O passado de Am, Is e Are

O verbo To Be é o mais importante do inglês. No passado, ele significa "foi/era" ou "esteve/estava", e tem apenas duas formas: was e were.

WAS (Singular)
I, He, She, It → was

I was tired yesterday. (Eu estava cansado ontem)

She was a doctor. (Ela era médica)

WERE (Plural + You)
You, We, They → were

You were late. (Você estava atrasado)

They were happy. (Eles estavam felizes)

Lembre-se: "You" sempre usa plural em inglês, mesmo que seja só uma pessoa. Portanto, You were.

Negativa: Wasn't / Weren't

Como o To Be é independente, para fazer a negativa, basta adicionar o "not". Na forma contraída, fica wasn't e weren't.

I was not → I wasn't

I wasn't at home. (Eu não estava em casa)

They were not → They weren't

They weren't tired. (Eles não estavam cansados)

Perguntas com Was / Were

Para fazer perguntas, inverta o Was/Were com o sujeito. Nunca use "did" com o verbo to be!

Was he at work yesterday? (Ele estava no trabalho ontem?)

Were you happy? (Você estava feliz?)

Respostas Curtas:

Yes, I was. / No, I wasn't.

Yes, we were. / No, we weren't.

There was / There were

Havia / Tinha no passado

Assim como usamos "There is/are" para falar que algo existe no presente, usamos There was/were para falar que algo existia (ou aconteceu) no passado.

There was a problem. (Teve/Houve um problema - Singular)

There were many people. (Tinha/Havia muitas pessoas - Plural)

⚠ Atenção: Brasileiros sempre querem dizer "Had a problem" (Teve um problema). Nunca use "Have/Had" no sentido de existir! Use There was/were.

Erros comuns

As armadilhas clássicas para falantes de português

You was tired.

→

You were tired.

Com "you" (singular ou plural), SEMPRE usamos "were".

Did you be at home?

→

Were you at home?

O verbo to be é independente. Não usamos o auxiliar "did" com ele. Apenas inverta: Were you?

Yesterday, had a party.

→

Yesterday, there was a party.

Em português dizemos "Teve uma festa". Em inglês, para existir/acontecer no passado, é There was.

We wasn't late.

→

We weren't late.

We (Nós) é plural, então usamos were/weren't.

Summary

Singular (I/He/She/It)

was

I was tired.

Plural e You (We/You/They)

were

You were right.

Negativa

wasn't / weren't

She wasn't here.

Pergunta

Was/Were + sujeito?

Were you at home?

Havia / Tinha (Singular)

There was

There was a car.

Havia / Tinha (Plural)

There were

There were cars.

Passado do To Be: Was / Were