The Verb “To Be” Explained, With Examples and Exercises

What are the “to be” verbs?

The verb to be is the most common verb in English. It means to exist, to occur, or to have the characteristics of something.

Here is a quick list of the to be verbs and their functions:

To be verbs	Function
be	bare infinitive
am, is, are	present tense
was, were	past tense
been	past participle
being	present participle, gerund

Forms of “to be” verbs

The verb “to be” is most commonly used in the simple present and simple past tenses. These tenses use different words depending on the person and number of the subject.

Simple present tense

	Singular	Plural
First person	(I) am	(we) are
Second person	(you) are	(you) are
Third person	(he / she / it) is	(they) are

Examples of the present tense:

• I am 22 years old. My sister is 29.
• Steve is ill. He is in bed.
• My brother is scared of dogs.
• Ann and I are good friends.
• Your keys are on the table.

Simple past tense

	Singular	Plural
First person	(I) was	(we) were
Second person	(you) were	(you) were
Third person	(he / she / it) was	(they) were

Examples of the past tense:

• I was tired last night.
• Where was Kate yesterday?
• The weather was good last week.
• You were late yesterday.
• They were hungry after the journey.

Grammar Rules

1. Negatives

While writing negative verbs can be confusing, it’s fairly simple with the to be verbs. In the present and past tenses, put the negative word immediately after “to be”.

Don’t forget that you can use contractions (short forms). These are especially common in speech.

Examples:

• I’m tired, but I am not hungry.
• Tom isn’t interested in politics. He is interested in music.
• Jane isn’t at home at the moment. She is at work.
• Those people aren’t English. They are Australian.
• The hotel was comfortable, but it wasn’t expensive.

2. Questions

The verb to be also follows its own rules for questions. While other verbs use the auxiliary verb to do for yes-no questions, to be does not. The verb “to be” still comes before the subject.

Examples:

• Am I late?
• Is your mother at home?
• Are your shoes new?
• Was the weather good when you were on holiday?
• Were they at the party?

Practice exercises

Positive forms 0 / 8

Negative forms 0 / 8

Questions 0 / 8