VERB TO BE IN PAST

Rocío Rodríguez Feijoo

To Be - Affirmative

To
Subject Examples
Be

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 happy with their
They were
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
The 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 I wasn't tired this
OR
this morning. morning.
You were
OR You weren't crazy.
not crazy.
He was
OR He wasn't married.
not married.
She was
OR She wasn't famous.
not famous.
It was not hot It wasn't hot
OR
yesterday. yesterday.
We were
OR We weren't invited.
not invited.
You were not at You weren't at the
OR
the party. party.
They were
OR They weren't friends.
not friends.
To Be - Questions
To create questions with To Be, you put
the Verb before the Subject.

Affirmative You were happy.

Subject Verb

Question Were you happy?

Verb Subject

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.

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

** With To Be, We don't use contractions

in affirmative short answers.