Verb To Be

Welcome to the world of English grammar, and our golden topic, the Verb To Be. It’s an irregular verb and conjugates into eight different forms:

What You'll Learn

be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been.

A bit like one of the X-Men!

The Verb To Be is one of the most important and commonly used verbs in English. It changes form more so than any other verb.

It can be used as a main verb to explain a state or condition, and it can also be used as an auxiliary verb (helping verb) along with a main verb and sometimes another auxiliary verb, depending on verb tense.

In this introduction, we’ll go through a basic understanding of each verb form in the Present, Past and Future Simple Tenses, but be sure to go through each one in greater detail as you advance your English studies.

As well as explanations there’ll be short quizzes for you to try and test your new found English language knowledge. Good luck!

>> Get some free Verb To Be Worksheets to print off <<

Click here for Verb To Be Negative or Question forms…

Verb To Be – Present Simple Tense

Present Simple Tense is generally used to say how or what something is at that time. The Verb To Be forms: am, is, are.

*For all 3rd person singular, we mean the subject is: he, she or it. Any can be used, but we’ll only use one in each example.

For the affirmative + we simply add the Verb To Be after the subject and before the predicate (noun/adjective), so the basic construction will be: subject + am/is/are + predicate.

1st Person Singular:	I am hungry.
2nd Person Singular:	You are late.
3rd Person Singular:	He is quite tall.
1st Person Plural:	We are students.
2nd Person Plural:	You are both tall.
3rd Person Plural:	They are hungry.

You can contract the verb with the subject of the sentence. This is optional, but especially useful when speaking.

1st Person Singular:	I'm hungry.
2nd Person Singular:	You're late.
3rd Person Singular:	He's quite tall.
1st Person Plural:	We're students.
2nd Person Plural:	You're both tall.
3rd Person Plural:	They're hungry.

Now try this short quiz

Verb To Be Present Tense

1 / 5

1. Which verb to be conjugation do we use for the sentence:

I _________ a student.

2 / 5

2. Which verb to be conjugation do we use for the sentence:

You _______ excited.

3 / 5

3. Which verb to be form do we use for the sentence:

They _____ at home.

4 / 5

4. Which verb to be form do we use in this sentence?

James and Tom __________ brothers.

5 / 5

5. Which is the correct verb to be form for this sentence:

The dog _______ black and white.

Your score is

Verb To Be – Past Simple Tense

Past Simple tense is generally used with verb to be to say how or what something was in the past.

The verb forms: was and were. So the basic sentence construction is subject + was/were + predicate. Because it’s the past simple tense, we sometimes need to put a time reference in the sentence, eg. yesterday, this morning, last year

1st Person Singular:	I was there.
2nd Person Singular:	You were late.
3rd Person Singular:	He was a good driver.
1st Person Plural:	We were in Scotland last year.
2nd Person Plural:	You were both good friends.
3rd Person Plural:	They were at my house yesterday.

You cannot contract the Verb To Be with the subject in the Past Simple.

Now try this short quiz

Verb To Be Past Simple

1 / 5

Write the correct Verb to Be conjugation for this Past Simple Tense sentence.

John and Laura _____ in the audience earlier.

2 / 5

Write the correct Verb to Be conjugation for this Past Simple Tense sentence.

The dog _____ a good boy today.

3 / 5

Write the correct Verb to Be conjugation for this Past Simple Tense sentence.

You _____ with him when he got here.

4 / 5

Write the correct Verb To Be conjugation for this past simple sentence.

I _____ at the match yesterday.

5 / 5

Write in the correct Verb To Be conjugation for the past simple tense.

She _____ a good dancer.

Your score is

>> Get some free Verb To Be Worksheets to print off <<

Verb To Be Future Simple

Verb To Be used in the future simple is a way of saying how or what something will be at any time in the future.

As it’s a future tense, we need to add an auxiliary verb: will, and the bare infinitive: be. So for every person, we just say subject + will be + predicate.

1st Person Singular:	I will be hungry when we get home.
2nd Person Singular:	You will be late.
3rd Person Singular:	It will be quite a long queue.
1st Person Plural:	We will be in Grade 12 next year.
2nd Person Plural:	You will be in England at the same time as me.
3rd Person Plural:	They will be tired after their run.

You can contract future simple, but you have to contract the subject of the sentence with the verb will. This is optional, but especially useful when speaking.

1st Person Singular:	I'll be hungry when we get home.
2nd Person Singular:	You'll be late.
3rd Person Singular:	It'll be quite a long queue.
1st Person Plural:	We'll be in Grade 12 next year.
2nd Person Plural:	You'll be in England at the same time as me.
3rd Person Plural:	They'll be tired after their run.