How to translate "was"
How to translate "was"
2 Answers
Was is the past tense of "to be"
In Spanish there are 2 verbs for "to be"
Ser and estar
To see how to conjugate them click on the "Conjugate" tab above.
Hello Bill, Ian is correct that there are two verbs in Spanish meaning to be: ser and estar (past: was ) but it is pointless to attempt to translate individual words in any language ...including Spanish without a proper context. After all, you don't start a conversation with somebody by saying Was .. who was? he was/she was ??? ....doing what ?
Here are some examples of sentences using the verbs ser and estar in the past, to mean someone was being /doing something:
When I was (ie: was being/used to be) a child, my cousins and I used to play football in the park every saturday afternoon. = Cuando era niño, mis primos y yo jugábamos el fútbol en el parque todos los sábados de la tarde.
She was watching television when her brother entered the living room = Miraba la televisión cuando su hermano entró el salón.
He was reading in the garden when the postman came (arrived)
= Estaba leyendo en el jardín cuando el cartero llegó.
One word, for example, the word get in English can be translated as, obtain, (obtener) receive, (recibir) understand, (entender) bring/fetch (traer) etc..depending on how the person intends to use it
As I'm sure you can see, context is essential to give meaning to translation of words and phrases.so please provide an example, in either language, (Spanish or English) showing how you intend to use the word/phrase next time. These can be very simple sentences eg: He was sad. Thank you. 
