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# Narrative tenses
### Past simple
We use the past simple to talk about **past events in chronological order**; i.e. for the story’s main events.
* *When she **opened** the door, she **pretended** we weren’t there and **went** to her room.*
* *He **called** me and **told** me to go, but he wasn’t there when I **arrived**.*
We also use the past simple to talk about **past habits** or **past states**.
* *We often **went** to the bar for a drink before dinner.*
* *He really **liked** sport and **was** very fit.*
### Past continuos
We use the past continuous the **set the scene** in a story.
* *Last night I **was walking** home and **listening** to my iPod when …*
* The sun was shining and lots of tourists were lying on the beach. Suddenly …
We use the past continuous for **actions in progress** in the past or longer actions interrupted by shorter actions in past simple.
* *After dinner, I went into the living room and saw that she **was crying**.*
* *When she opened the door, we **were talking** about her.*
### Past perfect simple
We use the past perfect simple to talk about an earlier past: events which happened before the main event.
**Earlier single events**
We use the past perfect simple to talk about earlier events and experiences, or single actions completed earlier in the past.
* *When she opened the door, he **had** already **left**.*
* *I realised that I **had been** there before.*
* *When I met her, I **had** never **been** in a serious relationship.*
* *He noticed I **had cleaned** the car. It was smooth and shiny.*
We use the past perfect simple (and not continuous) to say **how much** or **how many** we had done of something earlier in the past.
* *We* ***had driven** 500 miles and we needed some rest.*
* *How many hours **had** he **slept** when you woke him up?*
**Duration from earlier in the past (stative verbs)**
We use the past perfect simple with stative verbs to talk about states or situations that had started earlier in the past. We often use **how long**, **for** or **since****, ****always**, **etc**.
* *The day Anne died, they **had been** married for 48 years.*
* *The day I left, I **had been** in England for exactly 4 years.*
* *She told me she **had** always **hated** her sister.*
### Past perfect continuous
**Duration from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)**
We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about **longer continuous actions that started earlier in the past** than the main events of the story.
* *I was furious. I **had been waiting** for him in the cold, and he didn’t call to say he’d be late.*
* *We **had been driving** for less than an hour when the car broke down.*
**Repeated actions from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)**
We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about **repeated actions from earlier in the past**.
* *I couldn’t believe it. She **had been writing** a letter every day for over a year.*