Simple Past of the Verb "To Be"

   Simple Past Tense

Exercises for beginners

Forming the past tense of to be.

Affirmative and negative sentence            Interrogative sentence

I	was					I
He	was not				Was	he
She	wasn’t	at home				she	at home
It		in hospital	yesterday.			it	in hospital	yesterday.
You	were	on holiday	last week.			you	on holiday	last week.
We	were not	in London			Were	we	in London
They	weren’t					they

Task 1 - Complete the sentences with the Past Tense of ‘to be’.

1)   We  in Australia.

2)  She  in the classroom.

3)  It  my birthday last week.

4)  The man  in the train.o

5)  It  an apple.

6)  You  in a bookshop.

7)  It  a doll.

8)  I  a good pupil.

9)  What  this?

10)  It  a French lesson.

11)  London  a beautiful city.

12)  He  my brother.

I	was	at home. very hungry. happy.
You	were
He	was
She
It
We	were
You
They

1.   Choose was or were. 

She  was were  sad yesterday.	We  was were  at the Zoo yesterday.	Mum and Dad  was were  in a restaurant.
They  was were  in the disco club last night.	You  was were  late for school yesterday.	I  was were  very hungry.
It  was were  cold yesterday.	I  was were  in London in 2008.	She  was were  pretty when she was young.
Sally  was were  a good pupil.	He  was were  born in May.	Our teacher  was were  very tired yesterday.
Tom and Bill  was were  best friends.	My cousin  was were  at school.	The children  was were  excited yesterday.

2.   Complete with was or were. 

It cloudy yesterday morning.	We  excited about going to America.
We  lucky. We won the first prize.	The dogs  in the park.
Jason  a great swimmer when he was young.	They  at the beach last Sunday.
She  the prettiest girl in our class.	I  very ill last week.
I  sad because I broke Mrs Smith's window.	He  born in 1995.

There	was	an apple  in the bowl.
There	were	three apples in the bowl.

3.   Complete with there was or there were. 

a bank near my house.	ten children in the park.
two kittens in the basket.	a small shop between the bank and the supermarket.
many bottles of milk in the fridge.	some pencils on the desk.
only one book on the table.	an old man in the street.
a lot of noise in the classroom.	a huge crocodile in the river.

4. This is a very famous place in London called Piccadilly Circus. The photo was taken in 1896. Look at the photo and choose the correct option. 

There was There wasn't There were There weren't  hundreds of people.	There was There wasn't There were There weren't  any traffic lights.
There was There wasn't There were There weren't  a double-decker bus.	There was There wasn't There were There weren't  a flag on top of the building on the left.
There was There wasn't There were There weren't  many horse-drawn carriages.	There was There wasn't There were There weren't  a lot of traffic.
There was There wasn't There were There weren't  any zebra crossings.	There was There wasn't There were There weren't  a roundabout.
There was There wasn't There were There weren't  some old buildings.	There was There wasn't There were There weren't  a great number of tourists.