Past Continuous tense in English grammar indicates an action or event continuing for a period in the past. We use past continuous to express a past action over a period of time, something that we were in the middle of then. It is the 7th part of the lesson Tense and its classification.
Before, I have discussed over Present Continuous Tense and you will get the similar structure in this tense except the forms of the auxiliary verbs.

Past Continues Tense Structure
Structure: Was / Were+(Verb+ing)
Notice these Examples:
I was writing a letter then.
He was making some baskets.
I was playing football in the field.
He was breaking the chair here.
Now learn the structures of both negative form and interrogative form:
Example:
I was not writing a letter then.
They were not playing football then.
Example:
Was I writing a letter then?
Were they playing football in the field?There is no variation in Past Continuous Tense at all. But in case of ‘Stative Verb’, the fact of (verb+ ing) is same. You cannot add ‘ing’ with the stative verbs in Past Continuous Tense. In that case, you have to use the structure of Past indefinite tense.See the examples:
We are seeing the birds there. (Incorrect)
We saw the birds there. (Correct)
Here, I am giving again the list of the Stative Verbs for your benefits. Try to memorize these verbs as soon as possible to ensure the correct usages of tense.
Stative Verb List
- Verbs of the senses: feel, hear, see, smell, notice, observe, feel, look, taste
- Verbs expressing feeling and emotions: admire, adore, appreciate, care for, desire, detest, dislike, fear, hate, like, loathe, love, mind, respect, value, want, wish
- Verbs of mental activity: agree, appreciate, assume, believe, expect, feel, feel, forget, know, mean, perceive, realize, recall, recognize, recollect, remember, suppose, think, trust, understand
- Verbs of possession: belong, owe, own, possess
- Others: appear, concern, consist, contain, hold, keep, matter, seem, signify, sound
Thank you very much.