To be

Verbs

One of the most commonly used auxiliary verbs is to be. To be is often used with nouns, adjectives and prepositional phrases.

The structure is: Subject + to be + …

Affirmative form: (I) am, (you) are, (he/she/it) is, (we/you/they) are.

When the subject is a name or noun instead of a pronoun, we use the short form only with the third person singular.

NOTE: We use the short form in spoken language or informal writing.

The structure is: Subject + to be + not + …

Negative form: (I) am not, (you) are not, (he/she/it) is not, (we/you/they) are not.

NOTE: We use the short form in spoken language or informal writing.

The structure is: To be + subject + …?

Interrogative form: Am (I…?), Are (you…?), Is (he/she/it…?), Are (we/you/they…?).

NOTE: Short forms don’t exist for the interrogative form:

Correct: Is he tall? / Incorrect: ‘s he tall?

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