What is the past tense of the verb be?

The past tense of the verb be is was and were.

When talking about past places, events, things, and people, use the past tense of the verb be: was or were. Was is the past tense of is and am, and were is the past tense of are. When using them, pay attention to the agreement between subject and predicate.

For example:

It was a sunny day yesterday. The weather was sunny yesterday.

They were too busy to go shopping. They were too busy to go shopping.

Usage of be

When used as an auxiliary verb, be can be used with the present participle of the verb to form the progressive tense, or it can be used with the past participle of the transitive verb to form a passive structure.

Be can also be used in It is/was sentence patterns, used to describe situations or express ideas, and can also be used to express time, etc.

Be can also be used with mine (yours) or for me (you) to express ownership of something.

Be can also be used with nouns expressing quantity, etc., to express cost, value, equal, and equivalent synonyms.