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SEMAINE 9 – JOUR 1 Past Continuous – Grammaire + Listening

Jusqu’ici tu sais parler :

• Au présent
• Au passé simple

Cette semaine tu apprends à raconter une histoire.

Le Past Continuous, c’est la structure des narrateurs, des leaders, des storytellers.

Le cours d’aujourd’hui va te prendre au moins 45 minutes en Tout, et pourrait aller jusqu’à 60 minutes selon votre capacité et rapidité de comprehension. Si vous n’avez pas trop de temps, alors passez directement au cours du jour et faites l’exercice d’application.

Mon Coach Pro · Grammaire B1–B2

Past Continuous

Actions in Progress in the Past

1. What is the Past Continuous?

The Past Continuous describes an action that was in progress at a specific moment in the past. It shows that the action had started but had not yet finished at that time.

Affirmative : Subject + was / were + verb-ing
Negative : Subject + was / were not (wasn't / weren't) + verb-ing
Question : Was / Were + subject + verb-ing + ?
SubjectAffirmativeNegativeQuestion
I / He / She / Itwas workingwasn't workingWas he working?
You / We / Theywere studyingweren't studyingWere they studying?
2. How It Works — The Timeline
was/were + -ing ←————————
⚡ interruption
action in progress
I was sleeping when my phone rang.
Je dormais quand mon téléphone a sonné.
💡 Key image : Think of the Past Continuous as a background action (the long blue line) that was already happening when a shorter, completed action (the red dot) suddenly occurred.
3. Five Key Uses of the Past Continuous

① Action in progress at a specific past time

At + time / At that moment + Subject + was/were + -ing
At 8pm yesterday, Aminata was studying for her English exam.
Hier à 20h, Aminata étudiait pour son examen d'anglais.
This time last week, we were travelling to Abidjan by bus.
La semaine dernière à cette heure-ci, nous voyagions vers Abidjan en bus.

② Interrupted action — Past Continuous + when + Past Simple

Subject + was/were + -ing (longer action) + when + subject + Past Simple (short interruption)
Konan was cooking dinner when the electricity went out.
Konan préparait le dîner quand l'électricité a sauté.
I was walking to school when it started to rain heavily.
Je marchais vers l'école quand il a commencé à pleuvoir fort.
She was taking a shower when someone knocked on the door.
Elle prenait une douche quand quelqu'un a frappé à la porte.

③ Two parallel actions in progress — while

Subject + was/were + -ing while + subject + was/were + -ing
Adjoua was listening to music while her brother was doing his homework.
Adjoua écoutait de la musique pendant que son frère faisait ses devoirs.
While Kouamé was playing football, his sister was preparing the meal.
Pendant que Kouamé jouait au football, sa sœur préparait le repas.

④ Setting the scene in a story

The Past Continuous is used at the beginning of a story to describe the background situation.

It was raining heavily. The streets were flooding and people were running for shelter.
Il pleuvait fort. Les rues inondaient et les gens couraient s'abriter.
The market was buzzing with activity when the announcement came.
Le marché bourdonnait d'activité quand l'annonce est arrivée.

⑤ Expressing irritation — always + Past Continuous

Subject + was/were always + -ing → expresses annoyance about a repeated past behaviour
He was always arriving late to class. It was very annoying.
Il arrivait toujours en retard en cours. C'était très agaçant.
She was always interrupting people when they were speaking.
Elle interrompait toujours les gens quand ils parlaient.
4. WHEN vs WHILE — The Key Difference
ConnectorUseStructureExample
WHENShort interrupting actionwhen + Past Simple…when the phone rang.
WHILETwo long parallel actionswhile + Past Continuouswhile she was sleeping…
I was reading when he called. (reading = long · called = short)
Je lisais quand il a appelé.
While I was reading, she was cooking. (both long, simultaneous)
Pendant que je lisais, elle cuisinait.
5. Past Simple vs Past Continuous
Past SimplePast Continuous
MeaningCompleted actionAction in progress
DurationShort, finishedLong, ongoing
Signal wordsyesterday, ago, last…at that moment, while, when
ExampleShe cooked dinner.She was cooking dinner.
She cooked dinner. → completed, finished
Elle a préparé le dîner. (action terminée)
She was cooking dinner. → in progress at that moment
Elle était en train de préparer le dîner. (action en cours)
6. Spelling Rules for -ING
RuleBase verb-ing form
Most verbs → add -ingwork, play, readworking, playing, reading
End in -e → drop -e, add -ingmake, write, comemaking, writing, coming
Short vowel + consonant → doublerun, sit, swimrunning, sitting, swimming
End in -ie → change to -y + inglie, die, tielying, dying, tying
7. Stative Verbs — Never Used in Continuous Forms

Some verbs describe a state, not an action. They are NOT used in continuous forms — even in the Past Continuous.

Common stative verbs :
know · believe · understand · love · hate · want · need · prefer
seem · appear · belong · contain · consist · depend · remember
⚠️ Never :
✘ I was knowing the answer. → ✔ I knew the answer.
✘ She was wanting to leave. → ✔ She wanted to leave.
8. Real-Life Dialogue
💬 Dialogue — What were you doing when it happened?
A
Where were you when the power cut happened yesterday evening?
B
I was studying for my English exam. The lights went out while I was writing my notes.
A
Oh no! And what about Aminata?
B
She was cooking dinner when it happened. Konan was watching football at the same time.
A
At least everyone was safe! While you were all dealing with the cut, I was sleeping — I had no idea!
9. Common Mistakes to Avoid
She was cook when I arrived. ✔ She was cooking when I arrived.
→ Past Continuous = was/were + verb-ING. Never use the base verb alone.
They was playing football. ✔ They were playing football.
→ 'They' → WERE (not was). Only I/he/she/it use WAS.
While I walked to school, it rained. ✔ While I was walking to school, it rained.
→ WHILE + Past Continuous (long action). The short interrupting action uses Past Simple.
I was knowing the answer all along. ✔ I knew the answer all along.
→ 'Know' is a stative verb — never used in continuous forms.
🎓

Coach Assoa vous conseille :

Le Past Continuous, c'est simple si vous visualisez deux images :
① Une action longue (le fond) → was/were + -ing
② Une action courte (l'interruption) → Past Simple

Entraînez-vous à raconter votre soirée d'hier : "At 8pm, I was eating dinner. While I was watching TV, my mother called me." C'est la meilleure façon d'intégrer naturellement ce temps !

📝 Exercise — Past Continuous

Test your knowledge of was/were + -ing · when · while · stative verbs

  • ❓  12 questions
  • ⏱️  15 minutes
  • ✅  Immediate correction after each answer
  • 📊  Score by category at the end
🎓 Past Continuous — Mon Coach Pro
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QUESTION 1 / 12
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© Mon Coach Pro – ASSOA Kouamé Rodrigue Gabin