How "To Be" Works in the Past

In the present, you already juggle am / is / are depending on the subject. The past tense works the same way, but the choice is simpler — there are only two forms: was and were.

Subject	Past form
I	was
he / she / it	was
you	were
we	were
they	were

That's the whole rule: was goes with first-person singular (I) and third-person singular (he, she, it), while were goes with everything else (you, we, they). Notice that you always takes were, even when you're talking to just one person. English doesn't distinguish "you singular" from "you plural" here — both get were.

✅ You were late for the meeting this morning. ❌ You was late for the meeting this morning.

Even though you're addressing one colleague, was is wrong. This trips up a lot of learners (and, honestly, some native speakers in informal speech).

Singular Nouns, Plural Nouns

When the subject is a noun rather than a pronoun, just decide whether it's singular or plural:

✅ The restaurant was closed when we arrived. ❌ The restaurant were closed when we arrived.

Restaurant is singular (= it), so it takes was.

✅ The streets were empty after midnight. ❌ The streets was empty after midnight.

Streets is plural (= they), so it takes were.

Where learners sometimes hesitate is with collective nouns like team, family, class. In most standard English — and especially in American English — these are treated as singular:

✅ The team was exhausted after the match.

British English occasionally uses were with collective nouns when thinking of the individual members, but at B1–B2 level, defaulting to was for a single group is the safer choice.

Negatives and Questions

To make a negative, just add not (or the contraction):

She was not (wasn't) happy with the result. They were not (weren't) at home yesterday.

For questions, invert the subject and the verb:

Was he a good student? / Were they ready?

The form doesn't change — you still pick was or were based on the subject, exactly as in a statement.

The "If I Were…" Trap

You will sometimes see sentences like "If I were rich…" or "I wish I were taller." This looks like it breaks the rule because I is paired with were instead of was. It's not a mistake — it's the subjunctive mood, used for unreal or hypothetical situations. At B1–B2 level, just be aware that both "If I were…" and "If I was…" are widely used, but "If I were…" is considered more grammatically precise in formal writing. Don't let this special case make you doubt the normal rule: in statements about real past events, I was is always correct.

✅ I was tired after work last night. (real past — use was) ✅ If I were you, I'd take the job. (hypothetical — were is standard)

The Most Common Mistake

The single error that comes up again and again at this level is using was with you, we, or they — often because learners translate directly from their own language, where the past form might not change by person. A quick mental check: Is the subject "I," "he," "she," or "it" (or a singular noun)? If yes → was. Everything else → were. Build that reflex and the choice becomes automatic.