The past simple of to be and to have: How and When to Use in English
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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.
Complete each sentence by dragging and dropping the correct form of the past simple of each verb. Pro tip: the “Help me” button is there to help you!
to be → I happy to see you.
to have → She a party for her birthday.
to be → There clouds in the sky.
to be → I was happy to see you.
to have → She had a party for her birthday.
to be → There were clouds in the sky.
Complete each sentence by dragging and dropping the correct form of the past simple of each verb. Pro tip: the “Help me” button is there to help you!
to be → I was 1 happy to see you.
to have → She had 2 a party for her birthday.
to be → There were 3 clouds in the sky.
I was happy to see you.To be, past simple tense Example: I was in my office when you called.
She had a party for her birthday. Example: we had a picnic with our friends.
There were clouds in the sky. Use there + were To be, past simple tense+ plural noun (here, clouds) to talk about the presence of a plural element in the past. Example: there were many guests at the hotel.
Drag and drop the correct option to complete each sentence. Press the “Help me” button if needed!
to have → We breakfast near the pool.
to be → There one guest at the hotel.
to be → The rooms dirty.
to have → We had breakfast near the pool.
to be → There was one guest at the hotel.
to be → The rooms were dirty.
Drag and drop the correct option to complete each sentence. Press the “Help me” button if needed!
to have → We had 1 breakfast near the pool.
to be → There was 2 one guest at the hotel.
to be → The rooms were 3 dirty.
We had breakfast near the pool. Example: I had a nice room in my university accommodation.
There was one guest at the hotel. Use there + was To be, past simple tense+ singular noun (here, one guest) to talk about the presence of a single element in the past. Example: there was a bottle of water on the table.
The rooms were dirty. To be, past simple tense Example: the seats were all taken.
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