HomeGrammerTensesWhat is the past tense? Types of past tense & examples

What is the past tense? Types of past tense & examples

The past tense is used to denote that a work was completed or continued in the past.

That is, the work that has been done or happened in the past is called the past tense of the verb.

What is Past Tense

Examples of Past Tenses:

I went to University.
Yefad wrote a letter yesterday.
He had been reading for three hours.

In the above sentences, I went to the university, Yefad wrote a letter yesterday, he had been reading for 3 hours – which means what happened in the past. That is, it points to the past tense. So these are past tense.

Read more: Exercises / examples of present perfect tense

Types of Past Tense

There are four types of past tense such as: –

  1. Past indefinite tense
  2. Past continuous tense
  3. Past perfect tense
  4. Past perfect continuous tense

Past indefinite tense

Past indefinite tense: Past Indefinite Tense is the tense that is used to describe a work, condition or habit that started in the past and ended in the past.

Structure

Positive sentence: Subject + verb ( past form) + extension.

Negative sentence: Subject + did not + verb (present form) + extension.

Interrogative sentence: Did + subject + verb (present form) + extension + ?.

Examples:

  1. Yefad watched TV in the evening.
  2. She did not eat fruits.
  3. Did they finish the books?
  4. Did they not finish the books?
  5. Did not Yefad meet me yesterday?

Past continuous tense

Past continuous tense: The past continuous tense of a verb is used to denote that a work has been going on or going on for some time in the past.

Ways to recognize in Bengali: At the end of the verb in Bengali techil, techilam, techile, techilen, chhil, chhile, chhilen, was, or was, usually past continues tense.

Structure

Positive sentence: Subject + was / were + verb (present form) + ing + extension.

Negative sentence: Subject + was not / were not + verb (present form) + ing + extension.

Interrogative sentence: Was / were + subject + verb (present form) + ing + extension +? .

Examples:

Yefad was reading the book.

Yefad wasn’t reading the book.

Was Yefad reading the book?

Past perfect tense

Past perfect tense: Of the two works of the past tense, the one that was completed earlier is the past perfect tense and the other is the past indefinite tense.

Ways to recognize in Bengali: In Bengali, at the end of the verb was, was, law, lam, le, lane, tam, te, or, ten, etc., usually past tense.

Structure

Positive sentence: Subject + had + verb 3 (past participle form of the verb) + extension.

First subject + had + verb 3 (past participle form of the verb) + object + before + second subject + verb 2 (past form) + second object.

Second subject + verb 2 (past form) + second object + after + first subject + had + verb 3 (past participle form of the verb) + extension.

Negative sentence: Subject + had not + verb 3 (past participle form of the verb) + extension.

Interrogative sentence: Had + subject + verb 3 (past participle form of the verb) + extension +?.

Wh word + had + subject + verb 3 (past participle form of the verb) + extension +?.

Examples:

Yefad has done his homework last week.

My grandfather had died before the doctor came.

My grandfather died after the doctor had come.

Yefad hasn’t done his homework last week.

Has Yefad done his homework last week?

Why had you broken the cup?

Past perfect continuous tense

Past perfect continuous tense: Past perfect continuous tense means that a work in the past started before a particular time and continued till that time.

If two works are mentioned, then the work that happened earlier will be the past perfect continuous tense.

Structure

Positive sentence: Subject + had been + verb 1 (present form) + ing + object + time reference.

First subject + had been + verb 1 (present form) + ing + first object + second subject + verb 2 (past form) + second object.

Negative sentence: Subject + had not been + verb 1 (present form) + ing + object + time reference.

Interrogative sentence: Had + subject + been + verb 1 (present form) + ing + object + time reference +?.

Examples:

Yefad had been playing cricket before his mother came.

Yefad had been working in a company since 2020.

She had not been eating fruits for two two months.

Had Yefad been working in a company since 2020?

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