TO BE is the most important verb in English, especially for beginners. We use verb TO BE for so many different reasons. For example, we use it for name, age, nationality, emotions, professions, etc. The tricky part is, it probably is also the most irregular verb in our language. Let us give an example of it being used in simple present tense with positive and negative forms:
- I am - I am not (I'm not)
- You are - You are not (You aren't)
- He/She/It is - He/She/It is not (He/She/It isn't)
- We are - We are not (We aren't)
- You are - You are not (You aren't)
- They are - They are not (They aren't)
When we use simple past tense, the verb changes because it is an irregular verb and they become like below:
- I was - I was not (I wasn't)
- You were - You were not (You weren't)
- She/He/It was - She/He/It was not (She/He/It wasn't)
- We were - We were not (We weren't)
- You were - You were not (You weren't)
- They were - They were not (They weren't)
See? Because it is an irregular verb, AM, IS and ARE changed completely to WAS and WERE.
It has even more irregular usages with different tenses but that is a story for another day :) Now, let's talk about the question form of verb TO BE. In simple present tense we usually use the auxiliary verb DO with most of the verbs. However, we don't use it with verb TO BE. We simply change the order of the words.
For instance:
- He is working. -> Is he working?
As you can see, we didn't add or remove any words, we just changed the order. Same goes for its simple past form:
- She was teaching. -> Was she teaching?
Although verb TO BE is a complicated verb, it is the first verb that should be mastered if a student wants to improve their level of English.
So, to be or not to be. That IS the question! Have a great day y'all :)
