Juan Miguel's Lesson

Past tenses: simple, continuous, perfect continuous

They went to Australia last year.

The ferry had already left by the time we arrived at the port.

Dylan had been scuba diving all afternoon, so he was exhausted.

They had been climbing the mountain for two hours before they realised they had left their mobile phones at the campsite.

Past simple

• Actions which happened at a specific time in the past.
• Past habits.
• Past actions which happened one immediately after the other.

Regular verbs: past simple formed by adding -ed.

Irregular verbs: list of verbs (2nd row).

We didn't go out last night. We stayed at home.

Affirmative sentences

Negative sentences

Questions

S + VERB IN PAST SIMPLE (ED/2nd ROW) + Complement

Last summer, my family and I ate pizza in Milan.

S + Did not (DIDN'T) + Base verb + Complement

Did + S + Base verb + C + ?

Past perfect

• Action that finished before another past action or before a stated time in the past.
• To make clear that one of the events happened before.

When I arrived, she had left.

We use the past participle form of the verbs (irregular: 3rd row).

Affirmative sentences

Negative sentences

Questions

S + HAD

+ VERB IN PAST PARTICIPLE (ED/3er ROW) + Complement

Yesterday my mother told me that she had seen you in the park.

S + Had not (HADN'T) + Base verb + Complement

Had + S + Base verb + C + ?

Past Perfect Continuous

• To put emphasis on the duration of an action which started and finished in the past, before another action.
• To give background information.

We use the ING form of the verbs

Jack ran the marathon in 2014, for which he had been training since 2010.

Affirmative sentences

Negative sentences

Questions

S + Had + Been + Verb in ING + Complement

Patrick felt refreshed because he had been sleeping all day.​

S + Had not (HADN'T) + Been + Verb in ING + Complement

Had + S + Been + Verb in ING + C + ?

Simple

Acción acabada en el pasado, en un momento específico - FOTO

Perfect Simple

Acción pasada que ocurrió antes de otra acción pasada - DOS VECES AL PASADO

Perfect Continuous

Acción en progreso en el pasado, que llevaba tiempo sucediendo antes de otra acción - PELÍCULA