Verbs & Modals

Was & Were

Penggunaan was dan were sebagai bentuk lampau to be dalam simple past tense beserta contoh.

Was and Were

Dalam simple past tense (bentuk lampau sederhana), kita menggunakan was dan were sebagai bentuk lampau dari be (am, is, are).

Was dan were digunakan terutama dalam nominal sentence (kalimat nominal), yaitu kalimat yang tidak menggunakan kata kerja utama untuk menunjukkan tindakan.

1. Perubahan dari Present ke Past

Simple Present Simple Past
am was
is was
are were

Contoh:

  • I am a student. Saya seorang pelajar.

  • I was a student. Saya dulu seorang pelajar.

  • She is tired. Dia lelah.

  • She was tired. Dia tadi/dulu lelah.

  • Rina is at home. Rina berada di rumah.

  • Rina was at home this morning. Rina berada di rumah tadi pagi.

Catatan: Penggunaan was tidak selalu berarti keadaan tersebut sudah tidak berlaku sekarang. Misalnya, I was tired this morning hanya berarti "Saya lelah tadi pagi"; belum tentu sekarang sudah tidak lelah.

2. Penggunaan Was dan Were

Pemilihan was atau were bergantung pada subject (subjek).

Menggunakan was

Gunakan was dengan:

  • I
  • he
  • she
  • it
  • satu orang atau satu benda
Subject Contoh
I I was
He He was
She She was
It It was
Dika Dika was
The cat The cat was

Menggunakan were

Gunakan were dengan:

  • you
  • we
  • they
  • dua orang atau lebih
  • beberapa benda
Subject Contoh
You You were
We We were
They They were
Dika and Rani Dika and Rani were
The children The children were

Pola mudah:

I / He / She / It → was You / We / They → were

3. Kalimat Positif

Pola:

Subject + was/were + complement

Complement (pelengkap) dapat berupa kata sifat, kata benda, atau keterangan tempat/waktu.

Contoh:

  • I was hungry after school. Saya lapar setelah pulang sekolah.

  • My brother was at the library. Kakak/adik laki-laki saya berada di perpustakaan.

  • We were very busy yesterday. Kami sangat sibuk kemarin.

  • The food was delicious. Makanan itu lezat.

  • My friends were at the mall last night. Teman-teman saya berada di mal tadi malam.

4. Kalimat Negatif

Untuk membuat kalimat negatif, tambahkan not setelah was atau were.

Pola:

Subject + was/were + not + complement

Contoh:

  • I was not at school yesterday. Saya tidak berada di sekolah kemarin.

  • She was not ready. Dia belum siap.

  • We were not tired after the trip. Kami tidak lelah setelah perjalanan.

  • The shops were not open this morning. Toko-toko itu tidak buka tadi pagi.

Bentuk singkat

Dalam bahasa Inggris sehari-hari, bentuk singkat (contraction) sering digunakan:

Bentuk lengkap Bentuk singkat
was not wasn't
were not weren't

Contoh:

  • He wasn't at home. Dia tidak berada di rumah.

  • They weren't late. Mereka tidak terlambat.

5. Kalimat Tanya

Untuk membuat pertanyaan dengan was/were, letakkan was/were di depan subject.

Pola:

Was/Were + subject + complement?

Contoh:

  • Were you at home last night? Apakah kamu berada di rumah tadi malam?

    Yes, I was. / No, I wasn't. Ya. / Tidak.

  • Was Maya tired after work? Apakah Maya lelah setelah bekerja?

    Yes, she was. / No, she wasn't. Ya. / Tidak.

  • Were they at the restaurant? Apakah mereka berada di restoran?

    Yes, they were. / No, they weren't. Ya. / Tidak.

  • Was the movie interesting? Apakah filmnya menarik?

    Yes, it was. / No, it wasn't. Ya. / Tidak.

6. Pertanyaan dengan Kata Tanya

Kita juga dapat menggunakan question words (kata tanya) seperti:

  • where = di mana
  • what = apa
  • who = siapa
  • why = mengapa/kenapa
  • when = kapan

Pola umum:

Question word + was/were + subject + ...?

Contoh:

  • Where were you yesterday? Kamu berada di mana kemarin?

    I was at home. Saya berada di rumah.

  • Why was he absent yesterday? Mengapa dia tidak hadir kemarin?

    He was sick. Dia sakit.

  • Who was your teacher last year? Siapa guru kamu tahun lalu?

    Ms. Lina was my teacher. Bu Lina adalah guru saya.

  • When were they in Jakarta? Kapan mereka berada di Jakarta?

    They were in Jakarta last month. Mereka berada di Jakarta bulan lalu.

7. Ringkasan

Subject Bentuk be di Simple Past
I was
You were
He was
She was
It was
We were
They were
Satu orang/benda was
Dua orang/benda atau lebih were

Pola utama

Positif:

Subject + was/were + complement

Negatif:

Subject + was/were + not + complement

Pertanyaan:

Was/Were + subject + complement?

Pertanyaan dengan kata tanya:

Question word + was/were + subject + complement?

Ingat mudah

I, he, she, it → was you, we, they → were

Was dan were adalah bentuk lampau dari be, bukan kata kerja aksi seperti went, ate, atau played. Jadi, jangan selalu menganggap semua kalimat simple past harus menggunakan verb 2. Pada kalimat yang menggunakan be, bentuk lampau yang digunakan adalah was/were.