Vamos continuar falando do tempo passado, mas agora em outra perspectiva.

 Past Continuous – (progressive)

O Past Continuous é usado quando falamos sobre algo que estava acontecendo em um momento especial no passado. Também é chamado de Past Progressive. Dê uma olhada nos seguintes exemplos:

• They were watching a film when the power went out. (Eles estavam assistindo a um filme quando a energia acabou.)
• My mom was working the whole night. (Minha mãe estava trabalhando a noite toda.)
• Last month, I was organizing our party. (Mês passado, eu estava organizando nossa festa.)

Regras gramaticais

Para formar o Past Continuous precisamos utilizar o verbo auxiliar "to be" (no past tense) e o verbo principal acrescido do sufixo -ing

👉Relembre aqui o verbo to be no Simple Past Tense.

SIMPLE PAST TENSE
AFFIRMATIVE	NEGATIVE		INTERROGATIVE
I was	I was not	I wasn't	Was I...?
You were	You were not	You weren't	Were you...?
He was	He was not	He wasn't	Was he...?
She was	She was not	She wasn't	Was she...?
It was	It was not	It wasn't	Was it...?
We were	We were not	We weren't	Were we...?
You were	You were not	You weren't	Were you...?
They were	They were not	They weren't	Were they...?

👉Veja aqui as orientações para o acréscimo do -ing ao verbo principal.

 

📚Estruturas

📌Forma afirmativa: sujeito + to be (was, were) + infinitive + -ing + complemento da frase.

• I was playing football. (Eu estava jogando futebol.) 
• You were playing football. (Você estava jogando futebol.)

Nota: Nas sentenças afirmativas, não usamos formas curtas (abreviadas) no Past Continuous.

📌Forma negativa: sujeito + to be (was not/ wasn't, were not/ weren't) + infinitive + -ing + complemento da frase.

• I was not playing football. (ou) I was’t playing football. (Eu não estava jogando futebol.)
• You were not playing football. (ou) You weren’t playing football. (Você não estava jogando futebol.)

📌Forma interrogativa: to be (was, were) + sujeito + infinitive + -ing + complemento da frase?

• Was I playing football? (Eu estava jogando futebol?)
• Were you playing football? (Você estava jogando futebol?)

📚Uso

1) ações estavam em andamento em um momento especial no passado

• Peter was reading a book yesterday evening. (Peter estava lendo um livro ontem à noite.)

2) duas ações estavam acontecendo ao mesmo tempo (as ações não influenciam uma à outra)

• Anne was writing a letter while Steve was reading the New York Times. (Anne estava escrevendo uma carta enquanto Steve lia o New York Times.)

3) junto com o passado simples (a ação no Passado Simples interrompeu a ação no Past Continuous.)

• While we were sitting at the breakfast table, the telephone rang. (Enquanto estávamos sentados à mesa do café da manhã, o telefone tocou.)

Nota:

Past Progressive: were sitting at the table

Simple Past: the telephone rang.

4) ações repetidas irritando o locutor [usado com:  always (sempre), constantly (constantemente), forever (para sempre)]

• Andrew was always coming in late. (Andrew sempre está chegando tarde.)

📚Palavras-sinais

As palavras-sinal indicam o tempo que você deve usar. No Past Continuous, frequentemente usamos um período de tempo. 

📌while _ enquanto (nesta parte da frase, geralmente usamos Past Progressive.)

• While we were watching TV, Andy was surfing the internet. (Enquanto assistíamos à TV, Andy estava navegando na Internet.)

📌when _ quando (Nesta parte da frase, geralmente usamos Simple Past. The Past Continuous é usado na outra parte da frase.)

• The ladies were talking when the accident happened. (As senhoras conversavam quando aconteceu o acidente.)