How to use the Past Simple tense

The Past Simple (Simple Past) is used to describe actions that finished in the past.

Use when:

• An action completed at a specific time in the past: I went to Da Nang last summer.
• A series of sequential actions: I woke up, made coffee, and left.
• Habits in the past: When I was a kid, I played football every day.

Keywords: yesterday, last night/week/year, two days ago, in 2019, when (with short actions).

How to use the Past Continuous tense:

The Past Continuous tense describes an action that was ongoing in the past.

Use when:

• An action was happening at a specific time in the past: At 8 p.m. last night, I was cooking dinner.
• Background context for a story: It was raining and the streets were getting empty.
• Two long actions happening in parallel: While she was reading, he was watching TV.

Keywords: at that moment, at 8 p.m. last night, while, as.

How to combine the two tenses

This is the most common situation you'll encounter when telling stories. A long action that was ongoing (Past Continuous) is interrupted by a short action (Past Simple).

I was cooking dinner when the phone rang.
(Was cooking — long action — then the phone rang — short, interrupting action.)

Easy-to-remember rule for "when" and "while":

• when + Past Simple → for the short, interrupting action: …when the phone rang.
• while / as + Past Continuous → for the long, background action: While I was cooking…

You can swap the positions of the two clauses without changing the meaning:

While I was walking home, it started to rain.
It started to rain while I was walking home.

And when two long actions happen simultaneously, use "while" + two Past Continuous clauses:

While I was studying, my brother was playing games.

Quick Quiz

Conjugate the verbs in parentheses:

• While we (wait) ___ for the bus, it (start) ___ to rain.
• She (cook) ___ dinner when the lights (go) ___ out.
• I (not watch) ___ TV at 9 p.m.; I (study) ___.

Answers:

1. were waiting / started
2. was cooking / went
3. wasn't watching / was studying.

When to use Past Simple, when to use Past Continuous?

Use Past Simple for completed actions in the past; use Past Continuous for actions ongoing at a specific point in the past or for background context.

"When" or "while" with which tense?
"When" usually goes with the Past Simple (short, interrupting action); "while" and "as" usually go with the Past Continuous (long, ongoing action).

Can both tenses be used in one sentence?

The answer is yes: this is the most common usage: a long action (Past Continuous) is interrupted by a short action (Past Simple), e.g., "I was reading when she arrived."

Conclusion

The fastest way to turn rules into reflexes is to listen and repeat these two tenses, or use them combined when telling stories about past events. If you want to practice with real videos, including listening, transcribing, and shadowing, you can try parroto for free.