her coat, took her bag and left her house.
- Повторяющиеся действия, привычки в прошлом
e.g. He often travelled to London when he was a student.

Past Continuous
Was / were + Ving
while, when, as, all day / night / morning yesterday, the whole day
Use Past Continuous:
- Действие происходило в определенный момент в прошлом
e.g. We were watching TV at 8 o’clock last night.
- Действие происходило в прошлом и было прервано другим действием
e.g. I was cooking dinner when the phone rang.

- Два и более действий в прошлом происходили одновременно ( обычно выполнялись разными людьми)
e.g. I was listening to music while my sister was doing her homework.
- Описание обстановки, на фоне которой произошли события рассказа
e.g. We were walking in the woods. It was raining heavily, the wind was blowing …

Past Perfect
had + V 3 / ed
before, after, by the time, by, just, already, for, since, till / untill, when
Use Past Perfect:
- Действие предшествовало другому действию в прошлом
e.g. The children had fallen asleep before their parents came back home.
- Действие завершилось в прошлом и его результаты также видны в прошлом
e.g. He was happy because he had won the race.

- Нужен эквивалент в прошедшем времени для Present Perfect
e.g. She isn’t in her office. She has already left.
She wasn’t in her office. She had already left.

Past Perfect Continuous
had been + Ving
for, since how long, before, till / untill
- Длительное время в прошлом, которое началось и закончилось в прошлом перед другим действием или описывается его результат
e.g. He had been living in the city for 7 years before he decided to move to the countryside.
The children had been playing in the garden all afternoon and their clothes were dirty.