there was, there were

Today we are going to have a look at "there was" and "there were" to see exactly when and how to use them.
Oggi studieremo "there was" e "there were" per sapere quando e come usarli esattamente.

We use "there was" and "there were" when we want to say something existed or something was present in the past.
Usiamo "there was" e "there were" quando vogliamo dire che qualcosa è esistito o era presente nel passato.

* Remember that "there was" and "there were" refer to the past and are the past tense of "there is" and "there are".
* Ricorda che "there was" e "there were" sono il passato di "there is" e "there are".

- We use there was with singular nouns. For example:
Usiamo "there was" con i sostantivi singolari. Ad esempio:

- We use there were with plural nouns. For example:
Usiamo "there were" con i sostantivi plurali. Ad esempio:

Look at this dialogue between Eric (E) and Pam (P) to see how to use "there was" and "there were" in conversation:

E: Were there many people at the show, Pam?
C'era molta gente allo spettacolo Pam?

E: It sounds great. Next time I might come along.
Sembra meraviglioso. Magari la prossima volta vengo anche io.

As you can see, we make questions by placing "was" or "were" at the beginning of the sentence followed by "there."

* Were there many people at the show?
C'era molta gente allo spettacolo?

To form the negative we add "not" to "was" or "were" to form "was not" or "were not." Alternatively, you can use the contracted forms "wasn't" or "weren't". Look at some examples:

* There were not / There weren't many people at the show.
Non c'era molta gente allo spettacolo.

* There was not / wasn't anything good on TV last night.
Non c'era niente di bello alla tele ieri sera.