A1 · The basic sentence
था, थी, थे, थीं: “was” and “were”
the verb to be in the past
The past of “to be” changes with gender and number, not with the person: था, थी, थे, थीं.
At a glance
- Remember
- Tha, thi, the, thin: the past of hona looks at who it was, not at which person.
- Form
- थाmasculine singular
- Signal words
- था
- थी
- थे
- थीं
- Trap
- Wrong:मेरी बहन कल बीमार था।Right:मेरी बहन कल बीमार थी।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| masculine singular | था |
| feminine singular | थी |
| masculine plural, respect | थे |
| feminine plural, respect | थीं |
| I was (a man / a woman) | मैं था / मैं थी |
| we were | हम थे |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
था agrees with the gender and number of the subject, not with the person.
मैं कल बीमार था।I was ill yesterday. (a man speaking)
A woman, a girl or a feminine noun takes थी.
वह कल दफ़्तर में थी।She was at the office yesterday.
Plural and respect take थे; an all-female group takes थीं.
बच्चे बाहर थे।The children were outside.
In “there was”, the verb agrees with the thing that was there.
कमरे में एक कुर्सी थी।There was a chair in the room.
Example sentences
कल बहुत गर्मी थी।It was very hot yesterday.
मेरे दादाजी किसान थे।My grandfather was a farmer.
लड़कियाँ स्कूल में थीं।The girls were at school.
वह फ़िल्म अच्छी थी।That film was good.
मैं पहले दिल्ली में था।I was in Delhi before.
दुकान बंद थी।The shop was closed.
6 more example sentences
घर में कोई नहीं था।There was nobody at home.
हम बहुत थके थे।We were very tired.
आप कहाँ थे?Where were you?
मेरी नानी बहुत अच्छी थीं।My grandmother was very kind.
सड़क पर बहुत भीड़ थी।There was a big crowd on the road.
मेज़ पर दो गिलास थे।There were two glasses on the table.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English “was” is the same for everybody, so learners reach for था by default. A sister is feminine, and so is the verb: थी. Check the subject’s gender every time you write a past form.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The present of “to be” changes with the person — हूँ, हो, है. The past works the other way: it ignores the person and follows gender and number. था is masculine singular, थी feminine singular, थे masculine plural and थीं feminine plural.
So the same form serves I, you, he: a man says मैं बीमार था (I was ill), a woman मैं बीमार थी. वह कल दफ़्तर में था is about a man, वह कल दफ़्तर में थी about a woman — the pronoun वह does not tell you, the verb does.
For things, the grammatical gender of the noun decides: दुकान बंद थी (the shop was closed), because दुकान is feminine; कमरा ठंडा था (the room was cold). A group of men or a mixed group takes थे; only a group that is all feminine takes थीं.
Respect works as in the present: one respected man takes थे, one respected woman थीं. And in “there was” the verb agrees with the thing that was there: कमरे में एक कुर्सी थी.
A closer look
Why the person disappears
The forms था, थी, थे, थीं are old participles, and participles in Hindi behave like adjectives: they agree in gender and number, like अच्छा, अच्छी, अच्छे. That is the whole pattern, and it returns in every past tense.
Mixed groups
A group of one boy and five girls is grammatically masculine: बच्चे बाहर थे. थीं is only for groups in which everyone is female, or for one woman spoken of with respect.
Worth knowing (2)
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A woman speaking says मैं थी
Because the past follows gender, a woman talking about herself uses the feminine forms: मैं थी, मैं थकी थी.
मैं बहुत ख़ुश थी।I was very happy. (a woman speaking)
-
आप with a woman: थीं
Polite आप is plural, so it takes थे for a man and थीं for a woman.
आप कल कहाँ थीं?Where were you yesterday? (to a woman)
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