There was / There were

The Past of “There is” and “There are”

We use there was and there were to say that something existed in the past.

There was a party last night.

There were many people at the cinema.

There was some milk in the fridge yesterday.

There were no buses this morning.

The structure is the past form of there is / there are.

Present	Past
`There is a problem.`	`There was a problem.`
`There are five students.`	`There were five students.`
`Is there a key?`	`Was there a key?`
`Are there any cats?`	`Were there any cats?`

Singular vs. Plural

Use there was with singular and uncountable nouns.

Use there were with plural nouns.

Singular / uncountable	Plural
`There was a man at the door.`	`There were two men at the door.`
`There was a problem.`	`There were many problems.`
`There was some bread.`	`There were three sandwiches.`
`There was rain yesterday.`	`There were storms yesterday.`

Affirmative, Negative, and Questions

Affirmative (positive)

There was a beautiful garden behind the house.

There were ten kids in my class.

There was a lot of food at the party.

Negative

Add not after was or were.

There was not a single person there. / There wasn't a single person there.

There were not any tickets left. / There weren't any tickets left.

Long	Short
`there was not`	`there wasn't`
`there were not`	`there weren't`

With negatives, we usually use any (not some):

There weren't any books on the shelf. ✓

There weren't some books on the shelf. ✗

Questions

Put was or were before there.

Was there a problem? — Yes, there was. / No, there wasn't.

Were there many people? — Yes, there were. / No, there weren't.

Was there enough food?

Were there any messages for me?

Short answers: don’t drop there from the answer.

Was there a key? — Yes, there was. ✓ (not Yes, was.)

Were there cookies? — No, there weren't. ✓

Common Time Words

There was/were is often used with words that show past time:

Time word	Example
`yesterday`	`There were storms yesterday.`
`last night`	`There was a great film on TV last night.`
`last week / month / year`	`There was a holiday last week.`
`in 2010 / in March`	`There were many fans at the concert in March.`
`two days ago`	`There was an accident two days ago.`
`when I was young`	`When I was young, there were no smartphones.`

Some, Any, Numbers, and Quantifiers

These words work the same way as with there is/are:

Use with	Example
`a / an` (singular)	`There was a window.`
`some` (positive)	`There were some apples.`
`any` (negative or question)	`There weren't any apples.` / `Were there any apples?`
Numbers	`There were five chairs.`
`many` (countable)	`There were many people.`
`much` (uncountable, mostly negative)	`There wasn't much time.`
`no`	`There were no buses.`

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Better	Why
`There was many people.`	`There were many people.`	Plural noun → `there were`.
`There were a problem.`	`There was a problem.`	Singular noun → `there was`.
`It was a party last night.`	`There was a party last night.`	Use `there was/were` to say something existed, not `it was`.
`There weren't some cookies.`	`There weren't any cookies.`	Use `any` (not `some`) in negatives.
`Yesterday there had a meeting.`	`Yesterday there was a meeting.`	Don’t use `had` here — use `was` or `were`.
`Was there many cars?`	`Were there many cars?`	Plural noun (cars) → `were`.
`Yes, was.`	`Yes, there was.`	Don’t drop `there` from the short answer.

Practice: Exercises

1 / 12

___ a big party last weekend.

Summary

There was and there were are the past forms of there is and there are.

Use there was + singular noun or uncountable noun: There was a problem., There was some water.

Use there were + plural noun: There were five chairs.

For negatives, add not and use any: There wasn't a problem., There weren't any cookies.

For questions, put was/were first: Was there a key?, Were there many people?. Reply with Yes, there was/were or No, there wasn't/weren't.

There was/were is often used with past time words: yesterday, last night, in 2010, when I was young.