Past Continuous Tense: Rumus dan Contoh Soal!

Past continuous tense adalah salah satu tenses bahasa Inggris dasar yang perlu Anda ketahui saat belajar bahasa Inggris. Artikel ini akan memberikan berbagai pengetahuan yang berkaitan dengan past continuous tense termasuk konsep, rumus, ciri-ciri, penggunaan dan beberapa contoh soal untuk menggunakannya dengan lebih baik dan benar. Simaklah di bawah ini!

Apa itu past continuous tense?

Past continuous tense adalah tenses yang menjelaskan suatu tindakan yang sedang berlangsung pada waktu tertentu di masa lampau.

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Contoh past continuous tense: 

Yesterday at 7pm I was having dinner.
(Pada jam 7 malam kemarin, saya sedang makan malam.)

Rumus past continuous tense

	Rumus	Contoh
Positif	S+ was/ were + V-ing + …	When he came, I was cooking lunch
Negatif	S + was/ were + not + V-ing + …	He wasn’t having coffee with me this time yesterday
Interogatif	Was/ Were + S+ V-ing + …? – Yes, S + was/ were – No, S + wasn’t/ weren’t.	Were you working when I called you? – No, I wasn’t.

Bentuk positif

S+ was/ were + V-ing + … (be)

Catatan:

Subject	(be) yang sesuai
I/ He/ She/ It/ My mother/ His cat/…	was
We/ You/ They/ My parents/ Those employees	were

Past continuous tense contoh:

When he came, I was cooking lunch.
(Ketika dia datang, saya sedang memasak makanan siang.) 

That customer called while we were discussing the new project. 
(Pelanggan itu menelepon saat kami sedang mendiskusikan proyek baru.) 

Bentuk negatif

S + was/ were + not + V-ing + … (be)

Catatan:

• was not= wasn’t
• were not= weren’t

Contoh: 

He wasn’t having coffee with me this time yesterday.  
(Dia tidak sedang minum kopi bersamaku pada waktu ini hari kemarin.)

When I got to the office, they weren’t talking about the new product.
(Ketika saya sampai di kantor, mereka tidak sedang berbicara tentang produk baru.) 

Bentuk interogatif

A. Kalimat tanya Yes- No

Was/ Were + S+ V-ing + …? (be)

Yes, S + was/ were. No, S + wasn’t/ weren’t.

Contoh:

Was our daughter playing in the garden when you got home?
(Apakah putri kita sedang bermain di kebun ketika kamu pulang?)

→ Yes, she was. (Ya.) 

Were you working when I called you?
(Apakah kamu sedang bekerja ketika saya menelponmu?)

→ No, I wasn’t. (Tidak.)

B. Kalimat tanya Wh-

• Kata tanya bukan subjek

What/ Where/ When/ Why/ How/ Who(m) + was/ were + (not) + S + V-ing + …?  (be)

Contoh:

What were the employees doing when the boss came?
(Apa yang sedang dilakukan karyawan saat bos datang?)

Where was she hiding while the bad guy was looking for her?
(Di mana dia sedang bersembunyi saat orang jahat itu mencarinya?)

Why weren’t you doing homework when we got home?
(Kenapa kamu tidak sedang mengerjakan PR ketika kami pulang?)

• Kata tanya adalah subjek

What/ Who + was + V-ing + …? (be)

Contoh:

What was happening when the plane landed?
(Apa yang sedang terjadi ketika pesawat mendarat?)

Who was singing while we were sleeping last night?
(Siapa yang sedang menyanyi ketika kita tidur semalam?) 

Penggunaan past continuous tense

Digunakan dalam kalimat tunggal untuk menyatakan suatu tindakan yang (tidak) sedang berlangsung pada suatu waktu (ditunjukkan oleh frasa) di masa lampau.

Dalam kasus ini, akan ada frasa dalam kalimat yang menunjukkan waktu di masa lampau di mana tindakan tersebut sedang (tidak) belum selesai. Misalnya: at 9am/ 7pm/… yesterday, this time yesterday, dll.

Contoh:

This time last week, we were flying to Singapore.
(Pada saat ini minggu lalu, kami sedang terbang ke Singapura.) 

That employee wasn’t writing a report at 9:30 this morning.
(Pegawai tersebut tidak sedang menulis laporan pada pukul 9:30 pagi ini.)  

Digunakan dalam kalimat kompleks dengan klausa menggunakan simple past untuk menyatakan suatu tindakan yang (tidak) sedang berlangsung ketika tindakan lain terjadi atau terputus di masa lampau.

Kedua klausa dalam past continuous tense akan dihubungkan menurut 4 rumus berikut:

When + klausa yang menggunakan simple past tense + , + klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense.	When the teacher came in, the students were talking noisily.(Ketika guru masuk, para siswa sedang berbicara dengan riuh.)
Klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense + when + klausa yang menggunakan simple past tense.	The students were talking noisily when the teacher came in.(Para siswa sedang berbicara dengan riuh ketika guru masuk.)
While + Klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense + , + klausa yang menggunakan simple past tense.	While the students were talking noisily, the teacher came in.(Sementara para siswa sedang berbicara dengan riuh, guru masuk.)
Klausa yang menggunakan simple past tense + while + klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense.	The teacher came in while the students were talking noisily.(Guru masuk ketika para siswa sedang berbicara dengan riuh.)

Untuk menjelaskan dua tindakan yang sedang berlangsung secara bersamaan di masa lampau 

Kedua klausa dalam past continuous tense akan dihubungkan menurut 2 rumus berikut:

While + klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense 1 + , + klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense 2.	While the children were playing, we were singing karaoke. → Saat anak-anak sedang bermain, kami sedang menyanyikan karaoke.
Klausa yang menggunakan simple past tense + while + klausa yang menggunakan past continuous tense.	We were singing karaoke while the children were playing. → Kami sedang menyanyikan karaoke saat anak-anak sedang bermain.

>>> Read more

• 12 Tenses dalam Bahasa Inggris: Rumus, Penggunaan, Ciri-cirinya
• Simple past tense: Pengertian, Rumus dan Contoh Soal
• Present Perfect Tense: Definisi, Rumus, Kegunaan, dan contoh soal!

Menggunakan sama frasa atau kata keterangan yang menunjukkan frekuensi untuk menggambarkan suatu kebiasaan (buruk) atau tindakan yang sering terjadi di masa lalu

Beberapa kata keterangan frekuensi dalam bahasa Inggris sering digunakan: always (selalu), usually (biasanya), constantly (terus-menerus), all the time (sepanjang waktu/ selalu), dll.

Contoh kalimat past continuous:

When he was a kid, he was talking in class all the time.
(Ketika dia masih kecil, dia selalu berbicara di kelas.)

When they first moved to this company, they were constantly missing deadlines.
(Ketika mereka pertama kali pindah ke perusahaan ini, mereka selalu melewati batas waktu yang ditetapkan.) 

Identifikasi past continuous tense saat membaca dokumen atau mendengarkan orang lain berbicara.

Ciri-ciri yang paling terlihat adalah struktur S + was/ were (not) + V-ing.

Jika Anda melihat dokumen atau pembicara menggunakan struktur ini, mereka sedang menggunakan past continuous tense.

Identifikasi situasi di mana Anda perlu menggunakan past continuous tense saat berbicara atau melakukan latihan.

Situasi 1: 

Kalimat tersebut memiliki 1 klausa dan mengandung frase yang menunjukkan waktu di masa lampau seperti:

• at + 6am/ 7pm/… + yesterday/ last Sunday/…
• this time + yesterday/ last Sunday/ last week/…

Contoh: 

Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk yang benar

At 9pm yesterday, we _________ (dance) at the club.
(At 9pm yesterday, we were dancing at the club.) 

>>Baca: Apa itu adjective clause dalam bahasa Inggris? Kumpulan pengetahuan yang lengkap tentang adjective clause dalam 30 menit

Situasi 2:

Kalimat memiliki dua klausa. Salah satunya diawali dengan kata hubung ‘when’ dan menggunakan bentuk Past Simple.

Contoh:

Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk yang benar:

When she came, we _________ (dance) at the club.

We _________ (dance) at the club when she came

→ were dancing

Kalimat memiliki dua klausa. Satu di antaranya dengan kata kerja dikosongi diawali dengan kata ‘while’, dan klausa lainnya menggunakan bentuk Past Simple.
Contoh: 

Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk yang benar:

While we _________ (dance) at the club,  she came.

She came while we _________ (dance) at the club.

→ were dancing

Situasi 3: 

Kalimat memiliki 2 klausa. Salah satu klausa dimulai dengan ‘while’ dan menggunakan past continuous tense.

Contoh: 

Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk yang benar:

While we _________ (dance) at the club,  they were studying.

They were studying while we _________ (dance) at the club.

→ were dancing

Berbagai contoh kalimat past continuous tense 

Tindakan sedang (tidak) berlangsung pada suatu waktu tertentu di masa lampau.

• At 8pm last Friday, she was performing at JKT48 Theater. 
  (Pada pukul 8 malam hari Jumat lalu, dia sedang tampil di Teater JKT48.) 
• This time last week, my younger sister was preparing for her final exams.
  (Pada waktu ini minggu lalu, adik perempuan saya sedang mempersiapkan ujian akhirnya.)
• They were singing at a karaoke bar at 10 last night.
  (Mereka sedang menyanyi di sebuah bar karaoke pada pukul 10 malam tadi.)  

Tindakan sedang (tidak) berlangsung ketika ada tindakan lain yang terjadi atau mengganggu di masa lampau.

• The children were playing in the garden when it started raining.
  (Anak-anak sedang bermain di kebun ketika hujan mulai turun.) 
• When our parents got home, we were cooking dinner.
  (Ketika orang tua kami pulang, kami sedang memasak makan malam.) 
• They were talking about the new project when we entered the meeting room.
  (Mereka sedang membicarakan proyek baru ketika kami masuk ke ruang rapat.) 

Menjelaskan dua tindakan yang sedang berlangsung secara bersamaan di masa lampau. 

• We were sweeping the floor while our parents were moving the furniture.
  (Kami sedang menyapu lantai saat orang tua kami sedang memindahkan mebel.)  
• While my cat was sleeping by the window, my dog was playing with the ball.
  (Saat kucing aku sedang tidur di dekat jendela, anjing aku sedang bermain dengan bola.) 

Sebuah kebiasaan (buruk) atau tindakan yang berulang-ulang di masa lampau yang membuat pembicara merasa tidak nyaman.

• When he was in his twenties, he was always smoking when others were around.
  (Ketika dia berusia dua puluhan, dia selalu merokok ketika orang lain ada di sekitarnya.)  
• Our daughter was constantly staying up late when she was a teenager.
  (Putri kami selalu begadang ketika dia masih remaja.)

Membedakan antara Simple past dan Past continuous tense

Kesamaan: Berkaitan dengan masa lalu

Perbedaan: 

	Past continuous tense	Past simple tense
Fungsi	Menjelaskan tindakan yang belum selesai atau kebiasaan yang tidak menyenangkan di masa lampau.	Menjelaskan tindakan telah selesai di masa lampau.
Contoh	This time yesterday, I was buying some food at the supermarket.(Waktu ini kemarin, saya sedang membeli beberapa makanan di supermarket.)When he was young, he was always buying a lot after getting his salary.(Ketika dia masih muda, dia selalu membeli banyak barang setelah menerima gajinya.)	Last week, I bought a new phone. (Minggu lalu, saya membeli ponsel baru.)

Latihan tentang Past Continuous Tense

Exercise 1.  Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk past continuous.

1. Andrew and I_____________ (watch) a movie at 10:15 last night. 

2. Their mother_____________ (water) the flowers while they_____________ (collect) the leaves.

3. When that customer called, we_____________ (talk) about the problem. 

4. We_____________ (buy) some food at the market when that accident happened. 

5. Our manager_____________ (talk) to a new customer when I entered the store. 

6. While our children were sweeping the floor, we_____________ (wash) the dishes. 

7. This time last weekend, we_____________ (build) sand castles at the beach.

Jawaban:

1. was watching

2. was watering- were collecting

3. were talking 

4. were buying 

5. was talking

6. were washing

7. were building

Exercise 2. Menyusun kembali (frasa) kata-kata untuk membentuk kalimat yang benar.

1. was/ at 6:30 this morning/ my younger brother/ doing exercise/ .

2. were/ you came/ , /when/ watching a movie/ we/ .

3. while/ her husband/ her daughter/ was playing with the doll/ was moving the furniture/ . 

4. presenting their idea/ entered the meeting/ they/ I/ when/ were/ .

5. was play / to Singapore/my aunt/ this time last week/ .

Jawaban:

1. My younger brother was doing exercise at 6:30 this morning. 

2. When you came, we were watching a movie. 

3. Her husband was moving the furniture while her daughter was playing with the phone. 

4. They were presenting their idea when I entered the meeting. 

5. My aunt was flying to Singapore this time last week. 

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Exercise 3. Mencari satu kesalahan dalam setiap kalimat di bawah ini dan memperbaikinya dengan benar.

1. Manny and I was skipping class all the time when we were young.

2. My sisters was walking to school when that accident happened. 

3. The kid were playing soccer when it started to rain. 

4. I was washing the clothes when my brother was sweeping the floor.

5. While she called, we were doing our homework. 

Jawaban:

1. was skipping → were skipping

2. was walking → were walking

3. were playing → was playing

4. when → while

5. While → When

Exercise 4. Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk past continuous atau past simple tense

1. Last month, we_____________ (buy) a new TV.

2. This time yesterday, we_____________ (buy) a new TV at the mall. 

3. When our teacher_____________ (enter) the classroom, we_____________ (play) a game. 

4. They_____________ (not discuss) the problem when we_____________ (call). 

5. Our mother_____________ (work) on his computer while our father_____________ (read) a book. 

6. While Sarah_____________ (look) for her cat, she_____________ (find) a dog. 

7. This time last year, we_____________ (study) in Australia. 

Jawaban:

1. bought

2. were buying

3. entered- were buying 

4. weren’t discussing- called  

5. was walking- was reading

6. was looking- found

7. were studying

Exercise 5. Buatlah pertanyaan untuk bagian yang digarisbawahi.

1. A stranger was standing in front of our door at 11 last night. 

2. When you came, the boys were playing soccer in the backyard. 

3. They were eating spaghetti when I brought them the food.  

4. Our neighbour was singing noisily when we knocked on his door. 

5. My mom was talking to my friend when I saw her on the street.  

Jawaban:

1. Who was standing in front of our/ your door at 11 last night.

2. Where were the boys playing soccer when I came? 

3. What were they eating when you brought them the food? 

4. How was your neighbour singing when you knocked on his door? 

5. Who was your mom talking to when you saw her on the street?

Exercise 6. Ubah kata kerja dalam tanda kurung menjadi bentuk past continuous atau past simple tense untuk melengkapi bagian di bawah ini.

Yesterday (1)_____________ (be) a busy day. I (2)_____________ (have) to do housework and take care of my baby sister. While I (3)_____________ (sweep) the floor, my sister (4)_____________ (wake) up and (5)_____________ (cry). When she (6)_____________ (stop) crying, I (7)_____________ (continue) sweeping the floor. She (8)_____________ (play) with her own hands and feets while I (9)_____________ (wash) the dishes. Finally, our parents (10)_____________ (get) home while I (11)_____________ (feed) her. 

Jawaban:

1. was

2. had

3. was sweeping 

4. woke 

5. cried

6. stopped

7. continued

8. was playing

9. was washing

10. got

11. was feeding

Exercise 7. Jawab pertanyaan terbuka di bawah ini.

1. Were you hanging out with friends at 6pm last Sunday? 

2. Were you spending time with your family at 11am last Saturday? 

3. What were you doing at 9:30 last night? 

4. What were you doing at 2:30pm last Thursday? 

5. What were you doing this time 2 days ago?

Jawaban:

Karena ini adalah pertanyaan dengan jawaban terbuka, maka jawaban-jawaban di bawah ini hanya sebagai referensi dan membantu Anda mengingat struktur kalimat. Anda dapat dengan bebas berkreasi dalam konten, tetapi jangan lupa untuk menerapkan pengetahuan dan struktur dengan benar, ya.

1. Yes. I was eating out with my friends at 6pm last Sunday. 

2. No. I was working in my room. 

3. I was watching a movie with my younger sister. 

4. I was writing a report at 2:30pm last Thursday.  

5. I was feeding my dog this time 2 days ago.