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Past of be: was and were
A1 A1 grammar · lesson 22 of 24
Was and were are the past forms of am, is and are. We use them to talk about people, places and feelings in the past.
Form
| Positive | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|
| I / he / she / it was | I wasn’t (was not) | Was I…? Was she…? |
| you / we / they were | we weren’t (were not) | Were you…? Were they…? |
Short answers: Yes, I was. / No, I wasn’t. Yes, they were. / No, they weren’t.
When do we use it?
We use was / were for the past, often with time words: yesterday, last week, last year, two days ago, in 2015.
I was at home yesterday.
The weather was lovely last weekend.
We were in Rome in 2019.
Ali wasn’t at school on Monday. He was ill.
The shops weren’t open.
Were you tired last night? Yes, I was.
Was the film good? No, it wasn’t.
Where were you at eight o’clock?
Was born
We say was / were born to talk about birth: I was born in 2001. Where were you born? My parents were born in Turkey.
There was / there were
The past of there is / there are (Lesson 7) is there was / there were: There was a big party. There were fifty people.
Common mistakes
✗ They was at the cinema.
✓ They were at the cinema.
✗ I born in 1995.
✓ I was born in 1995.
✗ Did you be at home?
✓ Were you at home?
✗ She weren’t happy.
✓ She wasn’t happy.