{"id":1188,"date":"2020-09-18T22:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T21:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.englishforums.com\/blog\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2020-09-18T22:00:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T21:00:05","slug":"be-verbs-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/be-verbs-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Verbs: What You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What are the 8 be verbs?<\/h2>\n<p>We use &#8220;be&#8221; verbs in English to indicate a state of being. They take many forms depending on the subject and tense. Here is a be verbs list:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>am<\/li>\n<li>are<\/li>\n<li>is<\/li>\n<li>was<\/li>\n<li>were<\/li>\n<li>been<\/li>\n<li>being<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is a simple form of a verb?<\/h2>\n<p>One of the factors that determine the be verb you use in English is the subject, which may be singular or plural:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>am; are<\/li>\n<li>is; are<\/li>\n<li>was; were<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For <strong>example<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I <strong>am <\/strong>eating; we <strong>are <\/strong>eating<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(I = subject; eating = verb)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>he <strong>is <\/strong>teaching; they <strong>are <\/strong>teaching<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(he = subject; teaching = verb)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I <strong>was <\/strong>driving; we <strong>were <\/strong>driving<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(She = subject; driving = verb)<br \/>\n&#8220;<strong>been<\/strong>&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>being<\/strong>&#8221; do not change with the plural or singular form in English.<\/p>\n<h2>Variations of be verb with Tense<\/h2>\n<p>The &#8220;be verb&#8221; can also change according to the four English tenses: present tense; past tense; past participle; present participle.<\/p>\n<h3>Present tense vs. past tense of be verbs<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>I am; I was<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example <\/strong>in singular form: I <strong>am <\/strong>cycling; I <strong>was <\/strong>cycling<br \/>\n<strong>Example <\/strong>in plural form: we <strong>are <\/strong>cycling; we <strong>were <\/strong>cycling<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You are; you were<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example <\/strong>in singular form: you <strong>are <\/strong>happy; you <strong>were <\/strong>happy<br \/>\n<strong>Example <\/strong>in plural: they <strong>are late<\/strong>; you <strong>were <\/strong>late<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>he\/she\/it <strong>is<\/strong>; he\/ she\/ it <strong>was<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Example <\/strong>in singular: he\/she\/it <strong>is <\/strong>fast; he\/ she\/ it <strong>was <\/strong>fast<br \/>\n<strong>Example <\/strong>in plural: they <strong>are <\/strong>fast; they <strong>were <\/strong>fast<\/p>\n<h3>Be verb in past participle tense: been<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Example<\/strong>: they have <strong>been <\/strong>playing<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: I have <strong>been <\/strong>idling<\/p>\n<h3>Be verb in present participle tense: being<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Example<\/strong>: you are <strong>being <\/strong>stubborn<\/p>\n<h2>What does to be verb mean?<\/h2>\n<h3>Use in Negative Sentences (&#8220;to be&#8221; verb + not)<\/h3>\n<p>You can write negative sentences with &#8220;to be&#8221; verbs by adding the word &#8220;not.&#8221; For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>he <strong>is <\/strong>happy; he <strong>is <\/strong>not happy<\/li>\n<li>you <strong>are <\/strong>sleepy; you <strong>are <\/strong>not sleepy<\/li>\n<li>they <strong>were <\/strong>crying; they <strong>were <\/strong>not crying<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Be verb sentences with questions<\/h3>\n<p>They can be used to construct &#8220;yes&#8221; or &#8220;no&#8221; questions in English by using the be verb at the start of the question.<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: <strong>Are <\/strong>you single?<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: <strong>Is <\/strong>she your friend?<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: <strong>Am <\/strong>I in trouble?<br \/>\nBe verbs can also be used to ask questions in progressive forms in the same way as above.<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: <strong>Is <\/strong>it raining outside?<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: <strong>Am <\/strong>I seeing you today?<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: <strong>Are <\/strong>the kids coming over?<br \/>\n<strong>Note<\/strong>: &#8220;be&#8221; in itself is used as an auxiliary verb and not a &#8220;to be verb&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Passive voice<\/h2>\n<p>Be verbs can also be used in passive voice to show more interest in the person\/ object receiving the action than the person\/ object executing it. In this case, you cannot use the base form of the verb (that is, you have to add &#8220;es&#8221;, &#8220;ed&#8221; or &#8220;ing&#8221;).<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: the ball <strong>was <\/strong>kick<strong>ed<\/strong> by the boy<br \/>\n<strong>Example<\/strong>: they <strong>were <\/strong>massag<strong>ed<\/strong> at home<\/p>\n<h2>Practice questions<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><em>We _______ going to school early tomorrow (is, are)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I________ in the bathroom when you called (were, was)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>You have _______ very busy lately (being, been)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I was ______ funny (been, being)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>They are ______ in business anymore (always, not)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>He ______ _______ in class today (were not, was not, is not)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>_______ James your neighbor? (are, is)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>________ students allowed in the staff room? (were, was)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Answers<\/strong>: <em>are, was, been, being, not, was not, is, were\/was<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to know all about be verbs? The English Forward team can help you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}