Weren't

How to spell weren't

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce weren't

What does weren't mean?

1. verbA contraction of 'were not', used to negate a plural or second-person past form of the verb 'to be'.

Weren't in a sentence

• The documents weren't ready when the auditor arrived.

• They weren't at home during the delivery, so the parcel was returned.

Where does weren't come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a contraction of 'were not', and each half has a long history. 'Were' descends from Old English 'wǣron', the past plural form of the verb 'wesan', meaning 'to be', and it shares an ancient Germanic root with the German 'waren'. 'Not' goes back to Old English 'nāwiht', literally 'no thing' or 'nothing at all', which wore down over the centuries into the short word we use today. The clitic '-n't' began appearing in writing during the 1600s as casual speech compressed 'not' onto the verb in front of it. The apostrophe was introduced to mark the missing 'o' of 'not', which is exactly the spot writers tend to forget; the apostrophe sits between the 'n' and the 't', not before the 'n'. Because 'were' and 'wear' sound similar in some accents, careful spelling keeps 'weren't' tied firmly to the verb 'be'.

How the word is built

• were (past tense plural of 'be', from Old English wǣron)
• -n't (reduced clitic form of 'not')