Πού ήσουνα; - where were you?

Question

In one of my textbooks is this question: "Πού ήσουνα;" which means "where are you?" This makes no sense.

However, I learned that the past tense ending 'α' is for the first person, and 'ες' is for the second person singular. So why does it not say 'Πού ήσουνες' or the more commonly used 'Πού ήσουν'?

Answer 1

Hello

"Πού ήσουνα;" means "where were you?".  It does not mean "where are you?".  

The past endings -α , -ες , -ε etc apply to regular verbs of groups Α and Β in active voice.

The verb είμαι = I am is an irregular verb. It does not belong to one of these groups and its conjugation is different.

The Past tense of είμαι:

ήμουν

ήσουν

ήταν

ήμασταν 

ήσασταν 

ήταν

"ήσουνα" is an oral variation of "ήσουν". Τhe α in the end is put for phonetic reasons, when the following word starts with a consonant.

Example:

Πού ήσουν εχθές; (the word after ήσουν starts with a vowel)

Πού ήσουνα προχθες; (the word after ήσουνα starts with a consonant)