There was / There were
There was / There were es el pasado de There is / are y expresa la existencia en el pasado: «(en el pasado) había ».
Explicación
There was / There were es el pasado de There is / are y expresa la existencia en el pasado: «(en el pasado) había ~». Si el sustantivo que viene detrás es singular o incontable se usa There was, y si es plural, There were.
A. There was vs There were — según el sustantivo
Detrás de There was van sustantivos en singular o incontables, y detrás de There were van sustantivos en plural. La regla concordar be con el sustantivo siguiente es exactamente la misma que en presente.
| Estructura | Sustantivo siguiente | Ejemplo |
|---|---|---|
| There was | singular | There was a good movie last night. |
| There was | incontable | There was water on the floor. |
| There were | plural | There were five people in the room. |
| There were | plural | There were many mistakes in the report. |
- There was an accident on the highway. (Hubo un accidente en la autopista.)
- There was snow everywhere yesterday. (Ayer había nieve por todas partes.)
- There were lots of tourists at the museum. (Había muchos turistas en el museo.)
- There were several problems with the plan. (Ese plan tenía varios problemas.)
B. Junto con expresiones de tiempo pasado
There was / were se combina a menudo con adverbios de tiempo que señalan un momento concreto del pasado, para expresar qué existía entonces. Los más representativos son yesterday, last night, last week, ~ ago, in + año, etc.
| Expresión de tiempo | Ejemplo |
|---|---|
| yesterday | There was a fire yesterday. |
| last night | There were many guests last night. |
| last week | There was a big storm last week. |
| ~ ago | There was a war fifty years ago. |
| in + año | There were big changes in 2000. |
- There was a beautiful sunset yesterday evening. (Ayer por la tarde hubo una puesta de sol preciosa.)
- There were lots of people at the market last Saturday. (El sábado pasado había mucha gente en el mercado.)
- There was an earthquake two days ago. (Hubo un terremoto hace dos días.)
- There were big changes in the city in 1990. (En 1990 hubo grandes cambios en esa ciudad.)
C. Muy usado para recordar y describir
There was / were se usa con especial frecuencia en relatos que describen o recuerdan escenas y situaciones del pasado, y se le añade detrás una expresión de lugar o de tiempo para completar la descripción. Es una estructura muy útil para empezar una historia o explicar el contexto.
| Orden | Ejemplo |
|---|---|
| There was + singular + lugar·tiempo | There was a big tree in front of my house. |
| There were + plural + lugar·tiempo | There were many toys in her room. |
| Once upon a time, there was ~ | Once upon a time, there was a king. |
- There was a cozy little cafe on the corner. (En la esquina había una cafetería pequeña y acogedora.)
- There were photos of us all over the wall. (Había fotos nuestras por toda la pared.)
- Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle. (Había una vez una princesa que vivía en un castillo.)
- There was a strange sound coming from the basement. (Del sótano venía un ruido extraño.)
Ideas clave
- 1There was / There were es el pasado de There is / are, y la regla de concordar el verbo be con el sustantivo siguiente es la misma que en presente: eso es lo básico.
- 2Delante de un sustantivo incontable se usa siempre There was: aprende bien esta regla. (Por ejemplo: There was water on the floor.)
- 3Aparece a menudo junto con adverbios de tiempo pasado como yesterday, last night o ~ ago: recuerda esta regla de las palabras clave.
- 4La estructura There was ~ / There were ~ se usa muchísimo para empezar una historia o describir una escena del pasado: hazte con este uso.
- 5Once upon a time, there was ~ es la expresión fija con la que empiezan los cuentos: tenlo presente también.