2007-01-05 03:20:11 · 9 answers · asked by Pavel N 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
In English, verb and subject must agree. In 'how was your weekend?' the verb is 'was' because 'weekend' is the subject and the verb must be in the third person singular to agree with the subject.
In 'Where were you?' the verb is 'were' because the subject 'you' is second person singular (or plural). You would never say, 'You was' because 'was' is third person singular, and 'you' is second person singular, and so there is no agreement between subject and verb.
2007-01-05 03:53:10 · answer #1 · answered by Marion111 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it's because when you say "How WAS your weekend," "your" is not the noun. It's really third person -- "Your" is an adjective and "weekend" is the noun. that "was" acts upon. In English second person is "was" and third person is "were." So I hope this is clear. I was stumped when I first read your question too. And I had to correct my post because I was wrong the first time.
2007-01-05 04:30:48 · answer #2 · answered by rcpeabody1 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You say this because more than likely you are asking about their weekend after it had already happened. Also, you ask them where they were after they came back. Since it is in the past you use the past tense.
Hope this helped! :)
2007-01-05 03:26:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Uually because you want to find out how someone's weekend went and where they were at the time of that weekend or other time.
2007-01-05 03:39:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to find the subject and the verb. In questions the sentence order is reversed, so you need to reverse the order of the question into a statement to clearly see the subject and verb of the sentence.
Your weekend was . . .
You were . . .
In the question "How was your weekend?" "weekend" is the subject, so it takes the singular verb "was" (It was).
In the questions "Where were you?" "you" is the subject, and it takes the plural verb "were" (you were over there).
2007-01-05 03:25:52 · answer #5 · answered by happygirl 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
because WAS and WERE are the past tense, so if it has already taken place that is teh correct way to ask teh question, if it is taking place at the time, then you would say IS and ARE as it would be the present tense
2007-01-05 03:30:39 · answer #6 · answered by mike-from-spain 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When you ask a question of somebody regarding something in the past, you use the "past" tense, and this is exactly what is happening.
2007-01-05 03:55:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because both phrases are in the past tense. The phrases are typically asked after-the-fact..
2007-01-05 03:25:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just Basic English
I am.................I was
you are............you were
they are...........they were
2007-01-05 03:27:29 · answer #9 · answered by dawleymouse 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋