The verbs were, were. The use of the was was, were

The English language is now compulsory for learning, because without knowing it one should hardly expect to receive a highly paid, interesting and very promising work. Moreover, it is with the help of English that you can freely express yourself in any country in the world. Many, having started to study this foreign language, do not finish things because of the difficulties arising on the way to such a cherished goal.

Learning English is not easy, because there are a lot of nuances. Now we will talk about how to correctly use the verbs was - were, and find out what they are all the same from each other are different.

The verbs was - were - the past form of "to be"

Before you start talking about using the above verbs in English, it is advisable to find out what they are and where they originate from. The verbs were - were formed from one wrong verb, which is "to be", and they are its past form. The very verb to be in our native language is translated as "to be," "to happen," to "exist." Thanks to William Shakespeare's proprietary phrase "To be or not to be", this wrong English verb is known even to those who are just about to begin learning a foreign language.

As it was said above, to be is a wrong verb, therefore its past forms are not formed by adding the ending "ed" in the second form (Past Simple), and also the auxiliary verb had / have and all the same endings "ed" in the third form (Past Participle). Wrong verbs are called, because there is no definite rule by which they are formed. Their past forms must be simply learned, which is not so difficult as it might initially seem.

What is the difference from was?

Now it's time to talk about why, after all, the wrong verb to be in the past form, which is Past Simple, has at once two options and what they actually are different. The verb was translated into Russian as "was", "happened", "existed", while we were treated as "existed", "were" or "happened." It can be seen from the translation that these verbs differ primarily in number. The verb was in English should be used with a singular noun, while used together with a noun in the plural.

The verbs was and were in the Past Simple

Let us now consider the use of the was was in English. The first case when these verbs should be used is when constructing sentences in Past Past. This is the most understandable and common case, which should not be talked about much. Sentences with the verb was or were will now be considered. For example, "I was at home last evening" translates as "I was home last night," and "They were at the college yesterday" should be translated as "Yesterday they were in college."

Despite the fact that in Past Simple by and large there is nothing difficult, many beginners simply can not understand when to use the verb was, and in what cases should we use. In fact, this is also nothing complicated. With nouns or pronouns in the singular (I, it, he, she) one should use the verb was, while for the plural (you, were, they) the verb were. With the pronoun you, which, depending on the situation, can be translated as "you", "you" in the plural and respectful reference "you", the verb were always used.

There were / There were constructions

In English there are stable turns There is / There are, which in fact have no specific translation, but they are often used in sentences like "There are seven pupils in the classroom", which should be interpreted as "In the classroom there are seven students" . Consequently, the past form of such turns is There was / There were. The sentence "There were seven pupils in the classroom" should already be translated as "There were seven students in the classroom". It should be noted that in this case the use of the above-mentioned construction depends primarily on the number of subject.

The verbs were and were in Past Continuous Tense (past a long time)

In English there is another interesting construction going to, which translates as "going to do something". In the past tense, it has become was going to / were going to. As an example, consider two sentences. The translation of the sentence "I am going to swim" will look like "I'm going to swim", while "I was going to swim yesterday" should be interpreted as "Yesterday I was going to swim." As in previous cases, the use of the verbs referred to in this article depends entirely on the number of subjects.

The verbs were and were in Conditional Sentences (conditional sentences)

By and large, in this article we have already considered the main cases in which the verbs "was-were" should be used, but if you want to study more deeply the study of such a beautiful English language, you should know something else.

In English there are also special constructions of conditional sentences. To make it more clear, consider an example. The sentence "If I were you, I would buy this T-shirt" in Russian can be translated as: "If I were you, I would buy this T-shirt". It should be said that such conditional sentences in most cases begin with an if statement, translated as "if." For more detailed information about this design, please read the section on English grammar "Conditional Sentences".

Quite often in such cases, to be appears as an auxiliary verb for the formation of more complex times. In turn, the verbs were and was also auxiliary, and they should be used depending on the number of subject. However, in the head one always needs to keep the If I construction, which occurs in conditional sentences in the present tense and requires the presence of the presence of the verb were after the pronoun I. Only in no case should it be confused with some similar constructions that are not conditional and contain the phrase I was. For example, "Sorry if I was late for this lesson", which translates "I'm sorry if I'm late for this lesson."

As you can see, mastering these subtle nuances of the English language is not so difficult as it seems initially. The use of was or was was limited to just a few simple rules that you just need to remember. The main thing is to understand when the proper form of the verb to be used in the past tense.

Believe me, in the future knowledge of English will certainly come in handy. And if you do not work abroad or you can not get a highly paid and prestigious job on the territory of your country, you will still be free to speak in English while on vacation in an exotic and sunny country. Learn English, improve, and you will certainly succeed.