The past continuous tense in Portuguese is used to indicate actions that were ongoing at a specific time in the past or to narrate the circumstances of a past situation. It is formed by using WAS or WERE plus the verb ending in -ING. WAS is used for I, he, she or it (singular subjects) while WERE is used for you, we, they or plural subjects. Questions and negatives are formed in the typical way by adding -N'T or placing WAS/WERE before the subject. Examples are provided to illustrate usage.