Past Continous.
They were playing tennis yesterday morning.
![](/community/img/federer-aus-open-92fd7bd1cf-800x450.jpg)
"They were playing" means that they were in the middle of playing tennis. They had started playing, but they hadn't finished.
This is the past continous tense:
I/she/he was
We/they/you were
Here are some examples of past continous:
1. This time last year I was living in Brazil.
2. What were you doing at 10:00 yesterday?
More examples of Simple Past
The past continous does not tell us whether an action was finished or not. Perhaps it was finished, perhaps not. Compare:
Dan was cooking dinner. (past continous) = He was in the middle of cooking dinner. We don't know whether he finished.
Dan cooked dinner. (simple past) = He began and finished cooking.
![](/community/img/cooking-fire-b2badffdf6-770x397.jpg)
We often use the past continous (I was doing) and simple past (I did) together to say that something happened in the middle of something else:
For example:
1. My friend was waiting for me, as I left from school.
2. Virat hurt his back while he was catching the ball.
![](/community/img/virat-catching-d71c379924-600x338.jpg)