Past Tense Worksheet for Class 4: Simple Past & Past Continuous Tense
Learning to talk about things that already happened is one of the first big grammar milestones for young learners, and that is exactly what a good past tense worksheet for class 4 helps children practise. Whether your child is revising for a class test or simply strengthening everyday English, this guide walks through the simple past tense and the past continuous tense in a simple, classroom-friendly way, with plenty of examples along the way.
All the worksheets shared here are carefully designed to match the CBSE syllabus for Class 4 English grammar, so children practise exactly what they are expected to know for their exams. Every worksheet comes with a printable PDF for easy download, and each one includes a complete answer key so parents and teachers can check the work in minutes. For more free, CBSE-aligned grammar resources for young learners, you can always explore CBSEClassWorksheets, where new worksheets are added regularly.
Simple Past Tense for Class 4: What Is the Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense is used to describe an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past. It is one of the very first tenses children learn because it is used constantly in everyday conversation — talking about yesterday, last week, or something that ‘already happened’.
In most cases, the simple past tense is formed by adding ‘-ed’ to a regular verb (walk becomes walked, play becomes played). However, English also has many irregular verbs that change their form completely in the past, such as go/went, eat/ate, and see/saw. A good simple past tense worksheet for class 4 usually includes both regular and irregular verbs so children get comfortable with the exceptions, not just the rule.
Examples of Simple Past Tense
- She played with her friends in the garden.
- We visited our grandparents last Sunday.
- The children finished their homework before dinner.
- He wrote a letter to his pen friend.
- I saw a rainbow after the rain stopped.
Class 4 English Worksheets
- Sentences Worksheet
- Nouns Worksheet
- Pronouns Worksheet
- Verbs Worksheet
- Adjectives Worksheet
- Adverbs Worksheet
- Articles Worksheet
- Prepositions Worksheet
- Present Tense Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Letter Writing Worksheet
- Essay Writing Worksheet
- Paragraph Writing Worksheet
- Story Writing Worksheet
- Picture Composition Worksheet
CBSE Classes
Use of 'Was' and 'Were' in the Past Tense
‘Was’ and ‘were’ are the past tense forms of the verb ‘to be’, and they are also the building blocks of the past continuous tense (which we will look at shortly). As a simple rule for Class 4 students:
- Use ‘was’ with I, he, she, and it — for example, ‘I was tired’ or ‘She was happy.’
- Use ‘were’ with we, you, and they — for example, ‘We were late’ or ‘They were playing outside.’
This ‘was/were’ rule is one of the most tested concepts in a past tense worksheet for class 4, since it forms the foundation for both simple sentences (‘He was ill yesterday’) and past continuous sentences (‘He was reading a book’).
Class 4 Past Continuous Tense Worksheet: Understanding the Past Continuous Tense
The past continuous tense (also called the past progressive tense) describes an action that was still going on at a particular moment in the past, or two actions that were happening at the same time. It is especially useful for storytelling, since it helps set the scene before something else happens — for example, ‘It was raining when the match started.’
Structure of the Past Continuous Tense
The past continuous tense follows a simple, repeatable structure that makes it easy for Class 4 students to build once they know their ‘was/were’ rule:
Subject + was/were + verb + -ing
- I / he / she / it + was + verb-ing (e.g., I was reading.)
- We / you / they + were + verb-ing (e.g., They were playing.)
Examples of Past Continuous Tense
- I was doing my homework when the lights went out.
- The birds were flying over the lake at sunset.
- She was singing a song when the bell rang.
- We were watching a movie last night.
- While he was cycling, it started to rain.