Question

I am always confused with the two words 'were' and 'was'. Is ‘were’ a past tense or present tense? What about ‘was’?

Answer 1

Hint: Tenses tell us about 1) state of an event/activity/person 2) time. There are three main tenses: present, past and future. These tenses are further divided into 4 parts each. The 4 subparts are simple, perfect, continuous and perfect continuous.

Complete answer:
Both the words ‘were’ and ‘was’ are to be forms of the verbs and both are used in the past tense.
These are used in past simple and past continuous tense.

They can also be used in sentences that express a wish or desire. For e.g., I wish you were here. Or If only she was smarter she could have solved the case.

They can combine with not to form negative sentences. For e.g. He was not available. Or They were not interested in the match.

They can combine with question words to form interrogative sentences. For e.g. Who was absent yesterday? Or How many dresses were purchased?
They can also be used to form question sentences where the sentence starts with these words. For e.g. - Was it necessary? Or Weren’t they good enough?

‘Were’ - It is used with plural objects
E.g. - 1) We were planning for a trip to Ladakh.
2) They were stuck in the forest.
3) All the fruits were fresh.

‘Was’ - It is used with singular objects.
E.g. - 1) It was a good night.
2) He was walking alone on the beach.
3) She was eating chocolate.

Note:
- ‘Were’ is only used with they/we (third-person plural) and you (second person). While ‘was’ is used with I( first person singular) and He/ She(third-person singular).
- ‘Were’ is used in imaginary sentences and ‘was’ is used for sentences related to reality. In sentences related to wishful thinking mostly ‘were’ is used. For e.g Wish, i were a part of the choir.