How to use the verb to be in English
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Be in the present simple tense
Affirmative form
Construction: subject + be
- I am
- you are
- he / she / it is
- we are
- you are
- they are
The contracted form is very common (especially orally):
- I am → I’m
- you are → you’re
- he is → he’s
- she is → she’s
- it is → it’s
- we are → we’re
- you are → you’re
- they are → they’re
Negative form
Simply add NOT after the verb:
- I am not
- you are not
- he / she / it is not
- we are not
- you are not
- they are not
The negative form can be contracted:
- I am not → I’m not
- he is not → he isn’t OR he’s not
- you are not → you aren’t OR you’re not
Interrogative form
To ask a question, it’s simple: you have to reverse the subject and be. The verb Be is then placed at the beggining of the sentence:
- am I making myself clear?
- are you happy?
- is he ok?
- are we arrived yet?
Be in preterite (= past simple)
Affirmative form
- I was
- you were
- he / she / it was
- we were
- you were
Be careful, there is no contracted form.
Negative form
- I was not
- you were not
- he / she / it was not
- we were not
- you were not
- they were not
The negative form can be contracted:
- was not → wasn’t
- were not → weren’t
Interrogative form
Just like the present, be is placed at the beginning of the sentence, but at the preterit tense (was or were):
- was I?
- were you?
- was he / she / it?
- were we?
- were vou?
- were they?
How to use the verb to be
In English, the verb BE can be either verb or auxiliary.
As a main verb:
With a name, to talk about a characteristic:
- Sam is very tall.
- My mother was a teacher.
- This cake is very tasty.
- The children were good.
- Paul and his wife are from New York.
- The flowers are on the table.
As an auxiliary:
To make the continuous form with -ing:
- They are eating
- It had been raining for hours.
To do the passive voice:
- It’s broken
- This car was made in Japan.
REMEMBER!
Be has a lot of different meanings:
To talk about a state:
- I’m hungry / thirsty
- I’m lucky
To say the age of someone:
- I’m 24.
- He is 17.
- She is my age.
To talk about the weather
- It’s hot / it’s cold today.
To talk about size:
- She is the same height as her husband.
- He is 6 feet tall.
- How tall are you? (NOT
How high are you?) - That tree is about 20 metres high.
⚠️ to talk about weight, do not use to be but the verb weigh: He weighs 70 kilos. (He is 70 kilos. = ❌)
To indicate a distance:
- It’s 5 km to the next town.
⚠️ There are often mistakes with Born
- I was born (NOT:
I amborn) - He was born (NOT:
He isborn) - They were born (NOT:
They areborn)
Question tags with TO BE
The following formula must be used: be (contracted if negative) + personal pronoun.
Positive sentences are followed by a negative question tag, and negative sentences by a positive question tag:
- You are Paul, aren’t you?
- Miguel is from Spain, isn’t he?
- He isn’t coming, is he?
- Linda was tired, wasn’t she?
- This isn’t working, is it?
- We weren’t late, were we?
Phrasal verbs with BE
There are many of them! Here are some of the most common ones:
be about to (= be ready to do something)
- The bus is about to leave
- He was about to say something.
be off (= to leave / to stop working)
- Bye guys, I’m off!
- Make sure the lights are off.
be out (= be absent from home or work)
- You can’t talk to my boss. He’s out.
be out of (= to run out of something)
- I am out of flour, I can’t make pancakes.
- He’s been out of work for a long time.
be up (= be awake / increase / expire)
- It’s ten o’clock and Tina isn’t up yet.
- The price of bread is up again this week.
- The warranty on the camera is up. If it breaks now we’ll have to pay for it.
be up to (= planning a bad move, something bad)
- What are those children up to now?
BE + GOING TO
Be + going to express an intention in the future, or a certainty:
- We’re going to have a party.
- He’s going to wash the car.
- I think it’s going to rain.
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