Lesson #70: Past Tense Part 2; The Past Continuous Tense
Can you remember what we learnt last time in Lesson #69? We started looking at the Past Tense in Hindi and we learnt the words for was and were, which are; था thaa, थे the, थी thee and थीं theen. Do you think you’ve understood this?
The past tense is super important if you want to talk about things that have already happened!
Today we’re going to expand on this and we’re going to learn how to say sentences like ‘I was reading’ or 'She was walking’. This is what’s known as the Past Continuous Tense and it’s actually really easy so this is going to be quite a short lesson!
Do you remember Lesson #35 - The Present Continuous Tense? Well the Past Continuous works exactly the same, just we use our newly learnt words for was and were. So from Lesson #35 we already know how to say…
मैं चल रहा हूँ main cal rahaa hoon
- I am walking (said by a male)
Remember च ca is pronounce 'ch’ as in church! So to changing this into the Past Continuous Tense we have;
मैं चल रहा था main cal rahaa thaa
- I was walking (said by a male).
Can you see the difference? All we’ve done is replaced the हूँ hoon - am with था thaa - was. We use था thaa here beacause it’s singular (just one person) and Masculine (it’s said by a male). That’s how easy it is! Let’s see some more examples;
यह समोसे खा रही थी yeh samose khaa rahee thee
- She was eating samosas.
This time we’re using थी thee because the subject is singular and Feminine. Got it? Let’s keep going..
अनिल सो रहा था anil so rahaa thaa
- Anil was sleeping.
हम किताबें पढ़ रहे थे ham kitaaben parh rahe the
- We were reading books
Now in spoken casual language the रहा rahaa is often missed out just to make it easier to say. So, for example, when you hear the sentence मैं चल रहा था main cal rahaa thaa - I was walking, you might hear something that sounds more like ’main cal ra thaa’. Ready for a few more examples?
तुम क्या कर रहे थे? tum kyaa kar rahe the?
- What were you doing?
आप कहाँ जा रही थीं? aap kahaan jaa rahee theen?
- Where were you going? (Said to a female).
Hopefully you’ve understood this lesson, If you have any questions the please ask them in the comments section below. Make sure you practice by writing you own sentences of this form!
