Tenses- Past Tense

In grammar, the tense in which something is said or written refers to the time that something happens: in the past, now, or in the future. It is the verb in a sentence which indicates the tense. The three tenses- past, present or future- have sub-categories.

This blog post explains the sub-categories of the past tense.

Past Simple

The past simple tense is used when speaking about something that happened or was true in the past:

Mary listened to music.

Stephen ran a marathon.

We visited friends. They were happy to see us.

William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays.

To say that something did not happen, we use did not + the present tense of the verb.

Compare the following sentences with the ones above:

Mary did not listen to music. (Listen, not listened.)

Stephen did not run a marathon. (Run, not ran.)

We did not visit friends. (Visit, not visited.)

To emphasize that something did happen, we use did + the present tense of the verb:

William Shakespeare did write 37 plays. (Write, not wrote.)

Past Perfect

We use the past perfect tense to indicate an action that is completed before another action done in the past. The past perfect is formed by had + the past participle of the verb.

The past particle is usually the same as the past simple tense of the verb:

The train had departed five minutes before Andrew reached the station.

Departed is both the past simple tense and the past participle of the verb to depart.

The action done in the past is Andrew reached the station. This is the past simple tense. The action that had been completed before this is the train had departed. This is the past perfect tense.

Sometimes the past participle is different from the past simple tense:

We had already eaten when they ate.

The action done in the past is they ate. This is the past simple tense. The action that had been completed before this is we had already eaten. This is the past perfect tense. Ate is the past simple tense and eaten is the past participle of the verb to eat.

Here is a comprehensive table showing verbs where the past simple tense is different from the past participle:

Verb (Infinitive)	Past Simple	Past Participle
To arise	Arose	Arisen
To awake	Awoke	Awoken
To be	Was / Were	Been
To bear	Bore	Borne / Bourne (Amer / Br Eng.)
To beat	Beat	Beaten
To become	Became	Become
To befall	Befell	Befallen
To begin	Began	Begun
To bite	Bite	Bitten
To blow	Blew	Blown
To break	Broke	Broken
To choose	Chose	Chosen
To come	Came	Come
To do	Did	Done
To draw	Drew	Drawn
To drink	Drank	Drunk
To drive	Drove	Driven
To eat	Ate	Eaten
To fall	Fell	Fallen
To fly	Flew	Flown
To forbid	Forbade	Forbidden
To forget	Forgot	Forgotten
To forgive	Forgave	Forgiven
To forsake	Forsook	Forsaken
To freeze	Froze	Frozen
To give	Gave	Given
To go	Went	Gone
To grow	Grew	Grown
To hide	Hid	Hidden
To know	Knew	Known
To lie1	Lay	Lain
To mistake	Mistook	Mistaken
To ride	Rode	Ridden
To rise	Rose	Risen
To run	Ran	Run
To saw	Sawed	Sawn
To see	Saw	Seen
To sew	Sewed	Sewn
To shake	Shook	Shaken
To shear	Sheared	Shorn
To show	Showed	Shown
To shrink	Shrank	Shrunk
To sing	Sang	Sung
To sink	Sank	Sunk
To slay	Slew	Slain
To smite	Smote	Smitten
To sow	Sowed	Sewn
To speak	Spoke	Spoken
To spring	Sprang	Sprung
To steal	Stole	Stolen
To stink	Stunk	Stank
To stride	Strode	Stridden
To strive	Strive	Striven
To swear	Swore	Sworn
To swell	Swelled	Swollen
To swim	Swam	Swum
To take	Took	Taken
To take	Took	Taken
To tear	Tore	Torn
To throw	Threw	Thrown
To tread	Trod	Trodden
To wake	Woke	Woken
To weave	Wove	Woven
To write	Wrote	Written

[1] The meaning of "lie" here is in the sense of position, e.g. "lie in bed". The past simple tense and past participle of "lie" meaning to deliberately not tell the truth, is lied.

Compound words that end with the words shown in the first column usually follow the same rule.

For example, forego ends with go, so the past simple tense is forewent and the past participle is foregone. Foresee ends with see, so the past simple tense is foresaw and the past participle is foreseen.

Had Had

As explained earlier, the past perfect is formed by had + the past participle of the verb. So what happens when the verb is have? In that case, the past participle is had, so the past perfect is had had.

Frank had had cancer, but he was cured.

The action done in the past was he was cured. This is the past simple tense. The action that had been completed before that was Frank had had cancer. This is the past perfect tense.

Past Continuous (Also called past progressive)

The past continuous tense is used to describe an action that continued or was ongoing in the past. It is often used to show what was happening at a certain time, or when something else happened. It is formed by was or were + the present participle of the verb. Usually, the present participle of a verb is formed by adding –ing.

They were sleeping when their house was burgled.

The action they were sleeping happened over a period of time. It started before their house was burgled and continued after it was burgled. Sleeping is the present participle of the verb to sleep.

Mike was speeding when he got flashed by a speed camera.

Mike was speeding before the speed camera flashed him and perhaps for several seconds afterwards. Speeding is the present participle of the verb to speed.

There may be two or more past continuous events happening at the same time. 

The wind was howling and the rain was pounding.

Past Perfect Continuous (Also called past perfect progressive)

We can combine aspects of the past perfect tense and the past continuous tense to form the past perfect continuous.

The past perfect continuous is used to describe an action that continued or was ongoing in the past, and that is completed before another action done in the past.

The past perfect continuous is formed by had been + the present participle of the verb.

Remember: The present participle of the verb is formed by adding -ing.
                    Been is the past participle of the verb to be:
                    I am, I was, I had been.
                    You are, you were, you had been.

Diane had been crying when her husband came home.

The action done in the past was her husband came home. This is the past simple tense. The action that had been continuing and that had ended before that was Diane had been crying. This is the past perfect continuous tense. Diane had been crying, but stopped crying when her husband came home, perhaps because she didn't want him to see her crying.

Compare the sentence above with the sentence below, which is in the past continuous tense:

Diane was crying when her husband came home.

In this case, Diane started crying before her husband got home, and continued crying after he got home.

Use the Correct Sub-Category of the Past Tense

Past Simple: A single event in the past.
Past Perfect: A single event in the past before another event in the past.
Past Continuous: An ongoing event in the past. Another single event interrupts this event.
Past Perfect Continuous: An ongoing event in the past which is completed before another event in the past.

Be careful to use the correct sub-category of the past tense in a sentence:

I had been studying at university last year. ✘

In this example, which uses the past perfect continuous, there is no past event mentioned which happened after I had been studying was completed.

Either the past continuous tense should be used:

I was studying at university last year. ✔

Or another event should be included:

I had been studying at university before I visited Australia last year. ✔