English for Beginners: "TO BE" in Past Tense

Hello. Sorry. I am really thirsty. Well, I was thirsty, but now I'm okay. Today, I'm

going to teach you about probably the most famous verb ever. Yes, the verb "to be". I

know you hate it. I know you've studied the verb "to be" forever, but we have to look

at the past tense of the verb "to be" because we use it a lot in the past, and you have

to make sure that when you're speaking English, you can use the past tense as well as the

present tense because it's very important.

So let's look at the structure of the verb "to be" in the past. There are two different

forms that you have to remember, so be careful with this one. If we use "I", it's "me", "he",

"she", or "it". Now, remember, "it" can be a singular object like a water bottle, or

it can also be an animal. We have to use the verb "was". So, the past tense of the verb

"to be" with "I", "he", "she", and "it", we have to use "was". So, I can say, "I was

thirsty". "Thirsty" means I need to drink. If we use "you", "they", or "we", we have

to change it to "were". So, we have to say, for example, "You were thirsty." Okay? "I

was thirsty, but you were thirsty." This is where it gets a little bit difficult to remember,

okay?

Let's go through the examples. So, I can say, when I use the simple past, I can say, for

example, "I was tired." "Tired" means you need to sleep. "He was sad. She was funny."

Now, be careful, because the word "funny", a lot of people can get mixed up in English.

"Funny" means something that makes you laugh, and the word that people get mixed up with

is "fun". Now, if I say, "She was fun", that's okay, but it's a different meaning. "Fun"

means like, "Whoa, I'm having a good time." So, "funny" means it makes you laugh, and

"fun" means, "Whoa, look at my water. It's so fun." "It was good." So, let's go through

the examples. It's your turn. So, you say, "I was tired." Good. Perfect. "He was sad.

She was funny. It was good." We also have to know the negative, because maybe it wasn't

good. So, you have to know how to make the negative for this. So, when we make the negative,

we're just going to put "not", but in a fast, natural English, we don't usually say, "She

was not tired." We say, "She wasn't tired." So, let's make these words - let's make these

sentences negative. In the positive, I say, "I was tired." If we make it negative, all

we're going to do is put "nt", "nt", and say, "I wasn't tired." What about this one? "He

wasn't sad." So, again, I can write "wasn't" here. What about this one? You do this, "She

wasn't funny." Good. "She wasn't funny." "She was boring." Oh my god, she wasn't funny.

And try this one. "It" in the negative, "wasn't good." "It wasn't good." Perfect. So, oh,

you know what, Ronnie? It wasn't good.

Okay. Let's do some examples using the other part of the verb. So, again, we have "you",

"they", and "we". We're going to use "were". And if we use the negative, we're going to

use "weren't". And, of course, we have to use the adjective again. So, let's go through

some examples. "You were" -- oh, this thirsty -- I don't drink my marker. Oh, Ronnie, you

were thirsty. Yes, I was. "They were bad." "We were angry." "Angry" and "mad" is the

same thing. If you're angry or mad, it's not really a good emotion. Again, these are all

adjectives, so let's make these positive sentences into a negative sentence. Let's see if you

can do it. So, for example, "You were thirsty" is going to become "You weren't thirsty."

Good. "Hey, you weren't thirsty." The next one, "They were bad" -- in the negative, we're

going to say "They weren't" plus our adjective "bad". Good. Good, bad. They weren't good

or bad. And "We were angry" -- can you make that sentence negative? "We weren't angry."

Perfect. Yahoo. So, we've done the positive and the negative, but you cannot forget the

question because a lot of the times in English, we learn the positive and the negative, and

then in conversation, when you're talking to someone, you want to ask them a question,

but you don't know how. No fear. Let's go. When we ask a question -- let's say I want

to say "thirsty", what I have to do is I have to put the verb at the beginning of the sentence,

and it doesn't change with "was". "I", "he", and "she", and "it" we use "was", but we put

it at the beginning so I can say, "Oh, guess what? Was I thirsty?" So, "was I" -- my subject

and then my adjective -- "thirsty". When you ask a question in English, make sure that

your intonation goes up at the end of the sentence so you know or the person knows you're

asking them a question. "Was he tired?" Make sure it goes up. When you use "you", "we",

and "they", we have to change it to "were". So, instead of saying "was", we say "were".

"Were you tired?" So, be careful with this. So, "was" and "were" in the positive to make

a question, all we're going to do is reverse the order. We're going to put the "was" and

the "were", the subject, and then the adjective. Let's go through some questions. Let's make

this a question. "You were thirsty." How would you ask that as a question? Ask me. Yes, yes.

So, you said, "Ronnie, were you -- hey, Ronnie, were you thirsty?" Yes, I was. "Were you thirsty?"

And what about the next one? "They were bad." How would you ask that as a question? "Were

they bad?" Good. And the last one, "We were angry." As a question, we're going to say,

"Were we angry?" "Were we angry?" Let's go through the examples using "I". And again,

you're going to talk to yourself and say, "Huh, was I tired?" Yeah. "He was sad." Can

you ask that as a question? So, remember, we use the verb, the subject, and the adjective.

So, we say, "Was he sad?" "Was he sad?" "She was funny." Can you make that a question?

We're going to start with "was", and then the subject, and the adjective. "Was she funny?"

And the last one, "It was good." As a question, we would say, "Was it good?" So, we'd say,

"Hey, was it good?" All right. There's one other way that you have to be careful in English

grammar that we're going to use the auxiliary verb "was" or "were" in a sentence. So, this

is just the simple "past", and I'll be right back to tell you one other grammar point called

the "past continuous" where you have to use this grammar as well.

Okay. So, the second part, when we use the verb "to be in the past", we have to use with

this grammar called "past continuous". So, "past continuous", we're going to have a subject,

and we're going to use either "was" or "were", and we're going to use a verb in the "ing"

form, and this is what makes it continuous. So, "continuous" has a verb with "ing". For

example, "I was eating." So, "eating" makes the sentence continuous. "Past continuous",

a lot of people are kind of like, "Oh, Ronnie, I don't know the past continuous." It's okay.

We use it to tell stories in the past. So, I can say, for example, "Okay. Yesterday,

I was eating breakfast, and I dropped my cereal." So, we always use this for telling stories

about the past. So, that's it. It's just about storytelling. Do you like to tell stories?

If you do, you have to know this grammar. So, it's just like the simple past. You have

to use "he", "I", "she", and "it" with "was" or "wasn't", and "you", "we", and "they",

we're going to use "were" or "weren't" in the negative. So, it's the same idea. The

difference is how we use it. We use it in the past continuous for storytelling, and

we don't use an adjective. For this one, we're going to use the verb plus "ing". The question

is going to be the same format. The question is going to be "was" or "were", and then your

subject. So, your subject is "I", "you", "we", "they", "he", "she", "it" plus the verb "ing".

So, let's go through some examples. I'm telling a story, okay? So, "I was eating". This is

in the past tense, and I'm telling you, "Something else is going to happen. I was eating." "He

was", remember, "he was running." "It was jumping." Running, don't jump. Okay. Let's

put these into the negative. So, when we want to put the negative, it's very easy, just

like we did before in the past, in the simple past. We're just going to use "wasn't". So,

we're going to say, "I wasn't eating." Good. Let's try this. "He was running." If we want

to use this in the negative, we have to say, "He wasn't running." And if I say, "It was

jumping", in the negative, I would say, "It wasn't jumping." Let's go through our examples

using "you", "we", and "they". "You were eating." "We were running." "They were jumping." Let's

make these negative. When in the negative, we have to put "weren't", so we're going to

say, "You weren't eating." You do this one. "We weren't running." And when we do this,

we have to make sure that we put the apostrophe here because in the long form, it's "not",

but as I told you before, we usually don't say "not". We don't say, "We were not running."

We say, "Weren't". So, make sure you put the apostrophe. And then, this one. Okay. Can

you say this in the negative? If I say, "We", no, "They were jumping", in the negative,

your turn. Good. We're going to say, "They weren't jumping." Cool. Let's try the question,

shall we? So, remember, with the question, we're going to use "was" or "were" first,

and then the subject, and then we're going to use the verb plus -ing. So, "They were

jumping." Can you make that a question? We have to put, "Were they jumping?" Jump, jump,

jump, jump. "Were they jumping?" So, remember, the "were" part goes first. "We were running."

As a question mark, we're going to say, "Were we running?" "Were we running?" I don't remember.

What about this one? "You were eating." I want to ask you. I can say, "Hey, were you

eating?" Oh, good. Good. Hey, do you know what? If you're hungry, please eat. Give me

some food, though, too. What are you eating? Oh, okay. Delicious. "It was jumping." Can

you make that a question? Okay. "Was it jumping?" "He was running." You want to ask as a question,

we say, "Was he running?" And the last one, "I was eating." As a question, we say, "Oh,

hey, was I eating?" I don't remember. So, if you have questions about this, please ask

in the comments, and I'll try and get back to you. Till then, I'm going to go on an adventure.

Bye.