Study materials
Look at these sentences in Ukrainian. There is no verb in them at all, and nobody minds.
She is a doctor.
They are at home.
I am tired.
An English sentence without a verb does not exist. So where Ukrainian stays silent, English puts in be. It is the most used word in the language, and this is where everything starts.
Three forms for every case
In the present, be has three forms, and they are handed out once and for all.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | am | I am ready. |
| he, she, it | is | She is at work. |
| you, we, they | are | We are late. |
Anything can follow be: a quality, a job, an age, a city, a place. That is exactly why the verb turns up in every other phrase.
Ben is twenty.
We are from Kyiv.
The soup is hot.
The contractions you actually hear
In conversation the full forms are hardly ever heard. Contractions take their place, and they are worth learning first.
I'm here. He's busy. They're outside.
The meaning does not change. The full form is kept for official writing, or when you are stressing something in particular.
The negative: not comes straight after be
This part is easy, because be manages on its own. The word not goes right after it, and nothing else is needed.
He isn't here.
We aren't late.
I'm not busy.
Notice the first line: am not has no ordinary contraction, so people say I'm not. And he isn't and he's not are equally correct; take whichever you like.
The question: be moves to the front
To make a question, the form of be simply moves to the start. No helper needs to be added.
Are you ready?
Is Tom at work?
Where are they?
Answers are short and repeat the same form. One small thing: in a positive answer it is not contracted.
Yes, I am. No, he isn't.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is calling in do where be is already there.
She doesn't be cold. → She isn't cold.
The second is dropping be the way Ukrainian does.
Where Anna? → Where is Anna?
The third is contracting the form in a short answer.
Yes, she's. → Yes, she is.
All three are caught by one question. Is a form of be in the sentence? If it is, it will handle everything by itself.
Try it right now
Say three sentences about yourself in English: what you do, where you are from, and how you feel right now.
Then ask an imaginary person one question and give the short answer to it.