Forming the progressive preterite tense in Spanish with estar + present participle (El Indefinido Progresivo)

Each Spanish past tense has a continuous (progressive) form to express an action which was ongoing in the past.

Learn about El Indefinido Progresivo in Spanish

In the case of El Indefinido Progresivo, it follows this pattern for most regular verbs:

It is very similar to the English past continuous.

Look at and listen to these examples:

See also: Forming the present progressive/continuous in Spanish with estar + present participle (El Presente Progresivo) and Forming the progressive imperfect with estar + present participle (El Imperfecto progresivo/continuo).