Irregular Verbs

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Past tense of “be”: was / were, been

The verb “be” is irregular: its past simple is “was / were” and its past participle is “been”.

Base form (V1)
be
/biː/
Past simple (V2)
was / were
/wɒz/
Past participle (V3)
been
/biːn/

Meaning

to exist, or to have a certain quality

Example

They were happy at the party.

Pattern

ABC — all three forms are different

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