Past Progressive (Pasado Progresivo)

THE PAST PROGRESSIVE
The progressive past tense is difficult for many non-native speakers of several languages, because they have no equivalent.

The past progressive describes an action that wastaking place at a specific time in the past. It can be used:

To describe an action that began in the past and was interrupted by another action:

* I was writing an e-mail when the phone rang.* While I was writing an e-mail, the phone rang

Describe two actions that were in progress at the same time in the past:

* I was making dinner while Melanie was working up.
* While Melanie wasworking up, I was cooking dinner

Note: The order of the words in the sentence can be changed around in the examples above, however, it is important to remember that we use the term prematurely,while the progressive last word when before the past simple sentence. Use only one of these expressions of time in each sentence.

The past progressive is formed using was or were and ing (gerund) formof the verb.

SUBJECT | POSITIVE | NEGATIVE | QUESTION |
* I/he/she | I was talking about. | I was not talking | Was he talking about? |___________________________________________________________________________
* you /
we / they | You were talking. | You are not talking | Were you talking about?|

(TRADUCCION)
El tiempopasado progresivo es difícil para muchos hablantes no nativos de dominar varios idiomas, porque no tienen un equivalente. El pasado progresivo describe una acción que se estaba realizando en un momentoespecífico en el pasado. Se puede utilizar:

Para describir una acción que empezó en el pasado y fue interrumpida por otra acción:

*Estaba escribiendo un e-mail cuando sonó el teléfono.
*Mientrasestaba escribiendo un e-mail, el teléfono sonó

Describir dos acciones que se estaban desarrollando al mismo tiempo en el pasado:

*Estaba preparando la cena mientras Melanie estaba trabajando...