en:grammar:past:the_past_simple_of_to_be [Ressources pour les apprenants]

They were at the reception desk 5 minutes ago but they are not there now.

Affirmative	Negative Full form Contracted form		Interrogative
I was	I was not	I wasn't	Was I?
You were	You were not	You weren't	Were you?
He was	He was not	He wasn't	Was he?
She was	She was not	She wasn't	Was she?
It was	It was not	It wasn't	Was it?
We were	We were not	We weren't	Were we?
They were	They were not	They weren't	Were they?

Short answers

Question:	'to be' + subject + adjective/noun	Was she at work?
Affirmative answer:	Yes + subject + 'to be'	Yes, she was.
Negative answer:	No + subject + 'to be' + not	No, she wasn't.

Note that

We do not use the contracted form for affirmative answers.

Affirmative	Negative
Yes, I was.	No, I wasn't.
Yes, you were.	No, you weren't.
Yes, she was.	No, she wasn't.
Yes, he was.	No, he wasn't.
Yes, it was.	No, it wasn't.
Yes, we were.	No, we weren't.
Yes, they were.	No, they weren't.

Hans was 35 last year so this year he is 36.

There was a lot of traffic in London last night

Tom and Mary were in Paris last week, they were not in London.

Were your visitors Swiss? No they weren't, they were French.

We were in the Alps for our holiday, it was wonderful.