warst

Warst is the second-person singular simple past form of the German verb sein, meaning "to be." It translates to "you were" in English and appears only with the pronoun du (you informal).

In standard German, the full conjugation of sein in the simple past (Präteritum) is: ich war, du warst, er/sie/es war, wir waren, ihr wart, sie/Sie waren. For example: Du warst gestern müde. This form is used in narrative writing and in some spoken contexts, particularly in regions where the Präteritum is common for describing past states or events. In everyday conversation, many speakers prefer the present perfect form du bist gewesen to convey past experiences or states, although du warst remains correct for simple past statements.

Usage notes: Warst expresses a past state or condition and is typically used with a temporal reference to situate the action in the past, such as gestern, früher, or in a narrative sequence. It does not function as a standalone verb without a subject and is always inflected to agree with the subject du. In formal writing, du warst may appear less frequently than other past tenses, depending on regional style and genre.

See also: German grammar, the Präteritum tense, and the verb sein.