Questions with Was and Were

There are many different types of questions, and one type are questions with “was” or “were”.

Was and were are two different words that have the same meaning. They both mean “to be.” and they are used to talk about past events.

In this blog post we’ll explore how to make questions with was and were to talk about past experiences you and others have had.

Questions with Was and Were: Structure

Remember that you can make closed and open questions with any tense in English.

With the words was and were, we can make:

Let’s check the structure to make each one of them

Structure for the Past Continuous Questions

This is the structure to make closed questions with the past progressive:

This is the structure to make open questions with the past progressive:

Now, let’s check how to make questions with was and were and the verb to be

Structure for the Questions with the Verb to Be

These are the structure to make closed questions with verb to be:

These are the structure to make open questions with verb to be:

Questions with Was and Were: Examples

These are some examples of questions using was and were divided into past progressive and verb to be questions.

Questions using was and Were: Past Progressive

These are some past progressive questions using was

1. What was she doing?
2. What was he watching?
3. What was he talking about?
4. What was he listening to?
5. Why was she running?
6. Why was she swimming?
7. Was she watching an action movie?

These are some past progressive questions using were

1. What were they doing?
2. What were they watching
3. What were you talking about?
4. What were you listening to?
5. Why were you running last night?
6. Why were you swimming under this cold weather?
7. Were you surfing?
8. Were you watching a horror movie?
9. Were you surfing?

Questions using was and Were: Verb to Be

These are some questions with was and were and the verb to be

• Why were you sad?
• Why was she happy?

• Who was with you?
• Who were you with?

• Where was she last night?
• Where were you yesterday morning?

More ESL Conversation Questions

These are some posts with more ESL conversation questions that you might want to check out.

1. Questions with Do and Does
2. Questions with Have
3. Questions about Hobbies
4. Past Continuous Questions for the ESL Classroom
5. 40 Questions with Will: Guide & Examples
6. 40 Present Perfect Questions
7. 30 Present Continuous Questions