Language/Russian/Grammar/Use-of-the-verb-быть-in-the-past

Very often, when they talk about the past, Russians use the past tense of быть:

The conjugation of the verb быть

• я, ты, он был (male)
• я, ты, она была (female)
• оно было (neutral and impersonal)
• они были (plural)

Examples (примеры):

• Когда это было?

When was it?

• Это было вчера.

It was yesterday.

• Это было здорово!

It was great!

• Где ты был?

Where were you?

• Книга была интересной.

The book was interesting.

• Вчера мы были в театре.

Yesterday we were at the theater.

How to say 'I had', 'you had', etc.

Do you remember how you say 'I have' in Russian? It's the same pattern for saying 'I had'.

Examples:

• У меня была температура вчера. - I had a fever yesterday.
• У него были проблемы, но сейчас всё хорошо. - He had problems, but now everything is fine.

Температура is a feminine word, so we use the feminine form of the verb быть. Проблемы is plural, so we use были.

In negative sentences, we always use было irrespective of gender of subject. Remember that in this case, the subject is still genitive.

• У нас не было денег. - We did not have money.
• У них не было документов. - They had no papers.
• У него не было выхода. - He had no solution.
• У меня никогда не было велосипеда. - I never had a bike.

Note that in this type of sentences, the Russians accentuate the particle не and do not put emphasis on the verb было.