There are two important past tenses. They are past simple tense and past continuous tense.
Past simple tense
looks like this:
I came to India two days ago. When did you arrive?
I arrived a month ago.
Let’s look at some more examples. Follow the link and listen to (and read) the conversations. They have examples of past simple tense. Open a word document and write past simple tenses into it like this
Conversation One: Hitch-hiking around Australia.
Did you study there?
Yes, I did.
I studied media there for two years.
etc.
Past continuous tense
looks like this:
What were you doing last night?
I was watching TV.Follow the link to see more examples. Listen to the conversations and write down the sentences in past continuous tense like this:
Conversation One: Hitching around Australia.
I was living mostly in Melbourne.
Conversation Two: The Swami
But this morning you were chanting?
Which mantra were you chanting?
This morning what I was chanting was from the Atharvaveda.
etc.