ESL Blog: Past Tense of Verb "to be"

Dear students,

Last week we learned Past Tense of verb "to be". Here is your chance to review and practice this grammar some more. Please, watch the video and do exercises.

Irena

The verb "be" has two forms in the past tense: was and were

Singular	Plural
I was	We were
You were	You were
He was	They were
She was
It was

Examples:

I was in my classroom yesterday.

You were there, too.

He was at a movie last night.

She was at home.

This cantaloupe was in my garden this morning.

It was delicious.

We were at school yesterday. (I + you = we, I + they = we)

You were on this website earlier.

They were outside in the snow.

Watch the video.

Past Tense Questions

Singular	Plural
Was I ...	Were we ...
Were you ...	Were you ...
Was he ...	Were they ...
Was she ...
Was it ...

The verb "to be" usually follows a noun or pronoun.

Here is one more table with Past Tense Positive:

	Number		Positive
	singular		I was
	singular		you were
	singular		he was
	singular		it was
	singular		she was
	plural		we were
	plural		you were
	plural		they were

noun or pronoun + verb

Bill was a policeman.

He was happy.

Tara was a teacher.

Terry and Robert were sad.

The house was small.

I was a student.

Tom was tired.

Here is a table with Past Tense Negative

Number	Negative	Contraction
singular	I was not	I wasn't
singular	you were not	you weren't
singular	he was not	he wasn't
singular	it was not	it wasn't
singular	she was not	she wasn't
plural	we were not	we weren't
plural	you were not	you weren't
plural	they were not	they weren't

noun or pronoun + negative verb

Bill wasn't a policeman.

He wasn't happy.

Tara wasn't a teacher.

Terry and Robert weren't sad.

The house wasn't small.

I wasn't a student.

Tom wasn't tired.

Here is a table with Questions

	Number		Question
	singular		Was I...?
	singular		Were you...?
	singular		Was he...?
	singular		Was it...?
	singular		Was she...?
	plural		Were we...?
	plural		Were you...?
	plural		Were they...?

verb + noun or pronoun...?

Was Bill a policeman?

Was he happy?

Was Tara a teacher?

Were Terry and Robert sad?

Was the house small?

Was I a student?

Was Tom tired?