Simple Past (To be)

The SIMPLE PAST TENSE is used to talk about a completely finished action in the past.

As mentioned in the other post about Simple Past, we use the auxiliary DID with all the verbs, except for verb TO BE. 

Whenever you want to express something related to “ser/ estar” in the past, we don’t use DID, but WAS/ WERE, which are the past of IS-AM/WERE consecutively.

AFFIRMATIVE FORM

I was	Eu era/estava
You were	Você era/ estava
He was	Ele era estava
She was	Ela era/estava
It was	Ele/ela era/estava
We were	Nós éramos/estávamos
You were	Você eram/estavam
They were	Eles/elas eram/estavam

Examples:
I was an engineer - Eu era um engenheiro.

Joseph was in his bedroom - Joseph estava em seu quarto.

We were at the classroom - Nós estávamos na sala de aula.

NEGATIVE FORM

FULL FORM	CONTRACTED FORM
I was not	I wasn’t
You were not	You weren’t
He was not	He wasn’t
She was not	She wasn’t
It was not	It wasn’t
We were not	We weren’t
You were not	You weren’t
They were not	They weren’t

Examples:

We were not (weren't) good - Nós não éramos bons.

John was not (wasn't) my friend - John não era meu amigo.

You were not (weren't) at the disco - Você não estava na danceteria.

INTERROGATIVE FORM


Was I? 
Were you?
Was he? 
Was she? 
Was it?
Were we?
Were you? 
Were they? 


Examples:

Where was she? - Onde ela estava?

Were you sick? - Você estava doente?

Was I happy? - Eu era feliz?