how to pronounce were

/wɜːɹ/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of were is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

were is pronounced in one syllable

press buttons with phonetic symbols to learn how to precisely pronounce each sound of were

1.

ɜː

example pitch curve for pronunciation of were

test your pronunciation of were

press the "test" button to check how closely you can replicate the pitch of a native speaker in your pronunciation of were

video examples of were pronunciation

An example use of were in a speech by a native speaker of british english:

“… Goodwood one time we were it was like a …”

meanings of were

verb:

First/second/third-person singular/plural simple present/past subjunctive of be.
Second-person singular simple past indicative of be.
First/second/third-person plural simple past indicative of be.
First/third-person singular simple past indicative of be.

noun:

Alternative form of wer (“man; wergeld").
The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.

were frequency in english - A1 level of CEFR

the word were occurs in english on average 3228.3 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for A1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.

topics were can be related to

it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that were can be often used in the following areas:

1) people, society, and culture;