The past simple of to be and to have
Reminder: the past simple describes completed past events. For regular verbs, add -ed to the infinitive (without to).
to watch → I watched some TV series last night.
In the past simple, the verbs to be and to have are irregular. Note that the forms of the verb to be change depending on the subject.
| To be | |
|---|---|
| I | was |
| You | were |
| He/She/It | was |
| We | were |
| You (plural) | were |
| They | were |
| To have | |
|---|---|
| I | had |
| You | had |
| He/She/It | had |
| We | had |
| You (plural) | had |
| They | had |
I was in York three years ago.
She had dinner at 8 p.m.
You can also use there + was/were to talk about the presence of things or people in the past.
There was a fly in my dish!
There were many people at the concert last Saturday.
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