Grammar Rules

 

Affirmative

be: Simple past

Affirmative
was
you were
he was
she was
it was
we were
you were
they were

1 We use was with singular pronouns and singular nouns. We use were with plural pronouns and plural nouns.

2 We do not contract was and were.

3 We use the simple past to talk about situations in the past.
It was sunny on Sunday.
We were at band practice yesterday.
Luis was overweight when he was young.


Negative

be: Simple past

Negative
Long formShort form
was notwasn't
you were notyou weren't
he was nothe wasn't
she was notshe wasn't
it was notit wasn't
we were notwe weren't
you were notyou weren't
they were notthey weren't

1 We make the negative with was / were + not.
wasn’t at home.
You weren’t at band practice.

2 We can use the short forms wasn’t and weren’t.
wasn’t at home.
You weren’t at band practice.

3 We usually use the short forms wasn’t and weren’t in spoken English, and when we write e-mails, messages, and letters to friends.


Past time expressions
Past time expressions
yesterday morning / afternoon / evening
last night / Monday / week / month / summer / Christmas / year
a year / a month / a week / two days/ twenty minutes ago
in 2013 / June / the 1990s / the twentieth century

1 We use these time expressions to say when something happened in the past.
Yesterday morning, I was late for school.
Last month, we were in Spain.
We were at school twenty minutes ago.

2 We can put the time expressions at the start or end of the sentence. The meaning does not change.
Yesterday, there was a concert at our school.
There was a concert at our school yesterday.


Questions and short answers

be: Simple past

QuestionsShort answers
AffirmativeNegative
Was I?Yes, you were.No, you weren't.
Were you?Yes, I was.No, I wasn't.
Was he?Yes, he was.No, he wasn't.
Was she?Yes, she was.No, she wasn't.
Was it?Yes, it was.No, it wasn't.
Were we?Yes, you were.No, you weren't.
Were you?Yes, we were.No, we weren't.
Were they?Yes, they were.No, they weren't.

1 We put was or were before the subject to make a question.
Was it on TV last night?
Were you at band practice yesterday?

2 We answer questions with Yes + subject pronoun + was or were. The affirmative short answer has no short form.
Were you at the concert? Yes, I was.
Was he friendly? Yes, he was.

3 We answer questions with No + subject pronoun + wasn’t or weren’t. The negative short answer has a short form.
Was she American? No, she wasn’t.
Were they in the classroom? No, they weren’t.


Question words + was / were

be: Simple past

Question wordwas / were
Whenwere you born?
Whywas he late for practise?
Wherewere you yesterday?
Whowas the blond woman?
How oldwere you last year?
We make questions with question word + simple past of be
When was the movie on TV?
Where were you yesterday?

Watch out!

was / were born
We use was / were + born to talk about birth.
When were you born?
NOT When are you born?