Verb To Be – Simple Past

The simple past is used principally to describe events in the past. The verb ‘to be ( am, is, are )’ has two forms in the past; was and were.

Positive Form

For first person singular and third person singular, use the word was. In all other cases, use were.

I / he/ she / it + was
You / we / they + were

She was a student.
They were doctors.
I was in Spain in 1999.
We were together.
He was my boyfriend.

Question Form

  • In order to ask a question, was/were needs to be at the beginning of the sentence.

TO BE ( was/were ) + Subject + …

Was she a teacher?

Were they students?

Were you in Spain last year?

Was Jessica with you?

Were you together?

Negative Form

Subject + TO BE ( was/were ) + NOT + …

In negative sentences, add the adverb not and put it before the word was/were. Most of the time, the contraction (shortened form) is used in negative sentences.

He was not ( wasn’t) in the store.
You were not ( weren’t ) in the store.
He wasn’t at the theatre.
I wasn’t in Spain in 1990.
Jessica wasn’t in Tokyo in 2005.
We weren’t in together.

  • Wasn’t is the short form of was not. You can say either:

I was not in Spain. = I wasn’t in Spain.

  • Weren’t is the short form of were not. You can say either:


We were not in Spain. = We weren’t in Spain.

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