Past continuous
ኃላፊ ቀጣይ ጊዜ (past continuous)
Describe what was happening when something else happened.
How it works
Use the past continuous for an action that was in progress at a time in the past.
ባለፈው ጊዜ በአንድ ወቅት ሲካሄድ ለነበረ ድርጊት past continuous እንጠቀማለን።
was / were + verb-ing · was / were + ግስ-ing
At eight o'clock last night, I was studying.
ትናንት ማታ ሁለት ሰዓት ላይ እያጠናሁ ነበር።
A longer action interrupted by a short one · በአጭር ድርጊት የተቋረጠ ረጅም ድርጊት
I was studying when the power went off.
መብራቱ ሲጠፋ እያጠናሁ ነበር።
While we were eating, my uncle arrived.
እየበላን ሳለ አጎቴ መጣ።
Use when before the short action and while before the long action.
ከአጭሩ ድርጊት በፊት when፣ ከረጅሙ ድርጊት በፊት while ይጠቀሙ።
Examples
Listen, then tap the microphone to record yourself and compare. Your voice stays on your phone.
I was studying when the power went off.
መብራቱ ሲጠፋ እያጠናሁ ነበር።
What were you doing at nine last night?
ትናንት ማታ ሦስት ሰዓት ላይ ምን እያደረጉ ነበር?
We were watching the match when it started to rain.
ዝናብ መዝነብ ሲጀምር ጨዋታውን እየተመለከትን ነበር።
She was cooking dinner when I called her.
ስደውልላት እራት እያበሰለች ነበር።
While I was waiting for the bus, I met an old friend.
አውቶቡስ እየጠበቅሁ ሳለ የቀድሞ ጓደኛዬን አገኘሁ።
They weren't listening to the teacher.
መምህሩን እያዳመጡ አልነበረም።