過去形
be動詞の過去形
要点was / were
文法の意味
was / were は、be動詞の過去形で「〜でした」「〜にいました」を表す
am / is → was、are → were に変わります。There was / There were で過去の存在も表せます。
使い方・使い分け
人やものの状態・場所を、過去に移して話せる
am / is / are を was / were に変えると、今の状態ではなく、過去のある時点でどうだったかを伝えられます。
- 今の状態
- I am tired now.「今は疲れています」
- 過去の状態
- I was tired yesterday.「昨日は疲れていました」
- 過去の場所
- They were at school then.「そのとき学校にいました」
- 完了した過去の動作
- 一般動詞の過去形を使う — I went to the park.「公園へ行きました」。I was go とはしません。
- 途中だった過去の動作
- was / were + 動詞-ing を使う — I was walking.「歩いているところでした」
- 過去の存在
- There was a park here.「ここには公園がありました」
文法の形
was / were の肯定・否定・疑問に加えて、There was / There were を使う過去の存在も確認します。
I was tired.
I wasn't hungry.
Were you at school?
There was a concert. / There were many people.
Was there a concert? — Yes, there was. / No, there wasn't.
文法のルール
単数の主語には was、you と複数の主語には were を使う。
補足：I / he / she / it は was、you / we / they は were。
よくある間違い
I were tired.
基本の形
I was tired.
普通の過去の文では、I / he / she / it / 単数名詞には was、you / we / they / 複数名詞には were を使います。If I were ... は仮定法です。
完了した動作を単純過去で述べるときは went のような一般動詞の過去形を使い、was went とはしない。
補足：途中だった動作は、was / were + 動詞-ing で表せる。
よくある間違い
I was go to the park.
基本の形
I went to the park.
「〜に行った」のように動作を表すときは、was / were を足さず、一般動詞の過去形 went だけを使います。
否定は was / were の直後に not を置く。
よくある間違い
She not was busy.
基本の形
She was not busy. / She wasn't busy.
否定文では was / were の直後に not を置きます。not を主語の前に置く形は使えません。
There was / There were は後ろの名詞の数で使い分ける。
よくある間違い
There was many people at the park.
基本の形
There were many people at the park.
There was / There were は後ろの名詞の数で使い分けます。many people のような複数名詞には were を使います。
10秒チェック
「昨日は寒かった」の英語はどうなりますか。