The verb “to be” is one of the most fundamental and essential verbs in the English language. It serves as both a main verb and an auxiliary verb, and its primary function is to link the subject of a sentence to its subject complement, which can be a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective. In its various forms, “to be” helps to establish identity, existence, location, state of being, and more.
The conjugations of the verb “to be” in the present tense are:
- I am
- You are
- He/She/It is
- We are
- You are
- They are
Example sentences using “to be” as the main verb:
- I am a teacher.
- You are tall.
- She is happy.
- We are students.
- They are in the park.
In the past tense, “to be” is conjugated as follows:
- I was
- You were
- He/She/It was
- We were
- You were
- They were
Example sentences using “to be” in the past tense:
- I was tired yesterday.
- You were late for the meeting.
- She was at home all day.
- We were happy to see each other.
- They were on vacation last week.
“To be” is also used as an auxiliary verb to create continuous tenses (present continuous, past continuous, and future continuous) and the passive voice. In these cases, “to be” is combined with the present participle (-ing form) of another verb or the past participle in the case of the passive voice.
Present continuous tense:
- I am studying.
- She is reading a book.
- We are talking.
Past continuous tense:
- He was working late.
- They were playing soccer.
Future continuous tense:
- We will be waiting for you.
- The team will be practicing all day.
Passive voice:
- The book was written by a famous author.
- The house is being cleaned.