The Past Tense of the Verb “be”｜Conjugation and Usage of was / were

In English, I use the past tense of the verb be (was / were) when talking about past states or events.

In the present tense, I use am / is / are, and their forms change according to the subject. The past tense follows the same rule: I must choose either was or were depending on the subject.

In this lesson, I will explain how to use the past tense of be in three sentence types: affirmative, negative, and interrogative.

1. What Is the Past Tense of be?

The verb be is one of the most fundamental verbs in English, expressing states such as “to be” or “to exist.”

In the present tense, I use am / is / are depending on the subject. In the past tense, each of these is replaced by its corresponding past form, as shown below:

2. Affirmative Sentences

Forming affirmative sentences with the past tense of be is very simple.

I only need to place was or were after the subject to express past states, locations, occupations, and so on.

The key point is to choose was or were according to the subject.

3. Negative Sentences

To form negative sentences in the past tense of be, I add not after was or were.

Examples:

In everyday conversation, the contracted forms (wasn’t / weren’t) are more common, so it is important to remember them as well.

4. Interrogative Sentences

To form interrogative sentences in the past tense of be, I place was or were before the subject.

The word order is: be verb + subject + the rest of the sentence.

When answering, I respond as follows:

I can also make questions using wh-words (Where, Why, etc.) to ask for more specific information.

5. Summary

Izumi

Author

「English Morning｜基礎から学ぶ英語講座」を運営している泉（Izumi）です。このサイトでは基礎から応用まで、英語の文法を解説しています。