The verb to be

Conjugation of the verb be

We use the verb to be to identify things and give information about them.

Singular	Plural
I am You are He is She is It is	We are You are They are

Examples :

• I am 24 years old.
• You are a student.
• He is from USA.
• She is very talented.
• It is my dog.
• We are friends.
• They are from here.

It is common to use the contracted form of the verb to be with personal pronouns:

I am	I’m
You are	You’re
He is	He's
She is	She's
It is	It's
We are	We're
They are	They're

Examples :

• He’s very happy today.
• We’re friends.
• She’s a good teacher.
• I’m 23 years old.

The negative form of the verb be

We can make negative sentences by using the word not.

Examples

• She is not a doctor.
• He is not my friends.
• We are not married.
• They’re not happy.

We often use the contracted form of the verb to be and the word not.

I am not	I’m not	I’m not
You are not	You aren’t	You’re not
He is not	He isn’t	He’s not
She is not	She isn’t	She’s not
It is not	It isn’t	It’s not
We are not	We aren’t	We’re not
They are not	They aren’t	They’re not

Examples

• He isn’t happy today, he got some bad news.
• There aren't any students in the classroom.
• It isn’t sunny outside.
• The cat isn’t hungry.
• She isn’t a good student.

Make questions with the verb be

We use questions with the verb to be to identify things and get information about them.
To make questions with the verb to be we use: be + subject + ---- ?

1. Are you a teacher?
2. Yes, I am.
3. No, I’m not.

Note:

In positive short answers we don’t use contractions.
Yes, I’m. (Incorrect)

Examples :

• Are you a student?
• Is he your brother?
• Are you OK?
• Am I late?
• Are your hands clean?
• Are you tired?
• Am I right?

The question words often combine with the verb “is” to make contractions.
What is = what’s.
When is = when’s.
How is = how’s.

Examples :

• Hello, what’s your name?
• When’s your birthday?
• How’s your mother?