The word(s) "were" appears 411 time(s) in 363 verse(s) in Quran in Muhammad Habib Shakir translation.

(221) And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs,

(222) And Firon's family took him up that he might be an enemy and a grief for them; surely Firon and Haman and their hosts were wrongdoers.

(223) And saying: Cast down you staff. So when he saw it in motion as if it were a serpent, he turned back retreating, and did not return. O Musa! come forward and fear not; surely you are of those who are secure;

(224) And you were not on the western side when We revealed to Musa the commandment, and you were not among the witnesses;

(225) But We raised up generations, then life became prolonged to them; and you were not dwelling among the people of Madyan, reciting to them Our communications, but We were the senders.

(226) And you were not on this side of the mountain when We called, but a mercy from your Lord that you may warn a people to whom no warner came before you, that they may be mindful.

(227) And were it not that there should befall them a disaster for what their hands have sent before, then they should say: Our Lord! why didst Thou not send to us an apostle so that we should have followed Thy communications and been of the believers!

(228) And when it is recited to them they say: We believe in it surely it is the truth from our Lord; surely we were submitters before this.

(229) And your Lord never destroyed the towns until He raised in their metropolis an apostle, reciting to them Our communications, and We never destroyed the towns except when their people were unjust.

(230) Say: Tell me, if Allah were to make the night to continue incessantly on you till the day of resurrection, who is the god besides Allah that could bring you light? Do you not then hear?