ELONIO

Past continuous (was aan het)

The Past Continuous: was/waren aan het

To describe an ongoing action in the past—something you were doing—use the past tense of zijn (was or waren) followed by aan het and the infinitive verb.

  • Use was for singular subjects (ik, jij, u, hij, zij, het).
  • Use waren for plural subjects (wij, jullie, zij).

If the action involves a direct object, place it between the conjugated verb (was or waren) and aan het.

The young director was filming the scene.
De jonge regisseur was de scène aan het filmen.
The famous actress was reading the script.
De beroemde actrice was het script aan het lezen.
We were testing the new camera.
Wij waren de nieuwe camera aan het testen.

Setting the Scene

The past continuous is perfectly suited for describing background actions that were happening when another event occurred. You will frequently see it paired with conjunctions like totdat (until) or terwijl (while).

We were filming until the director came.
We waren aan het filmen totdat de regisseur kwam.
He was checking the makeup while she sat on the chair.
Hij was de make-up aan het controleren terwijl zij op de stoel zat.
They were rehearsing until he saw the script.
Ze waren aan het repeteren totdat hij het script zag.
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