Past Continuous

Czas przeszły ciągły

I. Form

Tworzenie czasu

Positive sentences

Forma twierdząca

Yesterday at 5 o’clock I was working on my computer.
When I opened the door, the secretary was arranging a meeting on the phone, clerks were working at their
desks and the managers were discussing the matters of life and death for the company.

The positive form of the present continuous tense is formed with the past tense of the verb to be and the
present participle.
Formę twierdzącą czasu teraźniejszego ciągłego tworzymy poprzez dodanie imiesłowu czasu teraźniejszego
do czasownika to be w czasie przeszłym.

Subject
Podmiot

Verb to be (past)
Czasownik to be (czas przeszły)

Present Participle
Imiesłów czasu teraźniejszego

I

was

working
arranging
talking
playing
studying
discussing

you

were

he, she, it

was

we

were

you

were

they

were

Remember

Zapamiętaj

to be (was,were) + -ing

Spelling

Pisownia
The spelling of the present participle is same as for the present continuous tense.
Pisownia imiesłowu czasu teraźniejszego jest identyczna jak w czasie teraźniejszym ciągłym.

Negative

Forma przecząca

You were not playing tennis then.
She wasn’t talking.
You were not listening to me.

The negative form of the past continuous tense is formed with the past tense of the verb to be followed by
not and the present participle.
Formę twierdzącą czasu przeszłego ciągłego tworzymy poprzez dodanie imiesłowu czasu teraźniejszego do
czasownika to be w czasie przeszłym, po którym występuje not.

Full form
Forma pełna

Contracted form
Forma ściągnięta

Present Participle
Imiesłów czasu teraźniejszego

I was not

I wasn’t

playing
talking
listening
working
studying
swimming

you were not

you weren’t

he, she, it was not

he, she, it wasn’t

we were not

we weren’t

you were not

you weren’t

they were not

they weren’t

Remember

Zapamiętaj
to be (was/were) + not + -ing

Questions

Forma pytająca

Were you watching TV then?
What dress was she wearing that day?

To make questions, we use the same auxiliary verb and change the word order in the sentence.
Do tworzenia pytao używamy tego samego operatora i zmieniamy kolejnośd wyrazów w zdaniu.

Question word
Zaimek pytający

Auxiliary Verb
Operator

Subject
Podmiot

Present Participle
Imiesłów czasu teraźniejszego

Were

you

watching

TV then?

Were

you

feeling

OK?

Was

she

swimming

then?

What

were

you

doing

at 5 o’clock?

What dress

was

she

wearing

that day?

Where

were

you

going

that evening?

Remember

Zapamiętaj

to be (was/were) + subject + -ing
to be (was/were) + podmiot + -ing

or
lub

question word + to be (was/were) + subject + -ing
zaimek pytający + to be (was/were) + podmiot + -ing

Short answers

Krótka odpowiedź

“Was Jamie taking a shower then?” “Yes, he was.”

Yes, I was

No, I was not.

Yes, he, she, it was.

No, he wasn’t, she’s wasn’t, it’s wasn’t.

Yes, we, you, they were.

No, we weren’t, you weren’t, they weren’t.

II. Use

Użycie czasu

The present continuous tense is used mainly to talk about events which continued for some time, but their
time limits are unknown or are not important.
Czas przeszły ciągły używany jest głównie do mówienia o czynnościach, które trwały przez jakiś czas, ale ich
ramy czasowe są nieznane lub nieistotne.

It was snowing then.
It was getting darker.
He was taking a shower.