No. 21 in Polish
był
"Był" means "he was" in English.
In a sentence
Był kiedyś czas, gdy ludziom żyło się lepiej.
There was once a time when people lived better.
In this sentence, 'był' is used as the third-person masculine singular past tense of 'to be', referencing a past existence or occurrence.
Ten dom był zbudowany w XIX wieku.
This house was built in the 19th century.
Here, 'był' acts as part of a passive construction in the past tense, indicating the state of having been built.
Gdyby był tutaj, moglibyśmy zapytać go o radę.
If he were here, we could ask him for advice.
In this example, 'był' conveys a hypothetical condition in the third-person singular form, reflecting subjunctive mood usage.
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