The document describes the different forms and uses of the past simple, past continuous, past perfect simple, and past perfect continuous verb tenses in English. The past simple is used to describe completed actions or habitual past actions. The past continuous describes ongoing or background activities that were happening at a specific time in the past. The past perfect simple is used to refer to actions that occurred before another past time or action. Finally, the past perfect continuous describes activities that began in the past and continued up to another point in the past.

1. Mihai ION ● Basic English Morphology
PAST SIMPLE
●Form: V-ed
+ I/you/he/she/it/we/they played
drank
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn’t) play
drink
? Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they play?
drink?
●Use:
♦complete action/period of time (+ yesterday/last …/…ago)
I met him yesterday/last summer/two weeks ago.
He worked in that bank for two years. (He no longer works there)
but: He has worked in that bank for two years. (He still works there)
I saw a good film this morning. (It’s 11pm)
but: I’ve seen a good film this morning. (It’s 11am – incomplete period)
♦past habit
She always wore black when she was young.
♦future reference (time & condition clauses)
Jack promised he would phone me when he arrived.
My classmates said they would come to my place if they had time.
PAST CONTINUOUS
●Form: BE (past) + V-ing
+ I/he/she/it
we/you/they
was
were
playing
- I/he/she/it
we/you/they
was not (wasn’t)
were not (weren’t)
playing
? Was
Were
I/he/she/it
we/you/they
playing?
●Use:
♦ongoing activities
Yesterday evening, my brother was watching TV.
I was reading a book when the phone rang. (background activity)
While mother was cooking, I was doing the washing-up. (parallel activities)
♦temporary situations
She was living in London that week.
♦immediate personal plans
We were leaving that night.
♦annoyance (+ always/continually/all the time)
My little girl was always talking to strangers!

2. Mihai ION ● Basic English Morphology
PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
●Form: HAVE (past) + V-en
+ I/you/he/she/it/we/they had (’d)
eaten
drunk
played
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they had not (hadn’t)
eaten
drunk
played
? Had I/you/he/she/it/we/they
eaten
drunk
played
●Use:
♦completed action before past moment/action (+ by (the time)…)
By the time we got there, they had already left.
Josh had read the novel when he saw the film.
♦persistent situation up to past moment (+ for/since)
In 1995, we’d known each other for ten years.
I knew Bill hadn’t seen his sister since Christmas.
♦indirect speech (replaces present perfect & past)
‘I’ve been ill for months.’ > He said he’d been ill for months.
‘I knew her well.’ > She told me she had known her well.
♦future reference (time clauses)
I promised I would lend him the book when/after I had read it.
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
●Form: HAVE (past) + V-en/BE + V-ing
+ I/you/he/she/it/we/they had (’d) been playing
- I/you/he/she/it/we/they had not (hadn’t) been playing
? Had I/you/he/she/it/we/they been playing?
●Use:
♦ongoing activity up to past moment (+ for/since)
When I saw the boys, they had been playing football for an hour.
We’d been working on the project since May, and still had to work on it.
♦indirect speech (replaces present perfect & past continuous)
‘We’ve been learning English for two years,’ said the students.
> The students said they’d been learning English for two years.
‘I was watching TV at 7 o’clock,’ said Harry.
> Harry said he had been watching TV at 7 o’clock.