Past Simple or Past Continuous?

How to choose between the past simple and the past continuous

Uses of the past simple

Completed actions, states or habits in the past.

1. It is used for completed actions, states or habits in the past accompanied by a finished time reference such as 'yesterday', 'last week', 'at 2 o'clock' or 'in 2003'.

• I went to the cinema yesterday.
• We spent a lot of time in Japan in 2007.

2. It is used when general knowledge tells us that the period in question is over, including cases where the person referred to is no longer alive.

• Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa.
• The Vikings invaded Britain.

3. It supplies the detail of an event first introduced by the present perfect or another tense. This use is often described as giving the details of news.

• I've hurt my leg. I fell off a ladder when I was painting my bedroom.
• I've been on holiday. I went to Spain and Portugal.

4. In narrative and in sequences of events, the past simple carries the actions of the story while the past continuous supplies the background.

• He went to a café. People were chatting and music was playing. He sat down and ordered a coffee.

Unreal or imaginary situations in the present or future.

5. The past simple also refers to what is unreal in the present or the future. It appears in the second conditional and after verbs such as 'wish'.

• If I won the lottery, I would buy a house.
• I wish I had more time!

Uses of the past continuous

1. An action in the past that overlaps another action or a point in time. The action in the past continuous begins before the shorter action or the stated time, and frequently continues after it.

• I was walking to the station when I met Daniel. (I started walking before I met Daniel, and I may well have continued afterwards.)
• The phone rang while I was having a shower.
• At three o'clock, I was working. (I started before three o'clock and finished after three o'clock.)

2. The past continuous likewise supplies the background of a narrative, while the past simple carries the actions. This is a particular application of the first use above.

• The birds were singing, the sun was shining and in the cafés people were laughing and chatting. Vera sat down and took out her phone.

3. Temporary past habits, or past habits that occurred more often than expected. 'Always', 'constantly' and 'forever' are common in this pattern. The use parallels that of the present continuous, except that the habit both began and ended in the past and no longer holds.

• He was always leaving the tap running.
• She was constantly missing the train.
• Elena was always smiling.

4. To stress that something went on for a considerable period. The tense is optional here, and it normally appears with time expressions such as 'all day', 'all evening' or 'for hours'.

• I was working in the garden all day.
• He was reading all evening.

5. For arrangements seen from a point in the past. The plan had already been made at that earlier moment, and the event was regarded as settled.

• I was meeting my father the following day.
• They were flying to Berlin that evening.

Stative verbs cannot be used in this tense, or in any other continuous tense.