Past Continuous Tense in Urdu

In Brief

Urdu forms the past continuous with a verb stem plus رہا، رہی، or رہے, followed by the past form of ہونا “to be”: میں پڑھ رہا تھا “I was reading” (said by a man). Both parts agree with the subject’s gender and number. Unlike many Urdu perfective past sentences, this construction does not use نے.

Overview

The Urdu past continuous, ماضی جاری, presents an action or situation as already in progress at a point in the past. It corresponds closely to English “was/were doing”: وہ سو رہا تھا means “He was sleeping,” and بچے کھیل رہے تھے means “The children were playing.” It is useful for describing the background to an event, saying what someone was doing at a particular time, and talking about two activities happening at once.

This A2 pattern builds directly on the present continuous. The continuous element رہا/رہی/رہے stays the same; only the auxiliary (a helping verb) changes from present ہوں/ہے/ہیں to past تھا/تھی/تھے/تھیں. If you already know وہ پڑھ رہی ہے “She is reading,” you can make it past by changing ہے to تھی: وہ پڑھ رہی تھی “She was reading.”

For an English-speaking learner, the basic meaning is familiar, but the agreement requires extra attention. English changes only was to were. Urdu marks gender and number on both the continuous marker and the past auxiliary: compare masculine singular رہا تھا, feminine singular رہی تھی, masculine plural رہے تھے, and feminine plural رہی تھیں.

How It Works

The basic pattern

The beginner rule is:

subject + verb stem + رہا/رہی/رہے + تھا/تھی/تھے/تھیں

A verb stem is the basic part that carries the action. For many verbs, remove نا from the infinitive (the dictionary form):

Infinitive	Stem	Meaning
پڑھنا	پڑھ	to read/study
کھیلنا	کھیل	to play
سونا	سو	to sleep
کرنا	کر	to do
جانا	جا	to go

Thus پڑھنا becomes پڑھ رہا تھا, پڑھ رہی تھی, and so on. In speech, these words form one verbal unit, but each element is written separately.

Agreement with the subject

Agreement means that a form changes to match another word. Here, the continuous marker and the past auxiliary normally match the grammatical gender and number of the subject—the person or thing doing or experiencing the action.

Subject type	Continuous marker	Past auxiliary	Complete pattern	Example meaning
Masculine singular	رہا	تھا	پڑھ رہا تھا	he was reading / I was reading (male speaker)
Feminine singular	رہی	تھی	پڑھ رہی تھی	she was reading / I was reading (female speaker)
Masculine plural	رہے	تھے	پڑھ رہے تھے	they were reading (male or mixed group)
Feminine plural	رہی	تھیں	پڑھ رہی تھیں	they were reading (all-female group)

A speaker referring to themself chooses the form that matches their gender:

• A man says میں کام کر رہا تھا۔ “I was working.”
• A woman says میں کام کر رہی تھی۔ “I was working.”

With plural groups, Urdu normally uses masculine plural agreement for a mixed-gender group. An all-female plural group takes رہی تھیں. Respectful آپ generally takes plural agreement even when addressing one person: آپ کیا کر رہے تھے؟ to a man, and آپ کیا کر رہی تھیں؟ to a woman.

The third-person pronoun وہ can mean “he,” “she,” “it,” or “they”; the agreement and context often reveal the intended meaning:

• وہ جا رہا تھا۔ — He was going.
• وہ جا رہی تھی۔ — She was going.
• وہ جا رہے تھے۔ — They were going.

Present and past continuous side by side

Only the auxiliary changes when you move an otherwise identical continuous sentence into the past.

Urdu	English	Note
میں لکھ رہا ہوں۔	I am writing.	Male speaker; present auxiliary ہوں
میں لکھ رہا تھا۔	I was writing.	Male speaker; past auxiliary تھا
وہ کھانا بنا رہی ہے۔	She is cooking.	Present auxiliary ہے
وہ کھانا بنا رہی تھی۔	She was cooking.	Past auxiliary تھی

Negatives

Put نہیں before the continuous verb group. The agreement pattern does not change:

subject + نہیں + verb stem + continuous marker + past auxiliary

• میں نہیں سو رہا تھا۔ — I was not sleeping. (male speaker)
• وہ ٹی وی نہیں دیکھ رہی تھی۔ — She was not watching TV.
• ہم شور نہیں کر رہے تھے۔ — We were not making noise.

In ordinary neutral sentences, نہیں immediately before the stem is the safest pattern for learners. Context and emphasis can affect placement in natural speech, but you do not need a different negative conjugation.

Questions

Yes/no questions can keep the statement word order and use rising intonation in speech. They may also begin with کیا, which marks the whole sentence as a yes/no question:

• تم سو رہے تھے؟ — Were you sleeping?
• کیا تم سو رہے تھے؟ — Were you sleeping?

Do not confuse sentence-initial کیا with کیا meaning “what.” A question word normally occupies the place of the requested information:

• آپ کیا کر رہے تھے؟ — What were you doing?
• وہ کہاں جا رہی تھی؟ — Where was she going?
• بچے کیوں ہنس رہے تھے؟ — Why were the children laughing?

English requires inversion—“she was” becomes “was she.” Urdu does not invert the auxiliary and subject. Intonation, کیا, or a question word signals the question.

Ongoing background and interrupting events

The past continuous often gives the ongoing background, while another past form names a completed event that happened during it:

جب میں آیا، وہ پڑھ رہی تھی۔ — “When I came, she was reading.”

The reading was already in progress; the arrival is viewed as a complete event. This division resembles English “was reading” versus “came,” although Urdu’s other past forms have their own agreement and case rules.

For two simultaneous ongoing actions, جب “when” or جبکہ “while/whereas” can connect the clauses:

جب میں کھانا بنا رہی تھی، وہ میز لگا رہا تھا۔ — “While I was cooking, he was setting the table.”

Examples in Context

The following examples show the main agreement forms, negatives, questions, background descriptions, and overlapping actions.

Urdu	English	Note
وہ سو رہا تھا۔	He was sleeping.	Masculine singular
بارش ہو رہی تھی۔	It was raining.	بارش is feminine
بچے باہر کھیل رہے تھے۔	The children were playing outside.	Masculine or mixed plural
لڑکیاں گانا گا رہی تھیں۔	The girls were singing a song.	Feminine plural
میں کتاب پڑھ رہی تھی۔	I was reading a book.	Female speaker
ہم آپ کا انتظار کر رہے تھے۔	We were waiting for you.	Masculine or mixed group
آپ کل کہاں جا رہے تھے؟	Where were you going yesterday?	Respectful آپ, addressed to a man
وہ میری بات نہیں سن رہی تھی۔	She was not listening to me.	Negative sentence
کیا تم اس وقت کام کر رہے تھے؟	Were you working at that time?	Yes/no question, addressed to a man
جب میں آیا، وہ پڑھ رہی تھی۔	When I came, she was reading.	Ongoing background plus completed event
جب فون بجا، ہم کھانا کھا رہے تھے۔	When the phone rang, we were eating.	An event interrupts an activity
میں لکھ رہا تھا اور وہ تصویریں بنا رہی تھی۔	I was writing, and she was drawing pictures.	Two simultaneous activities; male speaker
رات کے دس بجے دکانیں بند ہو رہی تھیں۔	At ten at night, the shops were closing.	Activity in progress at a stated time
استاد بول رہے تھے اور طلبہ نوٹ لکھ رہے تھے۔	The teacher was speaking, and the students were taking notes.	Respectful agreement for استاد

Common Mistakes

Using the wrong gender combination

• Wrong: وہ پڑھ رہا تھی۔
• Right: وہ پڑھ رہی تھی۔
• Why: For a feminine singular subject, both pieces must be feminine singular: رہی + تھی. Do not mix masculine رہا with feminine تھی.

Treating feminine plural like masculine plural

• Wrong: لڑکیاں کھیل رہے تھے۔
• Right: لڑکیاں کھیل رہی تھیں۔
• Why: An all-female plural subject takes رہی تھیں. Masculine or mixed plural subjects take رہے تھے.

Adding نے because the sentence is in the past

• Wrong: علی نے کتاب پڑھ رہا تھا۔
• Right: علی کتاب پڑھ رہا تھا۔
• Why: نے is an ergative marker (a marker used with the doer in certain perfective past constructions). The past continuous is not perfective, so it does not take ergative نے. Past time by itself does not trigger نے.

Keeping the present auxiliary

• Wrong: کل وہ کام کر رہا ہے۔ when you mean “Yesterday he was working.”
• Right: کل وہ کام کر رہا تھا۔
• Why: ہے makes the construction present. Use تھا/تھی/تھے/تھیں for past time.

Translating English question order word for word

• Wrong approach: trying to move تھا before the subject because English says “Was he...?”
• Right: کیا وہ سو رہا تھا؟ or وہ سو رہا تھا؟
• Why: Urdu normally keeps the verbal group at the end. It does not use English-style subject–auxiliary inversion.

Using the past continuous for every repeated past habit

• Misleading: میں ہر روز وہاں جا رہا تھا۔ for the general habit “I used to go there every day.”
• Usually better: میں ہر روز وہاں جاتا تھا۔
• Why: جا رہا تھا focuses on an activity in progress, perhaps during a limited period. جاتا تھا is the usual habitual past for a repeated custom. The two can overlap in some contexts, but they do not simply replace each other.

Usage Notes

Time expressions

Common time expressions include اس وقت “at that time,” کل “yesterday,” صبح “in the morning,” and clock times. A stated time often provides the past viewpoint from which the action is seen as ongoing:

• اس وقت میں دفتر جا رہا تھا۔ — At that time, I was going to the office. (male speaker)
• کل شام بارش ہو رہی تھی۔ — It was raining yesterday evening.

Like English, Urdu may omit a time expression when the surrounding conversation already establishes the past.

Pronouns and understood subjects

Urdu often leaves out a subject pronoun when it is clear from context, but the gender-number form still matters. پڑھ رہی تھی can mean “I/she was reading” depending on who is being discussed. For learners, stating the subject is helpful while practising; in conversation, listen to the agreement and the context together.

Respect and grammatical number

Respect can affect agreement. A respected singular person may receive plural forms, especially with titles and kinship terms. That is why استاد بول رہے تھے can refer to one respected male teacher. This is not literal plurality. Usage varies with relationship and degree of respect, but plural respectful agreement is a safe and common model.

Natural speech

In rapid colloquial speech, pronunciation may be reduced, but standard writing keeps all elements separate: کر رہا تھا, not one joined word. Learn the full written forms first. Their endings carry information that English often leaves unmarked.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all the contrasts below at A2, but they explain forms you will meet later.

Past continuous versus habitual past

The continuous highlights an action unfolding at a particular past time. The habitual past describes what regularly used to happen.

Urdu	English	Note
میں آٹھ بجے دفتر جا رہا تھا۔	I was going to the office at eight.	One activity in progress; male speaker
میں ہر روز آٹھ بجے دفتر جاتا تھا۔	I used to go to the office at eight every day.	Repeated habit; male speaker

With a phrase such as ان دنوں “in those days/at that time,” a continuous form can describe a temporary activity extending over a period: ان دنوں میں لاہور میں کام کر رہا تھا “I was working in Lahore at that time” (male speaker). The action does not have to be occurring at every single moment; it is presented as an ongoing temporary situation.

Past continuous versus completed past

Compare وہ کتاب پڑھ رہی تھی “She was reading the book” with اس نے کتاب پڑھی “She read the book.” The first looks inside the activity and says nothing by itself about completion. The second presents the reading as a completed whole and uses نے because it is a transitive perfective construction. This contrast is one reason not to attach نے mechanically to every past sentence.

Lexical meaning matters

The past continuous is most natural when a situation can be viewed as unfolding: reading, waiting, raining, travelling, changing, or working. Context can also turn an apparent state into a developing or temporary situation. Do not assume that every English “was” must become Urdu رہا تھا: when “was” simply links a subject to an identity or description, Urdu normally uses the past forms of ہونا, as in وہ بیمار تھا “He was ill,” not a continuous form.

Backgrounding in storytelling

In narratives, past continuous clauses set the scene: people were talking, rain was falling, or someone was waiting. A completed event can then move the story forward. This is a discourse function—a way grammar organizes a story—not a separate conjugation. Noticing this contrast in short stories and news reports will make the tense feel less like a word-for-word English formula.

Practice Tips

1. Build four-form sets. Choose a common stem such as پڑھ, کر, or جا, then say and write رہا تھا، رہی تھی، رہے تھے، رہی تھیں. Add a matching subject to each form so that agreement becomes automatic.
2. Change present scenes into past scenes. Take five present-continuous sentences and replace only the final auxiliary: ہے → تھا/تھی and ہیں → تھے/تھیں, while checking the subject. This directly reinforces the link with the present continuous.
3. Describe an interruption. Make pairs with جب: an ongoing background action plus one completed event, such as “When the phone rang, we were eating.” Then make one negative and one question from the same vocabulary.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Present Continuous Tense — introduces the same رہا/رہی/رہے agreement pattern with present auxiliaries.