The Past Continuous tense is used to say what we were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past.
We have learnt the present continuous tense in Lesson 14 . The sentence formation of this tense is similar to that of the present continuous tense.
The past continuous tense sentence has three parts:
1. The root verb
2. The endings as shown in the table below which corresponds to “ing” of English
3. The appropriate past tense of “be verb” according to the gender to specify the tense of the action.
Refer to the below table to know what suffixes are used with different subjects.
Subject | Masculine suffix | Feminine suffix | Present tense indicator for masculine | Present tense indicator for feminine |
---|---|---|---|---|
मैं | रहा - raha | रही - rahee | था - tha | थी - thee |
तू | रहा - raha | रही - rahee | था - tha | थी - thee |
तुम | रहे - rahe | रही - rahee | थे - the | थी - thee |
यह, वह | रहा - raha | रही - rahee | था - tha | थी - thee |
हम, आप, ये, वे | रहे - rahe | रहीं - raheen | थे - the | थीं - theen |
I was sleeping – मे सो रहा था – main so raha tha – said by a male.
I was sleeping – मे सो रही थी – main so rahee thee – said by a female.
You were sleeping – तू सो रहा था – tu so raha tha – said to a male.
You were sleeping – तू सो रही थी – tu so rahee thee – said to a female.
You were sleeping – तुम सो रहे थे – tum so rahe the – said to a female.
You were sleeping – तुम सो रही थी – tum so rahee thee – said to a female.
You were sleeping – आप सो रहे थे – aap so rahe the – said to a male or a group of males (this sentence can be used in both singular and plural meaning). The same sentence can also be said to a group of males and females.
You were sleeping – आप सो रही थी – aap so rahee thee – said to a female or a group of females (this sentence can be used in both singular and plural meaning).
We were sleeping – हम सो रहे थे – hum so rahe the – said by a group of males. The same sentence can also be said by a group of males and females.
We were sleeping – हम सो रही थी – hum so rahee thee – said by a group of males. The same sentence can also be said by a group of males and females.
They were sleeping – ये/वे सो रहे थे – ye/ve so rahe the – said to a group of males. The same sentence can also be said to a group of males and females.
They were sleeping – ये/वे सो रही थी – ye/ve so rahee thee – said to a group of females.
Examples:
You were making a noise – तुम शोर कर रहे थे – tum shor kar rahe the.
He was going home – वह घर जा रहा था – vah ghar jaa raha tha.
We were not plucking the flowers – हम फूल नही तोड़ रहे थे – hum phool nahee thod rahe the.
Were you not telling a lie? – क्या आप झूठ नही बोल रहे थे? – kya aap jhoot nahee bol rahe the?
Were the boys playing football? – क्या लड़के फुटबाल खेल रहे थे? – kya ladke phutball khel rahe the?
How was he performing in the office? – वह दफ्तर मे कैसा काम कर रहा था? – vah daphthar mey kaisa kaam kar raha tha?
I was playing cricket in the playground – मैं खेल के मैदान मे क्रिकेट खेल रहा था – main khel ke mydaan mey kriket khel raha tha.
They were sitting in the restroom – वे आराम कक्ष मे बैठे थे – ve aaraam kaksha mey byte the.
I was dancing on the stage – मैं मंच पर डांस कर रही थी – main manch par daans kar rahee thee.
She was enjoying her school time – वह अपने स्कूल के समय का आनंद ले रही थी – vah apne skool ke samay ka aanand le rahee thee.
I was studying here – मैं यहाँ पढ़ रही थी – main yahaan padh rahee thee.
Shyam was pulling the door – श्याम दरवाजा खीँच रहा था – Shyaam darvaaja kheench raha tha.