Simple Past and Past Continuous:

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.

Sham flew to Delhi last week.
Sridhar visited his friends in Kumbakonam two months ago.

Past Continuous:

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

Children were doing their homework when mother arrived.
Kannan was studying while Radha was cooking dinner..

The past continuous is also used to express what was happening at a precise moment in the past.

I was sitting in a park at 5.30 yesterday evening
Amala was reading a book at seven 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 month.

Subject + did not (doesn't) + Verb + Objects

Questions

(Why, What, etc.) + did + Subject + Verb + Objects?

Did -> I, you, we, they -> attend the class week?