The verb to be (Past tense)

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The verb "To be" (Past tense)

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The Simple Past Tense of the verb To be:
Affirmative form

Subject	To be
I	was
You	were
He / She /It	was
We	were
You	were
They	were

EXAMPLES

I was in Hawaii in 2015. - Yo estuve en Hawái en 2015.
You were sick. - Tú estabas enfermo/a. Usted estaba enfermo/a.
He was in the park. - Él estaba en el parque.
She was my girlfriend. - Ella era mi novia.
It was cloudy. - Estaba nublado.
We were friends. Nosotros/as éramos amigos/as.
You were married. - Tú estabas casado/a.
They were tired this morning. - Ellos/as estaban cansados/as esta mañana.

Negative form
The negative form of simple past tense with “To be” can be made by adding not after the verb (was or were). There’s no contraction of the subject and verb (e.g. I was).

Subject	To be	Contraction
I	was not	I wasn’t
You	were not	You weren’t
He	was not	He wasn’t
She	was not	She wasn’t
It	was not	It wasn’t
We	were not	We weren’t
You	were not	You weren’t
They	were not	They weren’t

EXAMPLES

I wasn’t invited. - Yo no fui invitado/a.
Mary was not at home. - Mary no estaba en casa.
That wasn’t right. - Eso no era correcto.
Susan and Leo weren’t married. - Susan y Leo no estaban casados.

Questions form and answers
The question form of simple past tense with “To be” can be made by putting the verb (was or were) before the subject.

To be	Subject
Was	I	happy?
Were	you	happy?
Was	he / she / it	happy?
Were	we	happy?
Were	you	happy?
Were	they	happy?

EXAMPLES

Was I late? Yes, you were. / No, you were not.
Were you happy? Yes, I was. / No, I wasn’t.
Was he sick? Yes, he was. / No, was not.
Was she from France? Yes, she was. / No, she wasn’t.
Was it a small house? Yes, it was. / No, it was not.
Were we ready? Yes, we were. / No, we were not.
Were you together? Yes, we were. / No, we weren’t.
Were they angry? Yes, they were. / No they weren’t.

You can add a question word (why, where, when, who, how, etc.) before was or were to ask for more information.

EXAMPLES

Why was I hungry? - ¿Por qué yo tenía hambre?
Where were you? - ¿Dónde estabas (tú)?
When was he sick? - ¿Cuándo estuvo (él) enfermo?
Who was she? - ¿Quién era (ella)?
How was the trip? - ¿Qué tal estuvo/fue el viaje?
Where were we? - ¿Dónde estábamos (nosotros)?
How long were you together before you were engaged? - ¿Cuánto tiempo estuvieron juntos antes de comprometerse?
Why were they abandoned? - ¿Por qué fueron abandonados (ellos/ellas)?

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