There are different kinds of past tenses in french. For example, the verb to be with " le passé simple" employed would be:
Je fus ( I was)
Tu fus ( You were)
Il fut ( He was)
Nous fûmes ( We were)
Vous fûtes ( You plural were)
Ils furents ( They were)
Passe simple is used when you are referring to an action from the past, usually one that occured only for a short period of time. Today, le passe simple isn't used very often due to its very formal connotation.