Was the rule of application table. When to write was, and when were

If you came to our blog to find out was, were in English As a rule, we got exactly where we needed to. We will look at how and when these forms of the verb “to be” are used and why our life is impossible without this knowledge.

First and most important:

was, were in English - past form verb “to be” !Past forms are used without the particle “to”, because are not infinitive forms of the verb!

The use of was, were in English, the rule:

1. To the singular subject we add “was”

I, He, She, It- singular persons who are friends only with “was”!

2. To the plural subject we add “were”

We, You, They- plural persons who are friends only with “were”! For example:

P.S. Do you know why “You” is plural? After all, at school we were taught that this translates as the pronoun “you”. Everything is wrong!

In fact, Americans are so well-mannered that they always address each other exclusively as “you.” This is precisely why this pronoun is considered plural.

But even in Russian, we always use the pronoun “You” only in plural, even addressing one person (but in a respectful manner). For example:

Second and also important rule:

The use of was, were in English does not cost Past Continuous. This time speaks of an extended activity (process) that occurred in the past. You will never confuse it with the ordinary past tense Past Simple, because:

1. Continuous- it's always a process.

2. IN Past Continuous we see certain time indications of the process:

When you called I was making a cake for my brother.

As you can see, the exact time is not necessary here; there should be a hint at the moment at which the process lasted.

3. was, were in English they are always basic auxiliary verbs.

There are no differences in the use of our verbs was, were in comparison with the first paragraph. There is only a peculiarity: the predicate will be able to have the ending “ing” (Always only this ending and no other changes to the verb. You don’t need to learn the table of irregular verbs to express your thought in the Past Continuous. Just add the ending “ing” to the main verb.).

Also, one cannot help but say that was, were in English is used in the passive voice and in a number of other laws and rules foreign language, but we revealed the most striking functions of these verbs in our article.

If you have an addition to our story about was, were in English, the rules of their use and features, then feel free to write your thoughts in the comments and we will discuss your ideas.

Let's learn to distinguish was And were– past forms of the verb of being.

Was

Was consistent with singular , that is, it is placed after I, he, she, it and their substitutes. It denotes everything inanimate and sexless.

Iwasshopping – I was shopping

He was eating pizza – Heatepizza

She was laughing - Shelaughed

Itwasbeautiful – It was beautiful

wasn't (= wasn't)

A separate form is allowed in emphasis (strong emotional denial) and officialdom.

I wasn’t happy – I was unhappy

He wasn’t sad - He wasn’t sad

Wassb…?

In questions with was it is placed first. Remember that general questions end with a rising tone.

Washehappy? – Was he happy?

Wasshesad? – Was she sad?

Wasis it raining? – Walkedrain?

Were

Were consistent with plural, that is, it is placed after we, you, they and their substitutes.

Wewerehappy - We were happy

They were singing – Theysang

You were watching the video – Youwatchedmovies

They were growling - They growled

weren't (= weren't)

A separate form is allowed in emphasis and officialdom.

Weweren’t’thappy - We weren't happy

They weren’t singing – TheyNotsang

You weren’t watching the video – You didn’t watch the video

They weren’t growling - They didn’t growl

Were sb...?

In questions with were it is placed first.

Werewehappy? – Were we happy?

Wereare they singing? - Theysang?

Wereare you singing? - Yousang?

English Joke

The good wife, after she and her husband had retired for the night, discussed for a long time with much eloquence. When she was interrupted by a snore from her spouse, she thumped the sleeper into wakefulness, and then remarked:

“John, do you know what I think of a man who will go to sleep while his own wife is a-talkin’ to him?”

“Well, now, I believe as how I do, Martha,” was the drowsily uttered response. “But don’t let that stop you. Go right ahead, an’ git it off your mind.”

You've probably come across the verb to be more than once in the form being. To be honest, at first this word “being” bothered me terribly. There is already too much that is incomprehensible in the English language, and now there is this. Although, if you think about it, every verb has four forms: present tense, past tense, past participle and continuous form. Therefore everything is logical.

Be- present tense form. Past tense - was, were. Past participle - been(for the formation of perfect tenses). And the long-term form is being. Now all that remains is to figure out exactly when we use being .

Let's take the easiest to understand examples - descriptions of people.

Use being And be: feel the difference

The boy is naughty. This boy is naughty. (This is a trait of his character, he always behaves like this).
The boy is being naughty. (In this particular situation, this boy is behaving badly.)

You are rude. You're rude. (This is your character trait, you always treat people rudely).
You are being rude. (In this situation, you behaved rudely and impolitely. Although, perhaps, you are a completely well-mannered person).

I was careful when I drove. (I am an attentive person, I try to be attentive when I drive a car).
I was being careful when I drove. (I'm not usually that attentive on the road, but maybe I saw a traffic police officer on the road and that changed my behavior).

Jack is stupid. Jack is stupid.
Jack is being stupid. (Jack is smart enough, but he did one stupid thing)

Stacy is lazy. Stacy is lazy.
Stacy is being lazy. (Stacy may be a workaholic and loves to work, but on this day (moment) she was tired and decided to do nothing).

Thus, being + adjective characterizes someone's behavior or actions. A few more examples:

Why are you being so silly? Why are you acting so stupid?

You are being cruel when you hurt others with your words or actions.

Of course, being can be used not only in the present tense with am, are or is, but also in the past tense with was, were.

When I said that dress doesn’t look good on you, I was just being honest. When I said the dress didn't suit you, I was just being honest (with you).

Note that when adjectives describe feelings and emotional states, the continuous form is not used:

I was upset when I heard that I had failed the test. (Not"I was being upset")

I am delighted to hear that you have won the first prize. (Not"I am being delighted")

Use being to form the passive voice

Being is also used with the past participle to form the passive form:

My sister is cooking dinner. (Assets)
Dinner is being cooked by my sister. (Passive)

I’m quite sure that somebody is following me. (Assets)
I’m quite sure that I am being followed. (Passive)

My car is being repaired. My car is being repaired.

Other uses being

Besides, being used with verbs followed by a gerund (verb + ing):

I love being with my family. I love spending time (being) with my family.

I hate being alone.

Stop being lazy and help me wash the dishes.

And we also put being after prepositions, such as here:

I was in the hospital for a month after being in a car accident. I was in the hospital for a month after a car accident.

That’s the problem with being late all the time – people stop trusting you. This is the problem with constant lateness - people stop believing you.

The best part of being a teacher is interacting with the students. The best thing about being a teacher is interacting with students.

She got an award for being the best salesperson in the company. She received an award for being the best salesperson in the company.

Don’t even think about using be or been in such cases! Just being!

Finally you can meet being V complex sentences as part subordinate clause, When being replaces unions because/as/since.
These were all the cases and uses of being. Hopefully you now understand the difference between be and being and can use them correctly in your sentences.

It is advisable to start learning verbs in English by studying the most common verb - verb to be — to be, is, appear.

Below is a table with changes in the verb to be by person (verb conjugation) in the present, past and future tense.

	Present tense	Past tense	Future tense
I	am- I am	was	shall/will
You	are - he is	were	will
He, she, it	is- he, she, it exists	was	will
We	are - you, you are	were	shall/will
You	are - we are	were	will
They	are - they exist	were	will

In Russian, the verb “to be” can be omitted in affirmative sentences. For example: “He is at home”, “He is 25 years old”. In English You can't use sentences without a verb. The obligatory presence of a verb is necessary, although it may not be clearly translated into Russian. For example, to say “I am a pilot” in English you need to add the verb be, and as a result the sentence will take on the meaning “I am a pilot” - “I am pilot". Some more examples:

I am 45 - I am 45 (I am 45)
I am from Moscow - I am from Moscow (I am from Moscow)
I am married - I'm married (I am married)
He is Mark - His name is Mark (He is Mark)

Also in sentences abbreviated forms of the verb to be are used:

I am = I"m
He is = He's
They are = They"re
He is not = He isn't
We are not = We aren't

Let's look at another difference between the Russian and English languages. In Russian, affirmative and interrogative sentences can differ only by a question mark at the end of the sentence. For example:

He is a writer - a statement.
Is he a writer? - question.

In the structure of speech in Russian interrogative sentence differs from the affirmative by a special interrogative intonation. The English can say a statement with the same intonation as a question. The English get out of this situation by changing the word order in the sentence:

He is a writer - He is a writer.
Is he a writer - Is he a writer?

To ask a question you need to swap the subject he And auxiliary verb is(to be).

For negation in Russian the particle “ne” is used, but in English particle "not", which is placed after the auxiliary verb be.

He is not at home - He Not Houses.
They are not enemies - They Not enemies.

To consolidate the forms of the verb to be in different faces and times we conjugate the sentence “I am strong”:

Present tense:

Present tense	Past tense	Future tense
I am strong - I'm strong You are strong - You are strong He is strong - He is strong We are strong - We are strong You are strong - You are strong They are strong - They are strong	I was strong - I was strong You were strong - You were strong He was strong - He was strong We were strong - We were strong You were strong - you were strong They were strong - They were strong	I shall/will be strong - I will be strong You will be strong - You will be strong He will be strong - He will be strong We shall/will be strong - We will be strong You will be strong - You will be strong They will be strong - They will be strong

As an independent verb ( to be) is used to denote the age of people, the size of objects, the price of goods, time, weather, characteristics of people.

As an auxiliary verb be used to form long times and passive voice(am/is/are/was/were).

Personal verb forms

I	you	he, she, it	we	you	they
am	are	is	are	are	are
am being	are being	are being	are being	are being	are being

When it comes to learning any language and breaking down language barrier, polyglots always highlight their knowledge of verbs. And it’s true: knowing verbs and being able to use them in various forms, you just need to “string” other words on them and you will already have whole sentences. Given this situation, it is not surprising that most of the standard vocabulary A native speaker of Russian, English, Chinese, and another arbitrarily chosen language is precisely this part of speech. But wait, this doesn’t mean that you should immediately start chaotically memorizing any verbs that catch your eye. If this makes any sense, it will be very small. Instead, it is better to analyze in detail those English verbs that are often and actively used in speech. This is exactly what we will do by studying the verb to be in English.

The verb to be, which is equivalent to the Russian “to be”, “to appear”, “to be”, is one of the most universal and most commonly used verbs in the English language. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that, unlike other representatives of this part, the verb to be is conjugated, changing in persons and numbers.

In addition, to be can be used as a semantic verb or assisted by another verb, acting as an auxiliary. But let's talk about everything in order.

The verb to be refers to irregular verbs, so it has 3 forms. These forms are formed independently, without being explained by rules, so they simply need to be memorized:

The verb to be in the Past Simple or simple past tense in the number of its forms is reduced to two. Their use again depends on the person and number:

This, however, was not always the case. Previously, the future tense form shall be was used for first person pronouns (I / we). Now you can find it very rarely, so just knowing about its existence is enough. In all cases, use the form will.

Please note that other verbs are not conjugated in English. The fact is that there are no conjugations in this language at all, which makes it much easier English grammar. The verb to be is an exception to the rule.

Above were the forms of this verb in Simple times. All tense forms of the verb to be can be expressed in the following table:

	Simple (Simple)	Continuous	Perfect (Perfect)
Past (Past)	was / were	was / were being	had been
Present (Present)	am/is/are	am / is / are being	have / has been
Future (Future)	will be	will be being	will have been

The verb to be may not be used in all tenses. So, in Perfect Continuous(perfect continuous) the verb to be is not used. It can also be noted that continuous tenses with the verb to be are not very rare. The use of verbs in continuous forms is possible only in certain situations.

Verb to be in English: sentence forms

Affirmative form

The affirmative form of a sentence with the verb to be is built according to the standard scheme: the subject comes first, followed by the verb to be in the required form as a predicate. Study the table:

Negative form

Negative forms of sentences with this verb are formed by adding negative particle not after to be. No auxiliary verbs are required to use the form:

In both affirmative and negative sentences, the verb to be can be shortened:

There are no shortened forms for the past tense in the statement.

I am not, unlike other verbs, is shortened as I’m not. I amn't is used only in Scotland and Ireland.

Question form

English interrogative form depends on the type of question:

In general question or alternative issues The verb be in the required conjugation is placed before the subject. Tables for clarity :

The answer uses only the verb to be:

The answer uses affirmative sentence:

If you want to use future form verb, then will must be brought forward, while be will remain in the same place:

In special questions, an English question word is added to the form above:

The answer is used in the affirmative form:

In your answer it is enough to use the verb to be:

As part of a nominal predicate, which consists of a linking verb (to be) and a nominal part, expressed by nouns or adjectives. In this case, the verb is translated into Russian as “is”.

Despite the fact that " There is” can be used, its presence will seem inappropriate, and the proposal will turn out somehow ugly. Judge for yourself:

The Russian language does not need this verb, so it is not usually used. The English language will not allow this, because English sentences is that they are strictly ordered. In simple terms, if you, for example, are composing a complete affirmative sentence, then it must consistently use a subject and a verb, nothing else. In some way, a similar role to be can be associated with the obsolete “is”, which previously performed exactly the same function in the Russian language.

The verb to be in a nominal predicate can also be used to mean “be” in imperative sentences:

As an auxiliary verb in Continuous and Perfect Continuous. In this case, the auxiliary verb to be is used with semantic verbs. The verb to be itself is usually not translated in such sentences. Study the examples in the table:

The verb to be can also be used to use the passive voice:

Besides the functions mentioned, the verb to be is also used as component in designs:

to be going to (getting ready);

Lena is going to learn how to form verbs in Present Perfect tomorrow.	Tomorrow Lena is going to learn how to form verbs in the Present Perfect.
He is going to speak five languages.	He's going to speak five languages.
My family is going to London.	My family is going to London.
I was going to tell him but she didn’t allow me.	I was going to tell him, but she wouldn't let me.
George is going to make this operation in December.	George is going to have this operation in December.
We are going to buy some products.	We are going to buy groceries.
The students are going to do this whole list of exercises.	Students are going to do a whole list of exercises.

there is / are / (there is / exists);

The verb can also be used as modal verb in the meaning of “must”, “agreed”, “agreed”, when we're talking about about obligations, orders, schedules and plans, the inevitability of events. In this case, to verb the to particle is added:

And also when using the verb to be in English in the following constructions:

to be good at (good to understand)	We are good at this English grammar rule.	We are fluent in this rule of English grammar.
to be aware of (realize)	We're aware of all possible risks.	We are aware of all possible risks.
to be late (be late)	My co-worker was late for work because of the traffic jam.	My colleague was late for work due to traffic jam.
to be fond of	I'm fond of nature.	I love nature.
to be interested in (to be interested)	They are interested in helping people.	They are interested in helping people.
to be sorry about (to regret something)	I'm sorry about what happened.	I'm sorry about what happened.
to be sorry for (to feel sorry for someone)	We are so sorry for your son.	We are very sorry for your son.
to be hungry (to be hungry)	I am so hungry! I haven’t eaten since morning.	I'm so hungry! I haven't eaten since morning.
to be thirsty (to feel thirsty)	After the marathon everyone was thirsty.	After the marathon, everyone was thirsty.
be about to (going to)	Boris is about to start learning German and French languages.	Boris is going to start learning German and French.

Frequent uses of the verb are also associated with idioms. Here are some of them:

be up to someone (depends on someone)	We can either win or lose. It's up to you!	We will either win or lose. Everything depends on you!
be a man (be a man)	Stop crying. Be a man!	Stop crying. Be a man!
be in love with (to be in love with)	I should admit that I’m in love with her! She is gorgeous!	I must admit that I am in love with her! She's great!
be as stubborn as a mule (analogue in Russian: stubborn as a donkey)	We can't work together because he doesn't want to listen to me. I say his approach is wrong but he is as stubborn as a mule.	We can't work together because he doesn't want to listen to me. I say his approach is wrong, but he is stubborn as a donkey.
be (a bit) on the expensive side (expensive / a bit expensive)	That service is a bit on the expensive side. Maybe, we try to fix it ourselves, huh?	This service is a bit expensive. Maybe we can try to fix it ourselves, huh?
be on cloud nine (to be very happy)	I'm on cloud nine! She said yes to me! Can you believe it?	I'm incredibly happy! She told me yes! Can you believe it?

As you can see, the verb to be is very popular and varied, so it can be used in any situation with almost any tense. Once you understand the conjugations of this verb and its role in a sentence, you should not have any difficulty using it. Devote some time English exercises on this topic to reinforce the material, make up your own examples and most importantly - practice the language with native speakers. Because you won't find as much benefit in any exercise as you can get from people who use the language on a daily basis and can help you with any language barriers.