Narrative tenses
Telling a story in the past: I was walking home when it started to rain. I had left my umbrella at work.
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When we tell a story about the past, we usually mix three tenses. Each one has its own job: the past simple for the main events, the past continuous for the background, and the past perfect for things that happened before the main events.
Three tenses, three jobs
Tense | Form | Its job in a story |
|---|---|---|
past simple | I walked, she left | the main events, in the order they came |
past continuous | I was walking | the background: what was in progress |
past perfect | I had walked, had left | an earlier event, before the main events |
- It was raining and the streets were empty. I got off the bus and realised that I had left my umbrella at the office.
Here was raining sets the scene, got off and realised move the story on, and had left goes back to something earlier.
Main events: past simple
The events that move the story forward are in the past simple, in the order they happened.
- She opened the door, switched on the light and saw a letter on the floor.
- Incorrect: I was getting up at seven, was having a shower and was leaving the house at eight.
- Correct: I got up at seven, had a shower and left the house at eight.Events that happen one after another take the past simple.
Background: past continuous
Use the past continuous to set the scene: the weather, and what people were doing when the story begins. It is also the longer action that a short event interrupts.
- The sun was shining and people were sitting outside the cafés.
- I was waiting for the bus when my phone rang.
- Incorrect: Sorry I didn't answer. I had a shower when you called.
- Correct: Sorry I didn't answer. I was having a shower when you called.The shower was in progress at that moment, so use the past continuous.
Stative verbs (know, want, be, have for owning) usually stay in the past simple, also in the background: The room was dark and I didn't know where the light switch was.
Going back: past perfect
When the story needs to step back to something that happened earlier, use the past perfect.
- When we got to the station, the train had already left.
- He was tired because he hadn't slept the night before.
- Incorrect: When I got to the cinema, the film already started, so I missed the beginning.
- Correct: When I got to the cinema, the film had already started, so I missed the beginning.The film started before I arrived. The earlier event takes the past perfect.
One sentence, three tenses
With the same when clause, the tense of the other verb changes the story. Compare:
Sentence | What happened |
|---|---|
When I arrived, they were having dinner. | They started before I came. |
When I arrived, they had dinner. | I arrived, and then they ate. |
When I arrived, they had already eaten. | Dinner was over before I came. |
- While we were driving to the airport, Maria realised that she had left her passport at home.
Don't use the past perfect for everything
The past perfect is for stepping back. If there is no earlier event to look back from, use the past simple. After one past perfect verb, a story often goes back to the past simple.
- Incorrect: Last summer we had gone to Spain. We had stayed in a small hotel near the sea.
- Correct: Last summer we went to Spain. We stayed in a small hotel near the sea.There is no earlier past here, so the past simple is enough.
With after and before, the order is already clear, so the past simple is also correct: After we ate, we went for a walk.
Linking a story together
Words like when, while, as soon as, after, before, by the time, then and later help the listener follow the order of events.
- As soon as I opened the box, I knew something was wrong.
- By the time the police arrived, the thief had disappeared.
- Incorrect: I read in bed when suddenly the lights went out.
- Correct: I was reading in bed when suddenly the lights went out.The reading was in progress when the lights went out, so it takes the past continuous.