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The Verb To Be are irregular verbs with several forms. They indicate a state of being. They can be used either as a helping verb or the main verb in sentences. Verbs must match the number of the subject.

VERB TO BE: am, is, are

Verb To Be in Simple Present Form

The use of the simple present is to talk about an action or event that usually happens, but with Verb To Be, the simple present tense also refers to a current or general state, whether temporary, permanent, or habitual. They can also be used to refer to something that is true at the present moment.

Affirmative Forms

Verb To Be must match the number of the subject. Use is when the subject is a singular noun or a third-person singular pronoun. Moreover, are is used when the subject is a plural noun or a plural pronoun. Lastly, am is used when the subject is the first person pronoun I.

Negative Forms

Any form of verb to be is made negative by adding not immediately after it.

Interrogative Forms

Verb to be can be used to make questions in English in two different ways: at the beginning of the interrogative sentence and in WH-Questions.

1. Beginning

First, when they come at the beginning of the interrogative sentence.

Affirmative Question Forms

Negative Question Forms

There are two ways in forming negative questions. In full form, the pattern is Verb To Be + Subject + not. However, in contracted form, it is written as Contracted Form of Verb To Be + Subject. The Verb To be “am” can’t be contracted in negative question form.

2. WH-Questions

Additionally, the Verb To Be can be used in Wh-questions too.

Verb To Be Exercise

Answer this exercise on Verb To Be.

1. She ____ in Italy. She’s in France.

a. isn’t

b. aren’t 

c. am not

2. ____ on the list?

a. Am I not

b. Am not I

c. I’m not

3. These shoes ____ made of leather.

a. is

b. am 

c. are

4. They ____ in the library.

a. ‘s

b. ‘m 

c. ‘re

5. ______ our car in the garage?

a. Is

b. Are 

c. Am not 

6. His gadgets ____ expensive.

a. is

b. am 

c. are

7. My sister and her team ____ well-prepared for the presentation. They don’t know what to do.

a. isn’t

b. aren’t 

c. are

8. When ____ the bank holidays?

a. is

b. isn’t 

c. are

9. It ____ cold.

a. aren’t

b. are

c. isn’t

10. _____ they our neighbors?

a. Are 

b. Isn’t

c. Is

Find the answers to this exercise here.

See also: Transitive / Intransitive Verbs + Objects, Present Continuous (I), and Passive Voice

For additional information on this topic, check out this British Council Lesson.

For other English grammar lessons, go to this page.

We form catenative verbs by combining a main verb and one or more other main verbs. Thereby, forming a verb chain.

We combine catenative verbs with other verbs among one or more of these three verb forms: infinitive (bare and to-infinitive), -ing, or past participle.

How to Form Catenative Verbs

Catenative Verb + Main Verb 2

• In theory, there is really no limit to the number of catenative verbs in one chain.

2 verbs: The children like to try to feed the zoo animals.

3 verbs: He doesn’t want to have to go to the airport too early.

5 verbs: She decided to enroll to start learning to cook Mediterranean dishes.

Catenative Verb + Infinitive

• Combine the catenative verb and bare infinitives: hear (say/tell), help, let (go), make (do).

We hear tell that the department head had stepped down.

Please help clean up the garage.

In times of a crisis, make do of what you have.

• You can also put the catenative verb together with to-infinitives: afford, agree, aim, appear to, apply, arrange, ask, beg, care, choose, claim, condescend, consent, contract, contrive, dare, decide, decline, demand, deserve, determine, endeavor, expect, fail, happen to, help, hesitate, hope, long, manage, mean, offer, prepare, pretend, promise, refuse, resolve, seek, seem to, strive, struggle, swear, threaten, undertake, volunteer, want, wish.

They didn’t agree to pay that much for the classes.

You seem to like surfing a lot.

The board of directors want to expand worldwide.

Catenative Verb + -ing

• We also combine catenative verbs with -ing verbs: be used to, (can) face, admit, advocate, anticipate, appreciate, avoid, can’t help, can’t stand, carry on, consider, contemplate, defer, deny, detest, dislike, enjoy, entail, escape, fancy, favor, finish, get used to, give up, go, imagine, insist on, involve, justify, keep on, look forward to, mention, mind, necessitate, object to, postpone, practice, put off, report, resent, risk, save, stop, suggest, tolerate.

They admitted using the organization’s funds on their personal trips.

You can’t practice speaking in public in this job.

She keeps on bothering her sister with the same question.

Catenative Verb + to-infinitive vs. -ing

• You can follow several catenative verbs with either to-infinitive or -ing (can’t bear, begin, bother, cease, continue, hate, intend, like, love, neglect, prefer, start) without really affecting their meanings in both sentences.

Did they bother to check it? = Did they bother checking it?

She loves to sew. = She loves sewing.

The fire started to engulf the entire house. = The fire started engulfing the entire house.

• There are times when combining catenative verbs with either to-infinitive or -ing (come, go on, need, regret, remember, propose, try) change their meanings completely.

Her parents came to love her chosen profession. (=Her parents gradually realized it is a good profession.) vs. The tires came tumbling down the hill. (The tires move in this direction.)

He remembered to send the letter to her. (=He remembered to do the action.) vs. He remembers sending the letter to her. (=He recalls doing the action.)

The police tried to pacify the riots, but to no avail. (=The police attempted to do the action.) vs. The police try soliciting information from the citizens. (=The police try to experiment with this approach to get information..)

Catenative Verb + Past Participle

• We usually combine get with a past participle verb.

She was so annoyed with him. She wanted him to get lost.

When am I going to get refunded?

Don’t get started with the party until we arrive, okay?

False Catenative Verbs

• In some cases, a verb chain does not automatically make a catenative.

Infinitive of Purpose: They stopped to buy some food.

Catenative: They wanted to buy some food.

Infinitive of Purpose: She stopped to talk to her colleague.

Catenative: She stopped talking to her colleague.

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

A linking verb connects the subject with a word that gives information about it, such as a condition or relationship. They do not show any action; rather, they “link” the subject with the rest of the sentence. For example, in the sentence “He is exhausted,” the word “is” is the linking verb that connects “he” and “exhausted” to show the relationship between the two words.

The most common linking verbs are forms of the verb to be:

am, is, are, was, were, has been, are being, might be, etc.

• Here are some examples of linking verbs used in sentences with the linking verbs in bold.

I am tired. (Here, the subject is described as tired.)
William is excited about his promotion.
We are happy to hear about the news.
The weather was great.
The roads were slippery.
Anthony has been a dream for the last few weeks.

• Other common linking verbs relate to the five senses (to look, to feel, to smell, to sound, and to taste).

New books smell good.
It sounds really funny.
You look young.
I feel bad.
The cake tastes great!

• To appear, to become, and to seem are common linking verbs too.

You seem happy.
That woman appears somewhat sad.
I have become tired of your approach to problem-solving.

• Remember that linking verbs do not express actions. The verbs to be, to become, and to seem are always linking verbs. However, some verbs can be linking verbs or non-linking verbs depending on the context.

Mary always smells like perfume.
(Here, smells is a linking verb. It describes Mary, the subject.)
Mary always smells perfume.
(Here, smells is not a linking verb. A linking verb does not express an action.)

Linking verbs do not cause serious problems for native English speakers, but here are two common issues.

• Don’t use an adverb for your subject complement.

Your shirt smells amazingly.
(The word “amazingly” is an adverb. Adverbs modify verbs. The thing that follows a linking verb to re-identify or describes the subject is called the subject complement. It should always be a noun or an adjective.)
The correct sentence is: Your shirt smells amazing.

Your cat smells badly.
(Here, “smells” is not a linking verb, and it is correctly modified by the adverb badly. It means the cat has a poor sense of smell.)
The correct sentence is: My cat smells bad. (It means the cat stinks.)

• You can say “It was I” or “It was me.” Both of these versions are correct. “It was me” version is what everyone says and the “It was I” version fits the ruling that subject complements are in the subjective case.

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

We use comparative adjectives to show change or make comparisons. Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify. They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared, in this pattern.

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

• We use “than” when we want to compare one thing with another.

He is three years younger than me.
She is a better dancer than Mary.
Russia is a bigger country than France.
(The second item of comparison can be omitted if it is clear from the context.)

• We use comparative adjectives to show change or make comparisons.

This car is better, but it’s much more expensive.
I’m feeling better now.
We need a bigger car.

There are two ways to form a comparative adjective:

Short Adjectives Comparative

• For 1-syllable adjectives, simply add -er.

tall → taller

Mary is taller than Jenny.
fast → faster

I run faster than you.
old → older

My grandpa is older than my grandma.

• 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y, change the y to “i”.

lucky → luckier

My friend is luckier than me in the lottery.
tidy → tidier

I hope they make the community a tidier place to live in.
happy → happier

I am happier when I’m with you.

• If the adjective ends in -e, just add -r

late → later
large → larger
strange → stranger
wise → wiser

I arrived at school later today than yesterday.
My bag is larger than yours.
My dream tonight is stranger than my dream last night.
I am wiser now.

• If the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant.

big → bigger

I gained weight so I wear bigger shirts now.
fat → fatter
My cat is fatter than your cat.

Long Adjectives Comparative

• For 2-syllable adjectives, simply add “more” before the positive adjective.

modern → more modern
I like the second house. It’s more modern than the other one.

pleasant → more pleasant
The weather is more pleasant today than yesterday.

For all adjectives of 3 or more syllables, also add more before the positive adjective.

expensive → more expensive

The yellow car is more expensive than the green one.
intelligent → more intelligent
He is more intelligent than his brother.

• The following adjectives are exception to the previously mentioned rules because they have irregular forms.

good → better
That cake tastes good. → This cake tastes better.

bad → worse

The weather today is bad. → The weather today is worse than yesterday.

far → farther/further
His house is far. → Her house is farther.

The simple past is used principally to describe events in the past. The verb ‘to be ( am, is, are )’ has two forms in the past; was and were.

Positive Form

For first person singular and third person singular, use the word was. In all other cases, use were.

I / he/ she / it + was
You / we / they + were

She was a student.
They were doctors.
I was in Spain in 1999.
We were together.
He was my boyfriend.

Question Form

• In order to ask a question, was/were needs to be at the beginning of the sentence.

TO BE ( was/were ) + Subject + …

Was she a teacher?

Were they students?

Were you in Spain last year?

Was Jessica with you?

Were you together?

Negative Form

Subject + TO BE ( was/were ) + NOT + …

In negative sentences, add the adverb not and put it before the word was/were. Most of the time, the contraction (shortened form) is used in negative sentences.

He was not ( wasn’t) in the store.
You were not ( weren’t ) in the store.
He wasn’t at the theatre.
I wasn’t in Spain in 1990.
Jessica wasn’t in Tokyo in 2005.
We weren’t in together.

• Wasn’t is the short form of was not. You can say either:

I was not in Spain. = I wasn’t in Spain.

• Weren’t is the short form of were not. You can say either:

We were not in Spain. = We weren’t in Spain.