These slides explain Past simple, Past continuous and Past perfect.The text to put the concepts into practice is written by Martín Tobón.

1. Past tenses
Past simple
Past continuous
Past perfect

2. Past simple use:
1. To speak about an action that finished in the past.
2. To speak about a set of actions that happened one after the
other in the past.
3. A situation in the past that was customary for you or a
habit.
4. When we speak about accustomed actions, states in the
past but not continuing at present we use :Used to
Write 1 , 2, 3 or 4 in front of the sentence
A.They broke up last year.________
B.I woke up at 4:30. I got up at 4:45. Then, I took a
shower._________
C.When I was at school, I always played hide and seek
in the breaks.________
D.I used to go to a farm to buy a litter of milk._______

3. Past continuous / Past progressive use:
The past continuous is used to tell the situation that was on
progress and the past simple to tell the situation that
interrupted the one on progress.
1.To speak about an activity that was taking place before or
after a specific time in the past.
2.To speak about a situation or action that took place along a
period in the past.
3.To speak an activity that was interrupted
4.To speak about an activity that was not finished in the past .
A. When I turned on the T.V , they were interviewing your
father.
B. At this time, we were arriving to Madrid last year.
C. In the 70’s, The Jackson 5 were heading the lists several
times and becoming one of the best selling music artist of
all times.
D. The teacher was explaining the lesson when he fainted.

4. Past Perfect use:
The past perfect refers to an action in the past that took place
before another action in the past.
1. To narrate stories and tell the reader or listener about the
action in the past that happened before (action 1)another
action in the past (action 2).
Action 1: Mary got married.
Action 2: I came back from my internship in U.K.
When I came back home from my internship in U.K, Mary had
gotten married.
*Pay attention to the difference between actions that
happened one after the other in the past and the action
that happened before another in the past.
When I got back home, Danna cooked dinner
When I got back home, Danna had cooked dinner.

5. Past tenses
Yesterday night, I __________(arrive) home at 7:00 pm. My family
__________(wait) for me. They ________(shout) loudly…Surprise!! .
They __________(prepare) a surprise party for me.
They_________(decorate) the living room. There __________( be)
air balloons and colorful stripes hanging on the ceiling. They
__________(ask) me to take a seat and they__________(buy) a hat
and a present for me.
My mother __________(call) my sister who ___________(prepare)
a delicious food in the kitchen. She _________(come) and
_________(give) me a hug. Then, we _________(move) to the
dinning room. We _____________(have) dinner when we
________(hear) somebody___________(knock) at the door. My
Mother __________(open) the door and _________(leave) the
group of musicians they ___________(hire) a day before to come in
and play some beautiful songs. They _________(sing) the happy
birthday song, I _________(cut) the cake and we_______(eat) it all.
We __________(have)a glass of wine and then we________(move)
back to the living room to remember all the things we _______(use)
to do in the town we___________(use)to live in.

6. Past tenses
Yesterday night, I __________(arrive) home at 7:00 pm. My family
__________(wait) for me. They ________(shout) loudly…Surprise!! .
They __________(prepare) a surprise party for me.
They_________(decorate) the living room. There __________( be)
air balloons and colorful stripes hanging on the ceiling. They
__________(ask) me to take a seat and they__________(buy) a hat
and a present for me.
My mother __________(call) my sister who ___________(prepare)
a delicious food in the kitchen. She _________(come) and
_________(give) me a hug. Then, we _________(move) to the
dinning room. We _____________(have) dinner when we
________(hear) somebody___________(knock) at the door. My
Mother __________(open) the door and _________(leave) the
group of musicians they ___________(hire) a day before to come in
and play some beautiful songs. They _________(sing) the happy
birthday song, I _________(cut) the cake and we_______(eat) it all.
We __________(have)a glass of wine and then we________(move)
back to the living room to remember all the things we _______(use)
to do in the town we___________(use)to live in.