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:
My mother is a teacher.
Bill Clinton was the president of the US.
This soup is very tasty.
The children were good.
John and his wife are from Manchester.
The flowers are on the table.
Level: intermediate
We were walking down the street. Everything was wet.
It had been raining for hours.
The house was built in 1890.
The street is called Montague Street.
This car was made in Japan.
Level: advanced
We use some nouns with the verb be followed by a thatclause:
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 adjectiveswithit 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 |