Level: beginner
The verb be has the following forms:
| The verb be | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive form | be | ||
| Present simple: | + | I am, I'm You are, You're He/She/It is, He/She/It's |
We are, we're You are, you're They are, they're |
| ? | Am I? Are you? Is he/she it? |
Are we? Are you? Are they? |
|
| - | I am not, I’m not You are not, You aren’t, You're not He/She/It is not, He/She/It isn’t, He's not |
We are not, We aren’t, We're not You are not, You aren’t, You're not They are not, They aren't, They're not |
|
| Past simple | + | I was You were He/She/It was |
We were You were They were |
| ? | Was I? Were you? Was he/she/it? |
Were we? Were you? Were they? |
|
| - | I was not, I wasn't You were not, You weren't He/She/It was not, He/She/It wasn't |
We were not, We weren't You were not, You weren't They were not, They weren't |
|
| Past participle | been | ||
| Present perfect | has/have been | ||
| Past perfect | had been | ||
| Present participle | being | ||
| Present continuous | am/is/are being | ||
| Past continuous | was/were being | ||
We use the infinitive form be with modal verbs:
It will be dark soon.
They might be tired.
The verb be is a link verb. It is used:
- with a noun phrase:
My mother is a teacher.
Bill Clinton was the president of the US.
- with an adjective:
This soup is very tasty.
The children were good.
- with a prepositional phrase:
John and his wife are from Manchester.
The flowers are on the table.
- am, is, are 1
- ex. am, is, are 1
- am, is, are 2
- ex. am, is, are 2
- am, is, are, was, were 1
- ex. am, is, are, was, were 1
- am, is, are, was, were 2
- ex. am, is, are, was, were 2
Level: intermediate
- with the -ing form to make the continuous aspect:
We were walking down the street. Everything was wet.
It had been raining for hours.
- with the past participle to make the passive voice:
The house was built in 1890.
The street is called Montague Street.
This car was made in Japan.
- be in continuous and passive forms 1
- ex. be in continuous and passive forms 1
- be in continuous and passive forms 2
- ex. be in continuous and passive forms 2
Level: advanced
We use some nouns with the verb be followed by a that clause:
The problem was that I had no money.
The obvious explanation is that he simply forgot.
The danger is that the whole thing might catch fire.
It's a pity that the children aren't here.
The lucky thing is that nobody was hurt.
Nouns commonly used in this way are:
|
answer |
hope |
We use some nouns with the verb be followed by a to-infinitive:
The only way is to start all over again.
His answer is to work a bit harder.
Her only hope was to find a new job as soon as possible.
The easiest thing would be to ask your father.
Nouns commonly used in this way are:
| answer decision hope idea intention |
promise thing way wish |
To comment on statements, we use some adjectives with it and the verb be and a that clause or wh-clause:
It's lucky that we met.
It's not clear what happened.
It was amazing how he managed to escape.
Adjectives commonly used in this way are:
| awful bad clear extraordinary funny good interesting |
lucky obvious possible probable sad true unlikely |
- be with nouns and adjectives 1
- ex. be with nouns and adjectives 1
- be with nouns and adjectives 2
- ex. be with nouns and adjectives 2
Comments
Hello dipakrgandhi,
In my estimation, that is a mistake. I agree with you: 'be' should be omitted. This is probably just an error their proofreader missed.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear Team,
Kindly explain me the below context,
We are blessed with a baby boy, and
We have blessed with a baby boy.
Which one is more correct?
Hello rama_bee,
The normal phrase is as follows:
The phrase is most often used by religious people as it suggests a blessing from God.
The first version ('are blessed') is also grammatically correct but is much less common and would be only used as an announcement at or just after the moment of birth.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear Peter,
Thank you very much for the explanation.
RamaB
when to use is+being?could you show me an example?
Hi manuel24,
When we use 'be' in the present continuous, it usually means that we are talking about an event or an action that is happening right now rather than a more permanent quality. For example, if we have a very intelligent friend, we'd say 'She is very intelligent'. But if our friend is doing something senseless, which is uncharacteristic of her, we could say 'She is being stupid' to show that we are referring to this specific action at this specific time and not her general character.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sir. Could you tell me what the verb 'get' means in this sentence?
I'm motivated to get my work done even faster.
Hi Crokong,
The meaning of 'get' here is 'cause' -- see the fifth dictionary entry on this page for more.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello EnglishTeam
Could you kindly explain how to use "being able" in a sentence correctly.
Thanks
Dona
Hello Dona,
As a verb 'be able' is not used in a continuous form. However, we can use it as a gerund:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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