Which signal words go with the past continuous?
Typical signals for the past continuous are exact past moments like at 9 p.m. yesterday, at that moment and this time last week, the connectors while and as for the running action, and when plus the past simple for the short event that breaks in. They often point to was or were plus -ing — but what decides is whether the action was in progress back then.
- Exact moments: at 9 p.m. yesterday, at that moment, this time last week, at midnight.
- While and as often open the longer action; when plus the past simple often brings the short event.
- German während plus a noun is during; während plus a clause is while.
A2 · Signal Words · 10 minSignal words for the past continuous, taught signal by signal.
A structured ten-slide lesson for A2 learners. Hear the signal words in business context, meet the three signal groups with a tutor, then practise them across five interactive drills before a final six-question quiz. The whole arc is under ten minutes and nothing requires a signup.
- CEFR levelA2 · Elementary
- Time to completeAbout 10 minutes
- SkillsGrammar, Listening, Writing, Speaking
- Bricks10 blocks
01 / 06
What signal words do for the past continuous
The past continuous describes an action that was in progress at a moment in the past. It is formed with was or were plus the verb with -ing: I was working, she was typing, we were waiting. Signal words help you spot these situations faster. They come in three groups. Exact moments such as at 9 p.m. yesterday or at that moment ask: what was in progress then? The connectors while and as often open the longer background action. And when plus the past simple often brings the short event that breaks into that action: "I was typing the report when the phone rang." The word "often" matters: no signal word forces you into the past continuous automatically. The real question is always whether the action had already started and had not yet finished at that time. Signal words are signposts to that question — they don't replace it. Once you have absorbed that, you choose the tense with confidence, even in sentences that contain no signal word at all.
02 / 06
Group 1 — Exact moments: at 9 p.m. yesterday, at that moment
The first group names a point on the timeline: at 9 p.m. yesterday, at midnight, at that moment, this time last week, at ten o'clock on Monday. Expressions like these invite a question: what was going on at that exact moment? "At 9 p.m. yesterday I was driving home." The drive had started before nine and ended after it — the moment sits in the middle of the action. This is also where an important detail hides: the same time phrase also works with the past simple, for example to locate an event. "At 9 we had a meeting" usually means the meeting started at nine; "At 9 the meeting ended" describes an ending. "At 9 we were having a meeting" means the meeting was already in progress at nine. So the time phrase is a strong hint, but your message decides. If you want to describe what was already in progress at that moment, use was or were plus -ing. The small word still strengthens this reading: "At midnight she was still finishing the slides."
03 / 06
Groups 2 and 3 — while, as and when: background and event
The second and third groups usually work as a team. While and as often introduce the longer action running in the background: "While we were waiting for the train, Anna answered three emails." "As I was leaving the office, my manager called me." When plus the past simple, on the other hand, often brings the short event that breaks into that action: "I was typing the report when the phone rang." This creates the classic picture: a long line interrupted by a short point. Stick to tendencies rather than rigid rules, though. While can also take the past simple, for example with states: "While I was in Berlin, I visited our office." And when can just as well introduce the background: "When I was working in London, I lived near the office." While can also link two parallel actions that were both running: "While I was preparing the budget, my colleague was calling the suppliers." A tip about as: it can also mean "because". For a start, while is therefore the clearer choice.
04 / 06
Same when, different story: past continuous or past simple?
This is the biggest source of confusion, because many time words fit both past tenses. Yesterday, last week or on Monday only tell you when something happened, not how. "I worked yesterday" and "I was working yesterday afternoon" are both correct. The difference is perspective: the past simple tells a finished event; the past continuous shows an action from the inside while it was running. When makes this especially clear. "When the boss arrived, we were having lunch" means lunch was already in progress when the boss came. "When the boss arrived, we had lunch," on the other hand, usually tells a sequence: first the boss came, then lunch started. The same when, a different story — the tense decides. Time expressions with ago also fit both past tenses, for example "Ten minutes ago I was talking to a client." In a past narrative, by contrast, suddenly or then in the sense of "after that" often introduces the next event in the past simple. And state verbs such as know, want or believe normally stay in the past simple: "I knew the answer," not "I was knowing."
05 / 06
The German traps: no required progressive and the double während
Two habits from German make the past continuous hard. First, German usually describes an action in progress with an ordinary past form, often plus a word such as gerade. A progressive like ich war am Schreiben does exist, but German does not require it. Ich schrieb gerade eine E-Mail, als der Alarm losging uses the simple past, and the word gerade does the work. If you mechanically map the German simple past onto the English past simple and leave out gerade, you get "I wrote an email when the alarm went off" — which sounds more as if you wrote the email in reaction to the alarm. English wants "I was writing an email when the alarm went off." Be careful, though: gerade is not a reliable signal, because it can also mean "a moment ago", and then English tends to use just with the present perfect. Second, German während is both a preposition and a conjunction. English splits the two: before a noun you use during — "during the meeting" — and before a whole clause with a subject and a verb you use while — "while we were waiting". The mistake "during we were waiting" is therefore a typical German transfer error. Ask yourself briefly: does a noun follow, or a whole clause?
06 / 06
The past continuous at work
At work you mainly need the past continuous to explain situations. When you explain a delay, you describe what was in progress: "Sorry for the late reply — I was travelling all day yesterday." When you report an incident, the past continuous sets the scene and the past simple supplies the trigger: "We were installing the update when the server went down." In status reports it shows what the team was working on at a given moment: "At the end of last week we were still testing the new booking system." And in Monday small talk it opens little stories: "I was sitting on the train when I suddenly saw an old colleague." Keep the division of labour in mind: the past continuous paints the background, while the past simple tells the events that move the story forward. A note on pronunciation: in a sentence, was and were are usually weak, /wəz/ and /wə/ — the stress falls on the verb with -ing. That way your explanations sound fluent and natural.