I was working when my friend called me.
Je travaillais quand mon amie m’a appelée.
They were gardening when i arrived.
Ils jardinaient quand je suis arrivé.
It was just a few days before Christmas. Many people were shopping.
C’était juste avant Noël. Beaucoup de gens faisaient (leur shopping) =>leurs achats en bon français.
Father was washing the car while mother was cooking dinner.
Papa lavait la voiture tandis que Maman (cuisinait) =>préparait le dîner.
Le plus souvent on emploie le Past continuous pour une action en train de se faire quand une autre soudain a eu lieu. Il y a d’autres cas…
Voir la formation du Past continuous ici (cliquer).
EXERCISES
Google Past Continuous ex. # 1 click here
Google Past Continuous ex. # 1 @ click here
Online
https://agendaweb.org/verbs/past_progressive-exercises.html
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/past-continuous/exercise-1
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/past-continuous/write-1
https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-continuous-exercise-1.html
http://englishpage.free.fr/spip.php?article7
http://englishpage.free.fr/docs/grammar/PastMCQ1.htm
https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-past-progressive.php
https://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/past-progressive/exercises
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_progressive.htm