Before translating I'll make the disclaimer that I'm an American and Cebuano is a second language so I could very well make poor translations. I'd also like to point out that "was reading" and "just finished reading" are both past tense multi-word verbs where you are referring to past events. The difference in the two sentences the relation between the time of your reading and when the person was at your door. They are both past tense in that the time when you read was in the past. So this might not answer your question. 1st sentence: Samatang nagbasa ko, na'y tawo nag-ayo sa pwertahan nako. 2nd sentence: Nahuman pa lang ko magbasa, unya na'y tawo nag-ayo sa pwertahan nako. Because the second sentence is a multi word verb "finished reading", the past tense is on the finished part of the verb, as it is in english. Nahuman is the past tense of finish.