To Be – Past Tense

English Grammar Notes

The past tense of To Be in English has two forms: WAS and WERE

To Be – Affirmative

Subject
To Be
Examples
I
was
I was tired this morning.
You
were
You were very good.
He
was
He was the best in his class.
She
was
She was late for work.
It
was
It was a sunny day.
We
were
We were at home.
You
were
You were on holiday.
They
were
They were happy with their test results.

To Be – Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb (was or were).

Subject
To Be
Examples

I
was not
I was not tired this morning.

You
were not
You were not crazy.

He
was not
He was not married.

She
was not
She was not famous.

It
was not
It was not hot yesterday.

We
were not
We were not invited.

You
were not
You were not at the party.

They
were not
They were not friends.

To Be – Negative Contractions

We can make negative contractions of the verb To Be in the Past tense by joining the verb (was or were) and n’t (e.g. were not = weren’t).
We don’t make a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I was).

I was not tired this morning.
OR I wasn’t tired this morning.

You were not crazy. OR
You weren’t crazy.

He was not married. OR
He wasn’t married.

She was not famous. OR
She wasn’t famous.

It was not hot yesterday.
OR
It wasn’t hot yesterday.

We were not invited. OR
We weren’t invited.

You were not at the party. OR
You weren’t at the party.

They were not friends. OR
They weren’t friends.

To Be – Questions

To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.

Affirmative
You were
happy.

 

 

 

Question
Were you
happy?

 

 

Affirmative
Question
I was late Was I late?
You were sick. Were you sick?
He was surprised. Was he surprised?
She was from Italy. Was she from Italy?
It was a big house. Was it a big house?
We were ready. Were we ready?
You were early. Were you early?
They were busy. Were they busy?

Before the verb you can also have a WH- Question word (Why, Who, What, Where etc.)

Were you happy? Yes, I was.

Why were you happy? Because I was promoted at work.

To Be – Short Answers

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.

Was he from Japan? – Yes, he was (from Japan). The last part (from Japan) is not necessary.
We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.

Question
Short Answers**
Short Answers
Was I late? Yes, you were. No, you weren’t.
Were you sick? Yes, I was. No, I wasn’t.
Was he surprised? Yes, he was. No, he wasn’t.
Was she from Italy? Yes, she was. No, she wasn’t.
Was it a big house? Yes, it was. No, it wasn’t.
Were we ready? Yes, we were. No, we weren’t.
Were you early? Yes, we were. No, we weren’t.
Were they busy? Yes, they were. No, they weren’t.

** With To Be, We don’t use contractions in affirmative short answers.

See more about Past Tense Short Answers

TO BE in the Past Tense – Summary Chart

Next activities

Try our interactive games to practice Was and Were (simple affirmative sentences), Was and Were in Questions (simple questions), To Be in the Past Tense (mixed) and Was and Were in Short Answers.

NEW: Download our free To Be in Past Tense Worksheet (in PDF).
You can check the answers to this worksheet here: To Be in Past Tense Answers.

If you found this English Grammar about To Be in the Past Tense useful, let others know about it:

The verb to be is one of the shortest and most important—yet oddest—verbs in the English language. It’s an irregular verb, and indeed, the only one in English that completely changes form in each tense.

Usage of To Be

The verb to be is probably the most important verb in English. It can be used in simple statements such as: 

• How are you?
• It is a beautiful day!
• I am from Italy.

However, it can also be used to express complex thoughts. In fact, it’s the verb at the very core of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, “Hamlet,” in which the title character speaks the famous line: “To be, or not to be?” In this famous quotation, Prince Hamlet is questioning his very existence, and in effect, wondering if it’s better to be dead than alive. At its core, that’s what to be connotes: a state of being or existence.

To Be as a Linking, Transitive, or Auxiliary Verb

To be is a very common verb, however, it’s important to learn how to use it properly. Before conjugating the verb in its present and past tenses, it’s important to understand what this verb does.

To be is a stative verb, meaning, it refers to the way things are—their appearance, state of being, and even their smell. To be or be can be a linking verb that joins the subject of a sentence to a word or phrase that tells something about the subject, as in these examples:

• Jennifer is my sister.
• That television show is interesting.
• Our house is in the countryside.

To be can also be an auxiliary or helping verb that works with the main verb, as in these examples:

• Kim is making a clay vase.
• Joe had built his first model rocket last year.
• People have admired Michelangelo‘s sculptures for centuries.

To be can also be a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes either a direct or indirect object. An example would be: “Sue is talking.” In this sentence, is, the “to be” verb, takes a direct object, talking.

To Be: Present Tense

As with any verb, the present tense of the verb to be can take several forms: the indicative or simple present, the present perfect, and the present continuous. The tables below show how to conjugate to be in these forms:

Indicative Mode

Singular

Plural

I am

We are

You are

You are

He/She/It is

They are

Note that even in the indicative—or simple—present tense, the verb changes in the first, second, and third-person uses.

To Be: Present Perfect

The present perfect, formed by combining has or have with a past participle—usually a verb ending in -d, -ed, or -n—indicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the present.

Singular

Plural

I have been.

We have been.

You have been.

You have been.

He/She/It has been.

They have been.

Examples of the present perfect include:

• I have been a teacher for many years.
• She has been to France several times in her life.

To correctly use the verb in the present perfect, just remember that only the third-person singular uses has. All of the other forms in this tense use have.

To Be: Present Continuous

The present continuous, also known as the present progressive, is generally used to express something happening at the moment.

Singular

Plural

I am thinking.

We are thinking.

You are thinking.

You are thinking.

He/She/It is thinking.

They are thinking.

An example sentence might be: “That course is being taken by a number of students.” Notice how the “to be” verb changes depending on the person—first, second, or third—as well as the number, singular or plural. There’s no easy trick to learning which form of to be to use here. Just remember, the first person, singular requires am, the second person requires are, and third-person singular requires is. Fortunately, all the plural forms use are.

To Be: Past Simple

Past simple indicates that something happened at a specific time in the past, as in: “Her house was built in 1987.”

Singular

Plural

I was.

We were.

You were.

You were.

He/She/It was.

They were.

Note that the past singular requires was for the first and third person, while were is used with a second-person pronoun. All forms use were for the plural tenses.

Past Perfect

The past perfect indicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the past.

Singular

Plural

I had been.

We had been.

You had been.

You had been.

He/She/It had been.

They had been.

Some examples include:

• Peter had been to the office before they arrived.
• How long had you been in town before he called you?

Peter had been to the post office presumably only once before they arrived, and the person being addressed in the second sentence had “been in town” for a specific time period before “he called.”

To Be: Past Continuous

The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important was occurring.

Singular

Plural

I was being

We were being

You were being

You were being

He/She/It was being

They were being

An example of the past continuous in a sentence would be: “The ideas were being discussed while the decisions were being made.” In this case, the past continuous is used twice to highlight how one action was taking place at the same time as another: Ideas “were being” discussed at the same time decisions “were being” made.

Other Present and Past Uses of To Be

To be can also be used in other ways in the present and past tense, such as:

• The comparative or superlative form to make a comparison between people, places, objects, and ideas. Used as such, the “to be” verb works like an adjective: “The Mercedes is faster than the Fiat,” or “The Mercedes is the fastest car on the lot.”
• In the modal  form, also known as the present possibility, indicating that something may occur, as in: “He should be at church waiting for us,” and past possibility indicating that something might have happened in the past, as in: “He might have been at school or at home.”
• A copular verb is when to be is used to join the subject of a sentence or clause to a complement. Generally, these complements are descriptions, often adjective or noun phrases, such as “I am sometimes late for work.”

A copular “to be” verb is essentially a transitive verb, except that the object is a phrase or clause rather than a single word. In this case, the “to be” verb, am, links the subject “I” with the description of the subject, (a person who is) “sometimes late for work.”

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Nordquist, Richard. “Conjugating the Verb ‘To Be’.” ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/present-and-past-forms-verb-be-1690359.

Nordquist, Richard. (2021, February 16). Conjugating the Verb ‘To Be’. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/present-and-past-forms-verb-be-1690359

Nordquist, Richard. “Conjugating the Verb ‘To Be’.” ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/present-and-past-forms-verb-be-1690359 (accessed November 14, 2021).