El pasado continuo, conocido en inglés como past continuous. Es un tiempo verbal que refleja una acción del pasado que se estaba desarrollando.

Igualmente, se puede utilizar este tiempo verbal para expresar dos acciones que sucedieron en el pasado y que una de ellas finalizó. Para lograrlo, utilizamos el pasado simple mencionando lo que ya culminó y el pasado continuo para indicar lo que sigue ejecutándose.

El pasado continuo se forma de la siguiente manera:

• Estructura: Sujeto + Pasado del verbo to be + gerundio (ing) + complemento
• Ejemplo: I was listening to music

101 Ejemplos indicando el tiempo y su traducción al español

1. My mother was cleaning the house when you came in (Mi madre limpiaba la casa cuando entraste)
2. The dog was playing with the ball (El perro jugaba con la pelota)
3. The Who was playing some music in the theater last night (The Who tocaba algo de música en el teatro anoche)
4. I was drinking coffee in class (Tomaba café en clase)
5. You were singing all day and we are so happy (Estabas cantando todo el día y estamos muy felices)
6. Athena was dancing non-stop in my room (Athena bailaba sin parar en mi habitación)
7. We were studying Math before the Spanish test (Estudiábamos matemáticas antes del examen de español)
8. My parents were working from 5:00 to 9:00pm the whole week (Mis padres estaban trabajando de 5:00 a 9:00pm la semana entera)
9. The birds sang while the princess was cleaning (Los pájaros cantaron mientras la princesa limpiaba)
10. My boyfriend was waving at me to say hello.
11. Zack was going to the cinema when you appeared (Zack se dirigía al cine cuando tú apareciste)
12. Fish were swimming to the south before the storm.
13. Your sister was talking about asking for vacations next year (Tu hermana hablaba sobre pedir vacaciones el año que viene)
14. Nancy went crazy while you were playing that guitar (Nancy se volvió loca mientras tocabas esa guitarra)
15. Federico was learning French every Saturday (Federico aprendía francés cada sábado)
16. My computer wasn’t working last night so I lost my job (Mi computadora no funcionaba anoche así que perdí mi trabajo)
17. I wasn’t living in Tokio until I got my degree (No vivía en Tokio hasta que obtuve mi título).
18. Rebecca was reading while I was cooking.
19. Vero and Carlos were planning their wedding in March (Vero y Carlos planeaban su boda en marzo)
20. Berenice was jumping on bed till she fell and started to cried (Berenice estaba brincando en la cama hasta que se cayó empezó a llorar).
21. I was baking some cookies for you today (Estaba horneando unas galletas para ti hoy).
22. Was Frank building the neighbors house? (¿Frank estaba construyendo la casa de los vecinos?
23. I had to change the mouse settings because it was driving me crazy (Tuve que cambiar la configuración del mouse porque me estaba volviendo loca).
24. I started to think about other things while I was working (Empecé a pensar sobre otras cosas mientras trabajaba)
25. Was it snowing on Christmas? (¿Estaba nevando en navidad?)
26. The hours were passing by, and I didn’t have my work ready on time (Las horas pasaban, y no tuve mi trabajo listo a tiempo)
27. I could assist you while Cece was babysitting my baby (Te pude asistir mientras Cece cuidaba a mi bebé).
28. I recorded that moment while Maya was sleeping (Grabé ese momento mientras Maya dormía).
29. Mario was not working on Thanksgiving Day (Mario no trabajaba en el Día de Gracias).
30. They were driving on the 5th avenue when it started to rain (Ellos conducían la 5ta avenida cuando empezó a llover)
31. I always remember the days I was playing Chess at the park (Siempre recuerdo los días cuando jugaba ajedrez en el parque)
32. Roberto was cutting the onions and he didn’t cry! (Roberto picaba las cebollas, ¡pero no lloró!)
33. Marta and Laura were sewing my prom dress last week (Marta y Laura cosían mi vestido de promoción la semana pasada).
34. Nicholas was doing his homework when the lights went off (Nicolás hacía su tarea cuando las luces se apagaron).
35. Sebastian fell asleep while his mom was shopping at the mall.
36. Maria was throwing up after the rollercoaster ride (María estuvo vomitando después del recorrido en la montaña rusa)
37. I met my fianceé while we were queueing for a movie ticket. (Conocí a mi prometido mientras hacíamos una cola para un ticket del cine)
38. She was getting home when her phone started to ring (Ella estaba llegando a casa cuando su celular sonó)
39. Gustavo Dudamel was having a concert in Palermo (Gustavo Dudamel daba un concierto en Palermo).
40. Tania could not believe what I was doing at that place ( Tania no podía creer lo que yo hacía en ese lugar)
41. I was watching a movie while having breakfast (Yo veía una película mientras desayunaba)
42. The people behind me were wearing a mask (Las personas detrás de mi usaban máscaras)
43. My phone was ringing while I was taking a shower (Mi teléfono sonaba mientras me bañaba)
44. She was playing the cello and singing at the same time! (¡Ella tocaba el cello y cantaba al mismo tiempo!)
45. I was waiting for you last night (Te esperaba anoche)
46. You were watching the football game with your friends (Estabas viendo el juego de futbol con tus amigos)
47. The baby was laughing out loud at the dog´s face (La bebé reía a carcajadas por la cara del perro).
48. When I was sleeping you should have stayed quiet (Cuando yo dormía, debiste permanecer callado)
49. The deer was hiding from the lion (El ciervo se escondía del león)
50. The cat was cleaning itself after my mother hugged him (El gato se limpiaba a sí mismo luego que mi madre lo abrazara)
51. I was dancing to the arab rhythm (Bailaba al ritmo árabe)
52. My father was fixing the car and my brother was illuminating (Mi padre arreglaba el carro y mi hermano iluminaba)
53. Josh was watching horror movies and screamed! (¡Josh veía películas de terror y gritó!)
54. Yami and Neko were preparing sushi a week ago (Yami and Neko preparaban sushi hace una semana)
55. Usain Bolt was running so fast like never before (Usain Bolt corría más rápido que nunca)
56. Bob was sending love letters even after her death (Bob enviaba cartas de amor incluso después de su muerte)
57. We were spending all the money and now we are broke (Estuvimos gastando todo el dinero y ahora estamos quebrados)
58. Sara was looking for clues in Panama (Sara buscaba pistas en Panamá)
59. The government was building a new school in May (El gobierno construía una nueva escuela en mayo)
60. While Rob was cleaning I was watching TV
61. They were looking for a new adventure
62. The ladies were talking about getting married next year (Las chicas hablaban de casarse el año que viene)
63. Were you paying to be hit? (¿pagabas para ser golpeado?
64. Was he pretending to be a King? (¿él pretendía ser un rey?
65. I couln’t concentrate as he was playing the bass (No pude concentrarme debido a que él tocaba el bajo)
66. Morgan was writting a book about her story (Morgan escribía un libro sobre su historia)
67. Laura was doing the dishes with the music on (Laura lavaba los platos con la música encendida)
68. Marcela and Tatiana didn’t understand a thing while I was speaking Chinese (Marcela and Tatiana no entendieron nada cuando hablaba chino)
69. The horse jumped when I was backhorsing! (¡El caballo saltó cuando estaba cabalgando!)
70. I was playing Sims while my brother was exercising (Jugaba los SIMS mientras mi hermano se ejercitaba)
71. Carol ran out of ideas while she was writing an essay (Carol se quedó sin ideas mientras redactaba un ensayo)
72. When she was walking, I could smell her vanilla perfum (Cuando ella caminaba, pude oler su perfume de vainilla)
73. I used to paint when my wife was gardening (Solía pintar cuando mi esposa hacía algo de jardinería)
74. The wolves were getting closer as I reached the hill (Los lobos se acercaban a medida que alcanzaba la colina)
75. He was drinking rum when he saw me dancing (Él tomaba ron cuando me veía bailar)
76. My grandparents were going to a pool to celebrate their anniversary (Mis abuelos iban a una piscina a celebrar su aniversario)
77. The girl was building sandcastles (La niña hacía castillos de arena)
78. I was happy while my friends were singing (Fui feliz cuando mis amigos cantaban)
79. My pet was jumping on my bed (Mi mascota brincaba en mi cama)
80. You were teaching Math and I was teaching Biology (Tú enseñabas matemáticas y yo Biología)
81. He was taking the trash out (Él sacaba la basura)
82. The museum was opening its doors this Monday (El museo estaba abriendo sus puertas este lunes)
83. The boy was playing with his cars at my mother’s place (El niño jugaba con sus carritos en la casa de mi madre)
84. She was getting sad for loosing you (Ella se entristecía por perderte)
85. Monica was flying to a meeting this morning (Mónica volaba hacia una reunión esta mañana)
86. Were they paying attention to you? (¿Te prestaban atención?)
87. Was it getting worse? (¿se ponía peor?)
88. Bianca wasn’t being nice at me (Bianca no estaba siendo buena conmigo)
89. Ramon was practising Golf today (Ramón practicaba golf hoy)
90. Nivea was giving away a lot of products (Nivea estaba regalando muchos productos)
91. She was ordering pasta vermicelli for dinner (Ella ordenaba pasta vermicelli para cenar)
92. The candidate was talking too much that night (El candidato hablaba demasiado esa noche)
93. Mimi wasn’t replying to my messages (Mimi no respondía mis mensajes)
94. William and Peter weren’t sleeping for 2 weeks (William and Peter no dormían por dos semanas)
95. Cecilia was breaking my heart all this time (Cecilia rompía mi corazón todo este tiempo)
96. They were laughing at her for being tiny (Ellos se reían de ella por ser pequeña)
97. I was partying after finishing my work (Celebraba luego de finalizar mi trabajo)
98. We were climbing that hill after all (Subíamos esa colina después de todo)
99. The monkey was drinking too much water (El mono tomaba demasiada agua)
100. Tulio was going out thanks to you (Tulio estaba saliendo gracias a ti)
101. Merlina was not loving the way you talk (Merlina no amaba la manera que hablabas)

Ejercicios