The past simple tense is used to talk about completed actions in the past. It is formed by adding -ed to regular verbs or using the irregular verb form. For example:

• I walked to the store yesterday.
• She ate dinner at 7 pm.
• They played soccer last weekend.

The past continuous tense is used to talk about ongoing actions in the past. It is formed by using the past tense of “to be” (was/were) and adding the present participle (-ing) form of the verb. For example:

• I was studying when the phone rang.
• She was cooking dinner while he was watching TV.
• They were playing soccer when it started raining.

The past continuous tense is often used to describe actions that were happening at the same time as another action in the past.