What is the difference between Are and Were?

Both are and were are linking verbs. Linking verbs as the connectors of the subject to the primary verb and additional information about the subject. If you want to say something that has already ended, you will say, "The cats were in the living room playing with their toys." This example means that the action of playing occurred in the past. The verb was used to differentiate the past and the present.

Simply put, it is what was. The word is used because it states that something is in the process of being, such as, the cats are in the living room playing with their toys. The act of playing is still happening. The word is used in sentences where the subject is plural or plural in form, and the action or condition occurs in the present.