"il/elle était ..." translates as "he/she was ..." in French.
Ex: Il était là depuis le matin - he was there since the morning.
Elle était grande - she was tall.
"Etait" is the past tense form of the verb "Γͺtre" in French, which means "to be" in English. It is used to indicate the past tense or past participle form of the verb.
It depends: I was = J'etais, He was = Il etait, She was = Elle etait
etait (with an accent on the 'e')
In French, "she was" is translated as "elle Γ©tait".
Quand tu etait petit
Le temps etait beau
il etait une fois...
Son talent etait le basketball
comment etait ton ecole primaire
How was your day at school? (This is English transposed into French)
As the past participle of 'drink', an example would be for 'he was drunk' - il etait ivre
"Pendant le jour il était ..." means "during the day he was ..." in French.
How was your trip?