Showing results for "were"

• an inflection of be.
• an inflection of be.
• an inflection of be.

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• were
  were

  verb

  a second person singular past indicative; first, second, and third person plural past indicative; and past subjunctive of be.
• we're
  we're

  contraction of we are:

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Were appears in the word werewolf. What was the original meaning of this instance of were?

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were

¹ American  

[wur, wer, wair] / wɜr, wər, wɛər /

verb

1. a second person singular past indicative; first, second, and third person plural past indicative; and past subjunctive of be.

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we're ² American  

[weer] / wɪər /

1. contraction of we are:

   We're happy to see you.

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were ¹ British  

/ wɜː, wə /

verb

1. the plural form of the past tense (indicative mood) of be and the singular form used with you. It is also used as a subjunctive, esp in conditional sentences

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we're ² British  

/ wɪə /

contraction

1. we are

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Grammar

See subjunctive.

Usage

See contraction.

Were, as a remnant of the past subjunctive in English, is used in formal contexts in clauses expressing hypotheses ( if he were to die, she would inherit everything ), suppositions contrary to fact ( if I were you, I would be careful ), and desire ( I wish he were there now ). In informal speech, however, was is often used instead

Etymology

Origin of were

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English wǣre past subjunctive, wǣre 2nd-person singular past and wǣron 2nd-person plural past of wesan “to be”; cognate with Dutch, German waren, Danish var. See was

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

were we're

Average U.S. retail prices for regular gasoline were at $4.372 a gallon Friday, down from $4.225 a month ago.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

Designed to stop school shooters, these drones were inspired by the Ukraine war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

We weren’t the Beatles, but “Hot Fuss” and “Sam’s Town” were really successful records — we went straight to arenas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

He joked: "They were there all the time."

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

She can tilt and rotate it in any direction exactly as if she were holding it in her hand.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Redick said Williams had “some soreness, but it’s not anything that we’re concerned about.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

"Anybody new coming to the office is just straight away onboard and I think we're probably quite proud as a team about how much recycling we do."

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

"It's reassuring for authors to know that we're committed to this issue," said Allibert.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

So what we’re doing is focusing on things we can control.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

We’ll need Zara’s help if we’re going to pull it off.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam