What is the past continuous tense?

The past continuous tense (also called the past progressive) is a verb form used to refer to an action that was ongoing at a time in the past (e.g., “I was walking when I fell”).

The past continuous is formed using the past tense of the auxiliary verb “be” (i.e., “was/were”) along with the present participle (“ing” form) of a main verb (e.g., “You were swimming”).