ESL Grammar: PAST TENSE (6): Be Verbs

This ESL grammar lesson introduces students to the past tense forms of “be” verbs (was/were). Students then practice rewriting present tense sentences as past tense sentences, changing the “be” verbs and the time words accordingly.

ESL Grammar: Understanding the Past Tense Forms of “Be” Verbs

The “be” verbs are irregular verbs, which means they do not follow a regular pattern when changing to the past tense. Here are the basic rules:

1. I, he, she, it → was
   • Present: I am a student. → Past: I was a student.
   • Present: He is happy. → Past: He was happy.
   • Present: She is tired. → Past: She was tired.
   • Present: It is cold. → Past: It was cold.
2. You, we, they → were
   • Present: You are a teacher. → Past: You were a teacher.
   • Present: We are friends. → Past: We were friends.
   • Present: They are at the park. → Past: They were at the park.

The English grammar lesson below introduces the past tense forms of “be” verbs in a clear and simple manner that is easy for beginner English learners to understand. Our series of ESL grammar lessons on subjects and verbs introduce these concepts and reinforce them through helpful and instructive exercises.

This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on basic English tenses (present tense, present continuous tense, past tense, future tense) in our comprehensive, beginner-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 2: Tenses).