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Here is an overview of the past tenses in English. There are only four past tenses in English, but we use at least six tenses to talk about the future. The two present tenses that are used to talk about past events are the present perfect and present perfect continuous. Past Simple The simple past tense is used to talk about finished actions which occurred at a specific point of time in the past. Form: Subject + past simple form of the verb • Her uncle died last year. • I met her yesterday. • Susan called in the morning. Questions and negatives are made with did. • Susan didn’t call in the morning. • Did you see her yesterday? Past continuous tense The past continuous tense is used to talk about actions and situations that were in progress at a certain point of time in the past. Form: Subject + was / were + -ing form of the verb • He was cooking dinner at 8 pm. • I was waiting for a bus at 8 am. Questions are made by putting was or were before the subject. • What was he doing at 8 pm yesterday evening? • Was he washing his clothes? No, he was not washing his clothes. He was cooking dinner. Past perfect tense The past perfect tense is used to talk about the earlier of two past events. Form: Subject + had + past participle form of the verb • He had finished that report before his boss came. • They had begun the conference before I arrived. • Past Perfect Continuous The past perfect continuous tense is used to talk about an activity that started in the past and continued up to another point of time in the past. This tense is also used to say that something had been going on before something else happened. Form: Subject + had been + -ing form of the verb • They had been playing when it started raining.