The past progressive (el pasado progresivo)
How it works (cómo funciona)
In Spanish, you have the pretérito imperfecto. One of the ways to translate it into English is the past progressive (or past continuous), which is built the same way as the present progressive, but using to be in the past (was/were) followed by verb + -ing.
🔹 En español, tenemos el pretérito imperfecto. Una de las maneras de traducirlo al inglés es el past progressive (o past continuous), que se forma igual que el present progressive, pero usando to be en pasado (was/were) seguido de verbo + -ing.
I was eating. (Yo estaba comiendo / Yo comía).
She was singing. (Ella estaba cantando / Ella cantaba).
They were working. (Ellos estaban trabajando / Ellos trabajaban).
Conjugation (conjugación)
I was + verb-ing
you were + verb-ing
he / she / it was + verb-ing
we were + verb-ing
you were + verb-ing
they were + verb-ing
Contractions (contracciones)
was not => wasn't ['wɑzənt]
were not => weren't [wɜrnt]
Questions and negatives
Just like in the present progressive, we don't need an auxiliary verb:
🔹 Igual que en el present progressive, no necesitamos verbo auxiliar:
Was she singing? (¿Estaba cantando?)
They weren't working. (No estaban trabajando).
Uses of the past progressive (usos del pasado progresivo)
Descriptions in the past (descripciones en el pasado)
When we narrate something that happened in the past and we add descriptions, the descriptions go in the past progressive.
🔹 Cuando narramos algo que ocurrió en el pasado y añadimos descripciones, las descripciones van en past progressive.
I arrived home. María was singing a song and my dog was eating. (Llegué a casa. María cantaba una canción y mi perro comía).
I opened the door. It was raining and the wind was blowing [bloʊɪŋ] (soplando). (Abrí la puerta. Llovía y el viento soplaba).
Interrupted actions (acciones interrumpidas)
When a long action is happening and it is interrupted by another action, the long action goes in the past progressive and the interrupting action goes in the past simple. We use when to connect them.
🔹 Cuando una acción larga está ocurriendo y es interrumpida por otra, la acción larga va en past progressive y la acción que interrumpe va en past simple. Usamos when (cuando).
I was eating when she called. (Estaba comiendo cuando ella llamó).
He was walking in the park when it started to rain. (Él estaba caminando en el parque cuando empezó a llover).
Simultaneous actions (acciones simultáneas)
When two long actions are happening at the same time, both go in the past progressive. We use while [waɪl] (mientras) to connect them.
🔹 Cuando dos acciones largas están ocurriendo al mismo tiempo, las dos van en past progressive. Usamos while (mientras).
I was cooking while she was watching TV. (Yo estaba cocinando mientras ella veía la televisión).
He was reading while I was writing. (Él estaba leyendo mientras yo estaba escribiendo).
While can go at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence.
🔹 While puede ir al principio o en medio de la oración.
Conversation
Ana: What were you doing yesterday at 3 pm?
Roberto: I was working at my office. What were you doing?
A: I was walking in the park with my dog. It was very sunny.
R: Nice. What happened after?
A: I was talking on the phone when it started to rain. I was very far from my house, and I didn't have an umbrella ['ʌmbrɛlə] (paraguas).
R: Oh no!
A: I ran to a café and waited there for an hour.
Estudiar todo de golpe sirve para el examen de mañana, pero no para memorizar conceptos a largo plazo. Espaciar las sesiones de estudio dejando horas e incluso días de por medio es mucho más eficaz.