Narrative tenses, used to, would — Explanation

Learn how to use narrative tenses, used to, and would in English storytelling. Clear B2 grammar explanations and practical exercises to improve your writing and speaking.

Narrative Tenses: Talking About the Past

We use narrative tenses to tell stories or talk about things that happened in the past in a clear order. These tenses help us show what happened first, what was going on at the same time, and what happened after that.

The four main narrative tenses are:

1. Past Simple: for actions that are finished or main events.
2. Past Continuous is used for actions or situations that are still going on in the background.
3. Past Perfect is used for actions that happened before another action in the past.
4. Past Perfect Continuous is used for actions that started before a past time and are still going on.

Examples:

• I woke up, had breakfast, and left for work. → (past simple: main events in order)
• It was raining when I left the house. → (past continuous: background action)
• By the time I arrived, the train had left. → (past perfect: earlier past action)
• She had been waiting for an hour when the bus finally came. → (past perfect continuous: duration before another event)

“Used To” and “Would”: Repeated Past Actions or States

We use "used to" and "would" a lot to talk about things we did over and over again in the past or habits that aren't true anymore.

Used To

We use used to + infinitive to describe:

Repeated past actions

Past states (situations that were true in the past but not now)

Examples:

• I used to play the piano when I was a child.
• She used to live in London, but now she lives in Paris.
• We didn’t use to like spicy food.

You can use used to for both actions and states.

Would

We use would + infinitive to describe:

Repeated or habitual actions in the past

Not for states or situations

Examples:

• Every summer we would go camping by the lake.
• My grandfather would tell us stories by the fire.
• When I was a child, I would always get up early on Sundays.

Don’t use would for states:

I would live in London when I was a child.

I used to live in London when I was a child.

Function	Form	Example
Past events in sequence	Past Simple	I went to school and met my friends.
Background actions	Past Continuous	I was reading when he called.
Actions before another past action	Past Perfect	They had eaten before the guests arrived.
Duration before a past event	Past Perfect Continuous	She had been working for hours before lunch.
Past habits or states	Used to + base verb	I used to play football.
Repeated past actions	Would + base verb	We would visit our grandparents every summer.

Common Mistakes

Incorrect: I would be tired after work. → (Incorrect: “would” can’t describe a state here)

Correct: I used to be tired after work.

Incorrect: I used to went to school by bus.

Correct: I used to go to school by bus.

Quick Tip

When telling a story, mix up the tenses:

When I was a child, I used to spend my weekends at my grandparents’ farm. My grandpa would tell me stories while my grandma was baking bread. They had been living there since they got married.