Simple past and past continuous

Basic

We use the simple past to talk about events in the past and we usually use expressions of time: last week, three months ago, on February, 7thWe form the past simple with –ed except for irregular verbs

Last week I went to a concertI finished my homework two days ago

For questions and negatives we use the auxiliar didDid you go to the concert?I didn’t start my homework

Simple past

Past continuous

We use the past continuous to describe scenes, what was happening at a givenmoment, for example

While I was having a bath the telephone rangWhen you arrived I was reading the newspaper

We always use the past continuous linked to another sentence with when or while

While I was watching TV my brother was playing on the computer

We form the past continuous with the past form of the verb to be + verb-ing and don’t need auxiliar for questions and negatives

They were playing in the parkWe weren’t cooking dinnerWere you studying when I phoned you?