N’étais (en. Wasn't)

ne té

Meaning & Definition

EnglishFrench

verb

Indicates a state or condition in the past.

When I was young, I didn’t think about the future.

Quand j’étais jeune, je ne pensais pas à l’avenir.

Expresses a negation of a state or condition in the past.

I was not present at the meeting.

Je n’étais pas présent à la réunion.

Used to talk about past situations.

I was not aware of the incident.

Je n’étais pas au courant de l’incident.

Contraction of 'ne' and 'étais', form of the verb être in the imperfect tense.

I wasn't there.

Indicates the physical absence of a person at a given moment.

Je n’étais pas là.

If I were there.

Involving regret for not having been present.

Si j’étais là.

He wasn't happy.

Indicates a negative emotional state in the past.

Il n’était pas heureux.

était

Form of the verb être in the third person singular in the imperfect tense.

était

être

Verb meaning to exist or to have a certain characteristic.

être

n'étais pas

Negative form of 'j'étais'.

n'étais pas

Used to express that one does not remember a past experience.

Frankly, I wasn't even aware of what was happening.

Franchement, je n’étais même pas conscient de ce qui se passait.

Expresses indifference regarding a past event.

It doesn’t matter, I wasn't there anyway.

Peu importe, je n’étais pas là de toute façon.