When the verb being is used in English. Why are AM, IS, ARE needed in English?

It is with this verb that you need to start studying English grammar. Verbs in English language do not vary by person, but the verb to be is an exception. With the help of this verb we will learn to compose simple sentences, which in Russian do not contain a verb, for example, “I am a student”, “he is at home”, “this is interesting”, etc. In English it is unacceptable to form without a verb that performs the action, and to be serves as a linking verb. For example, to say “I am a student,” we must insert the desired form of the linking verb to be and, as a result, the sentence will take on the meaning “I am a student” - “I (am) a student.”

Forms of the verb to be in the present tense

In the present tense, the verb to be has three forms: AM, IS, ARE:

• Remember: to be and AM, IS, ARE are not 4 different ones, but forms the same verb:

(We hope our dragon will help you remember this)

Let's look at how the verb to be changes in the present tense

Affirmative form

• We are friends - we are friends
• They are busy - they are busy
• The book is thick - the book is thick
• It is a cat
• She is clever - she is smart

Negative form

To form a negative conjugation form of a given verb, you need to put the negative particle “not” after one of the required forms of the verb (am, is or are). Here are some examples of negative sentences:

• I am not hungry – I am not hungry
• He is not busy
• The room is not big – the room is not big

Interrogative form

To form an interrogative form, you need to put the appropriate form of the verb (am, is or are) at the beginning of the sentence:

• Are you Peter? -Are you Pete?
• This room? – Is this a room?
• Are you hungry? -Are you hungry?
• He is busy? – Is he busy?

• To understand how verbs live in the English language, let's first remember at least one verb of the Russian language in its initial form, for example, the verb “to live”. As you know, Russian verbs in their initial form end in “-т”, and later, when conjugated, the ending changes. As for the English language, the verb in its initial form is used together with the particle to, for example, we say to be – would t, find t Xia, i.e. if the particle to precedes the verb, this means that the verb is in the initial form, and when further using the verb with persons, this particle is omitted. Let's give an example: “To be or not to be” - there are two verbs in the sentence - and both are in the initial form, and they must be used together with the particle to, and, accordingly, we will translate into English as “to be or not to be”. If we have before us the sentence “I (am) a student,” i.e. we have changed the verb according to the person of the subject, then the particle to is omitted and the proper form of the verb is used, in in this case- am.
• Unlike the verb to be, other verbs in English are not conjugated, for example, the verbs “live, sit, love” in the initial form are translated into English “to live, to sit, to love”, i.e. with a particle to, and when conjugated - without to, for example, “I live, sit, love” will be translated into English as “I live, sit, love,” i.e. initial form of a verb in English without a particletonot used, but when conjugatedtofalls. Initial form in English it is called Infinitive - Infinitive.

More about the particle to watch our video tutorial:

Verb conjugations tobe in present time

Now let's learn how the verb to be changes (conjugates) in the present tense. As mentioned above, in Russian, sentences like “I am a student, she is a doctor, we are workers” are formed without a predicate verb. But to translate these sentences into English, you need to put the appropriate form to be after the subject - “I am a pupil, she is a doctor, we are workers.”

Pay attention to the translation of the following sentences into affirmative, negative and interrogative forms into English:

Verb conjugations tobe in past and future tense

In the past tense, the verb to be has two forms - was and were (was, was, were)

In the future tense, the verb to be is conjugated as follows

Note: In modern English the form shall is rarely used to form the future tense of verbs (although its use is not a grammatical error), the form is used for all persons will. Therefore, sometimes there are discrepancies in different textbooks.

To summarize, consider the following table:

Here are some commonly used verb expressions: to be which you should learn and conjugate yourself using the conjugation table:

• To be happy/unhappy – to be happy/unhappy
• To be glad - to be joyful
• To be hungry/to be full up– to be hungry/full
• To be fond of - to love, be carried away by something
• To be busy - to be busy
• To be late (for) - to be late (for)
• To be in time for – to be on time
• To be present at – to be present at (for example, in a lesson)
• To be absent (from) – to be absent
• To be married – to be married
• To be single - to be single / not married
• To be lucky - to be lucky
• To be ready (for) - to be ready (for, for example, a lesson)
• To be afraid (of) – to be afraid
• To be interested (in) - to be interested in something
• To be ill / well - to be sick / to feel good
• To be angry (with) - to be angry, angry (at someone)

Let's conjugate together the expression to be married in affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences. What did you get?

We present to you the first article in the “English Grammar for Beginners” series. In this series of materials, we decided to present all the rules briefly and in simple words so that beginners “from scratch” or those who do not remember the basics of English well can independently figure out the grammar, understand it and apply it in practice.

Plural in English

In English, as in Russian, all words are divided into countable and uncountable. This is important to understand when forming the plural of a word. Countable nouns denote those objects that can be counted, for example: table (table), book (book), apple (apple). Uncountable nouns- these are abstract concepts, liquids, products, etc., that is, something that cannot be counted. For example: knowledge, water, meat, flour. These words have no plural or singular.

Countable nouns can be used in singular or plural. noun in singular denotes one object, this is the form of the word that is indicated in the dictionary: apple - apple. A plural noun denotes several objects: apples - apples.

How is it formed plural nouns:

Usually the plural of nouns is formed by adding the ending -s to the word: book – books (book – books). However, there are several spelling features:

• If the word ends in -o, -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, then add the ending -es: hero – heroes (hero – heroes), bus – buses (bus – buses).

  Exceptions: photo - photos (photo - photographs), video - videos (video recording - video recordings), radio - radios (radio - several radios), rhino - rhinos (rhino - rhinoceroses), piano - pianos (piano - several pianos), hippo - hippos (hippopotamus - hippopotamuses).

• If the word ends in -f, -fe, then change the ending to -ves: knife – knives, leaf – leaves, wife – wives.

  Exceptions: roof - roofs (roof - roofs), giraffe - giraffes (giraffe - giraffes), cliff - cliffs (cliff - cliffs).

• If a word ends in -y, preceded by a consonant, then we change -y to -ies: body – bodies (body – bodies).
• If the word ends in -y, preceded by a vowel, then add the ending -s: boy – boys (boy – boys).

In English there is also exception words, which form the plural irregularly. You just need to learn such words by heart; fortunately, there are not very many of them.

Try our quiz to see how well you have understood the material.

English Plural Noun Test

Articles in English

There are two types of articles in English: definite and indefinite. They are not translated into Russian. In the vast majority of cases, one of these articles must be placed before a singular noun.

Not definite article a/an is used only with singular countable nouns: a girl, a pen. If a word begins with a consonant sound, we write the article a (a girl), and if the word begins with a vowel sound, we write the article an (an apple).

The indefinite article a/an is used in the following cases:

• We name any indefinite object, and we have only one, which is why we use the article a, which comes from the word one (one):

  It is a book. - This is a book.

• We mention the subject for the first time in speech:

  I see a shop. - I see (some, one of many) store.

• We talk about a person’s profession or indicate his belonging to a certain group:

  He is a teacher. - He is a teacher.
  She is a student. - She is a student.

Definite article the we bet when we're talking about about a specific subject familiar to us. This article can appear before a singular or plural noun.

The definite article the is used in the following cases:

• We have already mentioned the subject earlier in our speech:

  I see a shop. The shop is big. - I see a store. (This) The store is big.

  It is believed that the definite article comes from the word that (that), therefore it is intended to indicate some specific object familiar to the interlocutors.

• We are talking about a subject that in this context is one of a kind, it cannot be confused with anything else:

  Honey, I'm washing the car. - Honey, I'm washing the car. (there is one car in the family, so we are talking about specific subject)
  Look at the girl in the red dress - Look at the girl in the red dress. (we point to a specific girl in a specific dress)

• We are talking about a one-of-a-kind object, there is no other like it: the sun, the moon, the world, the President of France, etc.:

  The earth is our home. - Earth is our home.

Verb to be

IN English sentence there is always a verb. And if in Russian we can say “I am a doctor,” “Mary is beautiful,” “We are in the hospital,” then in English this is unacceptable: in all these cases, the verb to be must appear after the subject. Therefore, you can remember a simple rule: if there are no ordinary verbs in a sentence, then the verb to be is needed.

The verb to be has three forms:

• Am is added to the pronoun I when we talk about ourselves:

  I am beautiful. - I am beautiful.

• Is is placed after the pronouns he, she, it:

  She is beautiful. - She's beautiful.

• Are is used after you, we, they:

  You are beautiful. - You are handsome.

The verb to be in English is most often used in the following cases:

• We inform you that by whom is a person (name, profession, etc.):

  I am a doctor. - I am doctor.

• We inform you that what a person or thing has a quality:

  Mary is beautiful. - Mary is beautiful.

• We inform you that Where there is a person or object:

  We are at the hospital. - We're in the hospital.

Sentences with the verb to be in the present tense are constructed as follows:

We think you are now ready to take the test and test your knowledge.

Test for the use of the verb to be

Present Continuous Tense - present continuous tense

Present Continuous Tense most often shows that the action takes place in this moment.

Every English sentence has a subject and a predicate. IN Present Continuous the predicate consists of auxiliary verb to be in the required form (am, is, are) and the main verb without the particle to, to which we add the ending -ing (playing, reading).

She is playing tennis now. - She is now plays to tennis.
I am reading a novel at the moment. - I'm currently I'm reading novel.

The verb to be in this tense is an auxiliary verb, that is, it is a word that comes before the main verb (playing, reading) and helps to form tense. You will find auxiliary verbs in other tenses; these types of verbs include to be (am, is, are), do/does, have/has, will.

Please note the following tense words Present Continuous: now (now), at the moment (at the moment), today (today), tonight (tonight), these days (these days), currently (these days), at present (currently), still (still).

Affirmative sentences in the Present Continuous are formed as follows:

Usually in this tense you just need to add the ending -ing to the main verb: walk – walking (walk), look – looking (look). But some verbs change like this:

• If the verb ends in -e, we remove the -e and add -ing: write – writing, dance – dancing.

  Exception: see – seeing (to see).

• If the verb ends in -ie, we change -ie to -y and add -ing: lie – lying (lie), die – dying (die).
• If the verb ends with a stressed syllable with a short vowel that comes between two consonants, the final consonant is doubled by adding -ing: begin – beginning, swim – swimming.

In negative sentences in the Present Continuous, you just need to insert the particle not between to be and the main verb.

She isn't cooking at the moment. - At the moment she doesn't cook.
You are not listening to me now. - You don't listen me now.

IN interrogative sentences In the Present Continuous, you need to put the verb to be in the first place, and after it put the subject and main verb.

Is she cooking at the moment? - She trains At the moment?
Are you listening to me now? - You me now are you listening?

Now we suggest you take a test on the use of Present Continuous tense.

Test for use of Present Continuous

We have presented you with the first 5 basic topics of the English language. Now your task is to thoroughly understand them and work through them as productively as possible with the help of exercises. In order not to burden you with a large amount of grammar at once, we will release the next article in this series in a few weeks. Subscribe to our newsletter, then you definitely won't miss out important information. We wish you success in learning English!

Verb to be in English it has personal forms in the present and past tense. This is quite rare in the English language. Verb to be can be used as .

The verb to be as an auxiliary verb

1. Verb to be used for education (Continuous Tenses) and (Passive Voice).

Examples: I am waiting for you. - I'm waiting for you.
Alex isn't helpful by Ann. – Alex Ann is not helping.
The book was written by O.Wilde. – The book was written by O. Wilde.

The qualifier of the auxiliary verb is the endings –ing (waiting) or –ed (written, helped), which are added to semantic verbs, i.e. to verbs that carry the main meaning.

The verb to be as a semantic verb

2. Verb to be corresponds to the Russian verb be, be, be, i.e. the verb is translated, has a meaning. IN negative form present tense verb to be translated into Russian by the word No. Future tense verb to be transforms into shall be And will be. The verbs shall be and will be are both semantic verbs and linking verbs.

Examples: She does her homework every day. - It does homework every day.
Kiev is the capital of Ukraine. – Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine (is, is).
He was here 2 minutes ago. – He was here 2 minutes ago.
She isn't in Chicago. - She's not in Chicago.
He will be here in time. - He'll be here on time.

The determinant of a semantic verb is the presence of articles and prepositions standing before the noun, which performs the function of the nominal part of the predicate with the verb to be or circumstances.

The verb to be as a modal verb

3. Verb to be used in combination with the particle to to express a pre-planned or agreed upon action according to a plan. Present tense verb to be translated as must, must. Past tense verb to be translated as had, should be.

Examples: He is to come in time. - He must arrive on time. (arrangement)
The train is to arrive at 3 o'clock. – The train arrives at 3 o’clock. (Scheduled)

The determinant of modality is the particle to after the verb to be and the infinitive behind it.

The verb to be as a linking verb

4. Verb to be used in a compound predicate. The verb partially loses its lexical meaning and connects the subject with the nominal part of the predicate. To Russian to be often not translated.

Examples: I am happy to be with you (where am– linking verb, and happy– nominal member or predicative). - I'm happy to be with you.
He is lazy to press ups every day. – He is lazy to do push-ups every day.
She is a good driver. - She is a good driver.
The book was interesting – The book was interesting.

Colleagues once asked what tricks they could use to quickly, interestingly and effectively study the verb to be with children, and this resulted in several posts. It’s already difficult to find these posts on the group’s wall, because many new ones have appeared since then, so I decided to put everything together and post it here.

So what do you do with this verb to be?

Remember the main thing: call it whatever you like, just not “verb to be”. Children in primary school these terms are useless. And preschoolers don’t even know what a “verb” is. And they use it well at the same time.

First we introduce pronouns. A colleague once showed me gestures for pronouns and I have been using them for many years with children aged 6-10 years. We stand up and pronounce pronouns, accompanying them with gestures:

• I- pointing at ourselves
• You- turn and point to the neighbor
• He- hands at your sides
• She- show an imaginary skirt with our hands
• It- pick up a pen or pencil
• We— we make a gesture as if we are hugging several people at once
• You- point at two classmates or with both hands in front of us
• They- point with both hands into the distance

We practice it several times in different variations (we speak and show together, I speak - the children show, I show - the children speak, discordantly, etc.)

When children remember pronouns well, let's move on to the to be itself. I tell the children that this is our assistant. (Yes, there are all sorts of grammatical tales about the king and sons, but I don’t like them and that’s all. And there are a lot of options, you can always come up with something of your own.)

Have you figured out the statements? Let's move on to the negatives. The hardest thing with denials is dealing with them. short form. We write out the full form on the board in two columns (I always separate the singular and plural), then we erase part of the word and put an apostrophe in its place. It turns out very clearly. We drill, practice negatives orally in different situations, make sentences from cards, do written exercises, and describe something using affirmations and negatives.

And finally, we get to the questions. I’ll tell you in a little more detail how you can work with them.

🔎 We got acquainted with the construction in the textbook and marked the sentences different colors- this is how children pay more attention to the structure of statements, questions and denials (especially since they still have to re-read this comic at home).

🔎 In pairs, we make statements from cards, and then turn them into questions.

🔎 I hand out cards with questions and the children put them in a column: Am I?, Are you?, Is he? etc.
Then I ask the children questions by pointing to objects in the classroom or pictures, for example Is he your friend?/Is he your brother? and trying to get the full answer Yes, he is my friend./No, he isn't my brother!, I write it on the board and then highlight the short answer like this: Yes, he is (my friend)./No, he isn' t (my brother)
Collecting short answers Yes, he is./No, he isn’t. to our table of cards on the table. I continue to ask questions and receive answers verbally, the children collect signs on the tables.
🔎 Drill the table in unison. Here is one of the drill options: Take one word, for example happy, and practice all the questions with it: Am I happy?/Are you happy?/Is he happy? etc.
First, I ask all the questions, and the children answer in unison (Am I happy? - Yes, you are./No you aren’t), then you can divide the class into groups and one answers with a positive answer, the other with a negative answer. Then you can make + and - cards and show them separately to the groups so that they don’t know in advance which answer they will get. Then we divide the class into three groups: one asks a question, the other answers positively, and the third answers negatively. Then we use cards +, -, and? and again one group asks a question, the other two answer. The table is memorized. (we change happy to other words in the process).
🔎 I ask the children various questions about objects in the classroom and pictures, their task is to pick up the required card with a short answer. (Are they pencils?/Is she a teacher?, etc.) Then we do the same thing orally. My role of asking questions at this stage can already be performed by a strong student.
🔎 We do two or three written exercises for consolidation, the rest is for work at home at home.
🔎 In the next lesson we will repeat, drill and play in different situational mini-dialogues. For this purpose, it is better to separate separately Is he? -Is she?, Is it? -Are they?, Are you? -Am I? (singular) and Are you? -Are we? -Are they?

This, of course, is not everything we do with the verb to be, but only the most basic and interesting. AND ATTENTION! for Young Learners, all of the above is work not for one lesson, but for at least three.

Do you have any interesting tricks? Let's share!

I hope you found this article helpful. Good luck in teaching English!

It is simply necessary to make friends with the verb to be. If in the first stages it helps you construct simple sentences, then in subsequent stages you will learn complex constructions with its help. passive voice, long-term temporary forms.

Let's start getting acquainted with dictionary meaning . The verb to be is translated “to be, is, is.” Although, despite the presence of this word in a sentence, you will not always find its Russian version; it is often omitted. Some experts in this field recommend translating it for yourself at the very beginning, so you don’t lose the predicate.

They are at home. — They (are) at home.

We are students. — We (are) students.

I am a girl. — I (am) a girl.

He is a doctor. — He (is) a doctor.

Conjugation of the verb to be

Looking at the examples, you will ask what “is, am, are” is, because we are talking about to be. This is the secret. If the remaining parts of speech of this group can either change the ending or not change at all, then this “fruit” in most cases takes a completely different form (exceptions are cases when an infinitive is required: after modal verbs, in imperative sentences).

It all depends on subject and tense. Let's look at the Present Simple. If it's a pronoun I, then we need to change be on am, she (he, it) - is, they (you, we) - are. The subject most often comes first, so it is easy to recognize. Very often the point that is perplexing is that main member sentences is expressed not by a pronoun, but by a noun. How to be in this case? For example, my mother (mother) - who is this? - she means she, and with this pronoun we use is.

The table of the verb to be will help you sort everything out:

Construction of sentences

So, with to be you can build different types sentences without using other auxiliary verbs.

+ (affirmative) The book is boring. - The book is boring. (Subject + to be + minor)

— (negative) The book is not boring. — The book is not boring. (Subject + to be + not + minor)

? (interrogative) Is the book boring? — Is the book boring? (To be + subject + minor)

Short forms:

I am = I’m, she (he, it) is = she’s (he’s, it’s), we (they, you) are = we’re (they’re, you’re)

am not = am not, is not = isn’t, are not = aren’t; was not = wasn’t, were not = weren’t

Functions in a sentence

In sentences, to be can play different roles. The most basic functions are:

1. As a semantic verb

Peter is my friend. - Petya is my friend.

They were at home. - They were home.

The solution was completely unexpected. — The decision was completely unexpected.

I cannot be at work. - I can't be at work.

Be attentive. - Be careful.

2. As an auxiliary verb

• In the Present Continuous, where any form of the verb to be is not translated (has no lexical meaning, only grammatical).

I am reading their decision to my sister right now. “I’m reading their decision to my sister right now.”

They were drinking coffee when I came. — They were drinking coffee when I arrived.

She will be sleeping at this time tomorrow. — She will be sleeping at this time tomorrow.

• In passive designs

The letter was written to my sister. — The letter was written to my sister.

These flowers are grown every year. — These flowers are grown every year.

The money has already been stolen. — The money has already been stolen.

The terrifying story will be forgotten tomorrow. — Scary tale will be forgotten tomorrow.

3. As a linking verb, which is translated “is to; means this” in the examples.

Pessimism is a lack of hope. — Pessimism is the absence of hope.

One plus two is three. - One plus two equals three.

Our aim is to raise the social level. — Its task is to raise the social level.

This problem is of great interest. — This problem is of great interest.

4. How to modal verb used to mean “must, should, planned action or arrangement.” The forms of the verb to be are used: was/were or is/am/are.

We were to meet last Friday. — We were supposed to meet last Friday.

Mary and John are to marry in June. — Mary and John will get married in June.

Use in various combinations has to be learned by heart, since their basics do not obey any rules. Let's look at the most used atpersistent expressions:

to be about + inf. - to get ready to do something

to be back - return

to be present - to be present

to be up - end

to be well - to be healthy

to be ready for - to be ready

to be absent, to be away - to be absent

to be good at - to have the ability to do something

to be married - to be married

to be ill - to be sick

to be engaged - to be engaged

to be on duty - to be on duty

to be sorry for smb (about smth) - to regret someone (something)

to be acquainted with - to be familiar with

to be interested in - to be interested in something

to be in time - to be on time

to be fond of - to get carried away

to be right - to be right

to be over - end

to be glad - to be pleased

to be late - to be late

to be hungry (thirsty) - to be hungry (thirst)

to be wrong - to be wrong

to be mistaken - to be mistaken

to be on - to go (about the film)

to be tired - to be tired

to be on pension - to be retired

to be afraid of - to be afraid

to be worth doing smth - it’s worth doing something

to be sure - to be sure

Well, let's summarize. There shouldn't be any problems with the conjugations of the verb to be if you memorize them thoroughly. At first, it will be enough to understand the use of this “changeable nature”, and gradually, mastering other grammatical rules, you will understand all the other features and details.