Grammar
🗣️ Talking About the Past
This guide explains the four main ways you can talk about the past in English. Let's make it simple!
1. Past Simple: Completed Actions 🏁
Use the Past Simple for actions that started and finished at a specific time in the past. It tells the main events of a story.
- For regular verbs, you add -ed (e.g., start → started).
- For irregular verbs, you must learn the specific form (e.g., go → went).
Example: I visited the beach every summer. (This action is completed).
2. Past Continuous: Ongoing Actions ⏳
Use the Past Continuous for actions that were in progress (ongoing) at a specific moment in the past. It usually describes the background setting for a story.
Usage: It's often used with "while" (to show two actions at the same time) or "when" (to show a shorter action interrupting a longer one).
Example: I was collecting seashells while my brother was playing football. (Both actions were happening continuously at that time).
3. Used to: Past Habits and States (Now Finished) 👋
Use "used to" to talk about habits, repeated actions, or states (like having or living) that were true in the past but are NO LONGER true now.
Example: I used to have a red bicycle. (State: You had it in the past, but you don't have it now).
4. Would: Repeated Past Actions (Storytelling) 📚
Use "would" to talk about repeated actions in the past, often with a nostalgic or storytelling tone.
Important: "Would" is ONLY used for action verbs (e.g., play, run, spend). You CANNOT use it for stative verbs (like be, have, know, live). For stative verbs, you must use used to.
Example: Every summer, we would spend hours building sandcastles. (A repeated action in the past).
💡 Tip: Storytelling Order
When telling a story in English, you often use these forms together:
- Past Continuous sets the scene (the background action).
- Past Simple moves the main story forward (the completed events).
- Used to / Would provides extra details about life or habits during that time.
Example Combination: "Last weekend, I was walking in the park when I suddenly saw my old friend, Tom. We used to play football there every Sunday."