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• were
  were

  verb

  a second person singular past indicative; first, second, and third person plural past indicative; and past subjunctive of be.
• we're
  we're

  contraction of we are:

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Were appears in the word werewolf. What was the original meaning of this instance of were?

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were

¹ American  

[wur, wer, wair] / wɜr, wər, wɛər /

verb

1. a second person singular past indicative; first, second, and third person plural past indicative; and past subjunctive of be.

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we're ² American  

[weer] / wɪər /

1. contraction of we are:

   We're happy to see you.

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were ¹ British  

/ wɜː, wə /

verb

1. the plural form of the past tense (indicative mood) of be and the singular form used with you. It is also used as a subjunctive, esp in conditional sentences

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we're ² British  

/ wɪə /

contraction

1. we are

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Grammar

See subjunctive.

Usage

See contraction.

Were, as a remnant of the past subjunctive in English, is used in formal contexts in clauses expressing hypotheses ( if he were to die, she would inherit everything ), suppositions contrary to fact ( if I were you, I would be careful ), and desire ( I wish he were there now ). In informal speech, however, was is often used instead

Etymology

Origin of were

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English wǣre past subjunctive, wǣre 2nd-person singular past and wǣron 2nd-person plural past of wesan “to be”; cognate with Dutch, German waren, Danish var. See was

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

were we're

These brokers, many of whom were in the Korean community, would gobble up tee times, then advertise them on social media, particularly the Korean app KakaoTalk.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

Sources confirmed to the paper that the arrests were neither "pre-planned nor intelligence-led".

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

The vast majority of awards were doled out offstage during an evening far better known for its performances and stage antics than its prizes.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

In previous instances where the 10-year yield breached 5%, returns over the following 12 months were strong, he has been telling clients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

“Don’t you dare sit there and act like you were mother of the year,” he says bitterly.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

"Next year it'll be banning something else relatively small...until we're all just eating, you know, chicken nuggets, and we'll have no culinary heritage whatsoever."

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

But where the evidence is thinner, AI could help us examine what we’re experiencing, consider alternative meanings, and decide for ourselves what to carry forward and how to act on it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

"If we continue like this, we're just going to be weak individual players waiting to be taken out. If we don't change something pretty fundamentally and pretty urgently, we're just going to be roadkill."

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

“It’s trying to figure out how much we’re going to push him,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

The butler said, "We would let you go, even though we're sorry to lose you, but every governor must account for his administration."

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios