Past Narrative Tenses

When telling a story, there are various past tenses that we need to use, so that our audience can easily follow us and know the order in which things happened. 

We use the past simple when the actions happen in the order that they are explained. 

When she arrived home, he cooked dinner. 

First, she came home. Later, he cooked dinner. 

We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) when an action is explained later but happened before. 

When she arrived home, she saw he had already cooked dinner. 

First, he cooked dinner. Later, she arrived. 

We use the past continuous (was/were + gerund) when an action occurs during another longer action.

While he was cooking dinner, she rang the doorbell. 

She rang the bell. Then, he continued to cook. 

We use the past perfect continuous (had been + gerund) when action that began in the past is interrupted by another past action. 

He had been cooking dinner, until she rang the doorbell. 

She rang the bell. Then, he stopped cooking.