Yesterday, my husband [cooked] (or) [was cooking] dinner from 6 to 8 o'clock.

[Tarheel]

Yes, I think so.

 

[Marika33]

@emsr2d2, in post #2 you crossed out "learning" in all the sentences. Are you sure it's not correct to say "I started learning English four years ago" or "My grandfather started learning German in 1927" and so on?​

 

[jutfrank]

Are you sure it's not correct to say "I started learning English four years ago" or "My grandfather started learning German in 1927" and so on?​

It's fine, yes.

I can only assume that emsr2d2 felt that you meant to say 'studying' instead of 'learning'. The two verbs have quite different meanings, of course.