Sirve para hablar de existencia en el pasado: “había / hubo”. There was = singular/no contable. There were = plural.
1) Formas básicas
Afirm. There was / There were Neg. There wasn’t / There weren’t Int. Was there…? / Were there…?
| Tipo | Singular / No contable | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Afirmativa | There was a problem. (Había un problema.) | There were many people. (Había muchas personas.) |
| Negativa | There wasn’t any milk. (No había leche.) | There weren’t buses yesterday. (No había autobuses.) |
| Pregunta | Was there a meeting? (¿Hubo reunión?) | Were there problems? (¿Hubo problemas?) |
| Respuestas cortas | Yes, there was. / No, there wasn’t. | Yes, there were. / No, there weren’t. |
Contracciones: there wasn’t / there weren’t. En preguntas, invierte: Was there…? / Were there…?
2) Contables, no contables y cantidades
a/an some / any many / much a lot of / lots of
| Tipo | Estructura | Ejemplo |
|---|---|---|
| Singular contable | There was + a/an + N | There was a cat in the garden. |
| No contable | There was + (some/any) + U | There was some water on the floor. |
| Plural contable | There were + (some/many/a lot of) + Npl | There were a lot of cars last night. |
| Negativa/pregunta | There wasn’t/weren’t + any … | There weren’t any tickets left. |
Tip: many → plural contable; much → no contable. A2 también usa a lot of / lots of (neutro).
3) Tiempo y lugar
yesterday last night/week/year … ago / in 2010 at the party in the city on the table
- Tiempo: There were fireworks last night. · There was a concert two days ago.
- Lugar: There was a note on the fridge. · There were tourists in the museum.
- Orden natural: There was… + lugar/tiempo al final: There was a storm in 1999.
4) There was/were vs It was
| Función | Usa | Ejemplo |
|---|---|---|
| Existencia (había) | There was/were | There were many people at the park. |
| Descripción/identidad | It was | It was crowded. (Estaba lleno.) |
Primero “existencia” con there; después puedes describir con it.
5) Errores comunes
| Incorrecto | Correcto | Razón |
|---|---|---|
| *There was many people* | There were many people. | Plural → were |
| *Was there many?* | Were there many? | Pregunta plural → were |
| *There weren’t much chairs* | There weren’t many chairs. | “chairs” = contable → many |
| *It was a party yesterday there* | There was a party yesterday. | Existencia → there was |
6) Mini-práctica
- Completa:
________ a problem with the app last night. (sing.) - Negativa:
There ________ (not) any buses after 11 pm. - Pregunta plural:
________ ________ good restaurants near here in 2015? - Elige (there was / there were):
_____ a lot of people at the concert two days ago. - Corrige:
*There was many problems yesterday.* → _____________________________
Soluciones ejemplo: 1) There was · 2) weren’t · 3) Were there · 4) There were · 5) There were many problems yesterday.
7) Próximo paso
Continúa con Comparativos (taller, bigger, more…) para comparar personas, objetos y lugares.