For habits, descriptions and background in the past, use the imperfectum. Regular verbs add -te / -ten to the stem after a 't kofschip letter (t, k, f, s, ch, p) and -de / -den otherwise: werken -> werkte, wonen -> woonde. Strong verbs change their vowel instead (zien -> zag/zagen), and the essentials are irregular: was/waren, had/hadden.
Examples
- Toen ik klein was, woonde ik bij mijn oma op het dorp.
- When I was little, I lived at my grandma's in the village.
- Het regende en er liepen weinig mensen op straat.
- It was raining and few people were walking in the street.
- Ik las een boek toen de telefoon ging.
- I was reading a book when the phone rang.
The mistake to avoid
Dutch has no separate continuous form, so "ik las" covers both "I read" and "I was reading" - do not build a was + -ing construction.
Where this fits in
The imperfectum: past habits & descriptions, Dutch B1: Use the imperfectum (onvoltooid verleden tijd) to talk about how things used to be, describe the past, and narrate ongoing actions interrupted by another event.