Past Simple VS Past Continuous

You know Past Simple, here's a look further into Past Continuous, which is harder to grasp.

The Basics - Simple Past
There are two principal past tenses used to make general statements about the past: The past simple and the past continuous. The two tenses are quite different. Use the past simple to talk about an event which happened at some point in time in the past.

------ point in time, one moment something occurred ---- use PAST SIMPLE

Tom flew to Chicago last week. (point in time – last week; thing that occurred - Tom flys)
Peter visited his friends in Florida two months ago. (point in time – two months ago; occurred – Peter visits)

The Basics - Past Continuous
The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important happened in the past.

They were doing their homework when she arrived.
Jack was studying while Dave was cooking dinner.

The past continuous is also used to express what was happening at a precise moment in the past.
I was attending a lecture at 2.30 yesterday afternoon.
Alice was reading a book at six yesterday evening.
Past Simple Structure:
Positive
Subject + ( Verb + ed –OR– Irregular Past Form ) + Objects

I, You, He, She, We, They -> played golf yesterday afternoon.
I, You, He, She, We, They -> went lunch at noon.
Negative
Subject + did not (didn't) + Verb + Objects

I, You, He, She, We, They -> didn't go on vacation last summer.

Subject + did not (doesn't) + Verb + Objects
Questions
(Why, What, etc.) + did + Subject + Verb + Objects?

Did -> I, you, we, they -> attend the meeting last week?
Past Continuous Structure:
Positive
Subject + conjugate the helping verb "be" + verb + -ing.

I was, You were, He was, She was, We were, You were, They were -> sleeping when I arrived.
Negative
Subject + conjugate the helping verb "be" + not + verb + -ing.

I wasn't, You weren't, He wasn't, She wasn't, We weren't , They weren't ->
working when he came into the room.

Questions

Question word + conjugate the helping verb 'be' + subject + verb + -ing

What -> were you, they -> doing at seven o'clock?
What -> was I, he, she -> doing at seven o'clock?
Study the Past Simple and Past Continuous in Depth:

Here are detailed guides to the past simple and the past continuous tenses. Each guide provides situations, common time expressions used with the tense, as well as examples.
These guides were prepared beginners and include dialogues and a short quiz. You can use them to review.
Past simple with the verb "to be" for beginners
Past simple with regular and irregular verbs for beginners
It's also important to know your irregular past simple forms which are included in this list of the most important irregular past simple and past participle verb forms