入門 · Unit 32
There was / There were
There was / There were は There is / are の過去形で、「(過去に)があった」という過去の存在を表します。うしろに来る名詞が単数・不可算名詞なら There was、複数なら There were を使います。
概念の説明
There was / There were は There is / are の過去形で、「(過去に)~があった」という過去の存在を表します。うしろに来る名詞が単数・不可算名詞なら There was、複数なら There were を使います。
A. There was vs There were — うしろの名詞に合わせる
There was のうしろには単数名詞・不可算名詞、There were のうしろには複数名詞が来ます。うしろの名詞に be動詞を合わせる という規則は現在形とまったく同じです。
| 構文 | うしろの名詞 | 例 |
|---|---|---|
| There was | 単数 | There was a good movie last night. |
| There was | 不可算 | There was water on the floor. |
| There were | 複数 | There were five people in the room. |
| There were | 複数 | There were many mistakes in the report. |
- There was an accident on the highway. (高速道路で事故がありました。)
- There was snow everywhere yesterday. (昨日、あちこちに雪がありました。)
- There were lots of tourists at the museum. (博物館に観光客がたくさんいました。)
- There were several problems with the plan. (その計画にはいくつかの問題がありました。)
B. 過去の時間表現と一緒に
There was / were は特定の過去の時点を表す時間の副詞とよく組み合わさって、そのときに何かが存在したことを表現します。yesterday、last night、last week、~ ago、in + 年 などが代表的です。
| 時間の表現 | 例 |
|---|---|
| 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 + 年 | There were big changes in 2000. |
- There was a beautiful sunset yesterday evening. (昨日の夕方、美しい夕焼けがありました。)
- There were lots of people at the market last Saturday. (先週の土曜日、市場に人がたくさんいました。)
- There was an earthquake two days ago. (2日前に地震がありました。)
- There were big changes in the city in 1990. (1990年にその都市に大きな変化がありました。)
C. 回想・描写の表現としてよく使われる
There was / were は過去の場面・状況を描写したり回想したりする物語で特によく使われ、うしろに場所・時間の表現を一緒に付けて完結した描写を作ります。物語の始まりや背景の説明にとても便利な構文です。
| 語順 | 例 |
|---|---|
| There was + 単数 + 場所・時間 | There was a big tree in front of my house. |
| There were + 複数 + 場所・時間 | 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. (角に居心地のいい小さなカフェがありました。)
- There were photos of us all over the wall. (壁全体に私たちの写真がかかっていました。)
- Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle. (むかしむかし、お城に住むお姫様がいました。)
- There was a strange sound coming from the basement. (地下から変な音がしていました。)
重要ポイント
- 1There was / There were は There is / are の過去形で、うしろの名詞に be動詞を合わせる規則は現在形と同じという点が基本です。
- 2不可算名詞の前は常に There was を使うという規則を身につけましょう。(例:There was water on the floor.)
- 3yesterday、last night、~ ago のような過去の時間の副詞とよく一緒に使われるという合図の規則を覚えておきましょう。
- 4物語の始まりや過去の場面の描写に There was ~ / There were ~ 構文がとてもよく使われるという活用感覚を身につけましょう。
- 5Once upon a time, there was ~ は昔話の始まりの慣用表現という点も覚えておきましょう。
例文
There was a party at Anna's house last night.
昨夜、アンナの家でパーティーがありました。
There was a big storm yesterday.
昨日、大きな嵐がありました。
There was a lot of traffic this morning.
今朝、交通量がとても多かったです。
There was some coffee on the table.
テーブルの上にコーヒーが少しありました。
There was an accident near my house.
私の家の近くで事故がありました。
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こんな間違いに注意
There was a party last night.
There were three cats.
There were many people.
There was a big storm yesterday.
There was some water on the floor.