How to use was and were (past tense of the verb ‘to be’) in English conversation

‘To be’ is sometimes known as a linking verb because it connects the subject of the sentence -- normally a person or other noun -- with a word that gives more information. Here’s an example;  

‘Their house was enormous’. 
In this sentence we are given information about the size of the house – specifically what size it was, at some point in the past. The house is the subject + was + adjective describing the house. 

There are a lot of great patterns using was/were that you can use in your English conversations. Here is a pattern you can adapt to suit many different contexts 

It was great to visit the Art Gallery 

It was exciting to go on the Roller Coaster ride 

The children were happy to meet new friends at their new school 

These sentences all follow the pattern: subject + was/were + adjective + to + infinitive. 

Because we use this verb to give information about people and things we can also use it to talk about quantities, money and jobs in the past. We can also use it to talk about things that used to belong to us. 

Look at that house over there. It was mine! I sold it last year.  

She was a teacher for ten years. 

How much was the pizza? It was €18! 

We can also talk about one thing in the past using ‘there was’ (singular). If you need to talk about several things, you use ‘there were’ (plural). For example, to describe your neighbourhood or a place you visited you could say something like this: 

When I was younger there were fewer cars around. And there was only one small shop in my street.    

Or  

Our holiday to Rome last month was wonderful! There were loads of great shops and there was a fantastic traditional Italian restaurant near our hotel.  

Remember the basic structure: