The use of the words "was" and "were"

Question

Why is the word "were" used with the noun "you"? Were is plural and You is singular, right?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Why do you use the word were with the noun you, instead of the word was?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

You is the second-person pronoun.
English requires verbs to agree with their subject.
The verb "be" is irregular. You have to memorize the forms of "be" and the matching subjects.

Present tense of "be":
I am
You are
He, she, it is
We are
They are

Past tense of "be":
I was
You were
He, she, it was
We were
They were

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousWhy do you use the word 'were' with the pronoun 'you', instead of the word 'was'?

In the English of centuries ago, there was a pronoun for the singular 'you'. It was 'thou'. So there was 'thou' for one person, and 'you' for more than one. But 'you' was considered more polite than 'thou', even when speaking to one person. Eventually 'thou' dropped out of use and 'you' took its place, making 'you' the preferred word for both singular and plural.

So "you were" eventually replaced "thou wast" and the modern conjugation still has this gap:

I was ......... we were
- - - - ......... you were
he was ..... they were

We fill the gap by using 'you were' for the singular, just as has been done for centuries.

I was ......... we were
you were << you were
he was ..... they were

Aren't we a polite group of speakers?

CJ

The use of the words "was" and "were"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions