Posted on by Amnah Shurfa

The ‘Be’ Verb and How to Fix Common Mistakes

Madam Azimah went live on our Facebook page to talk about the ‘be’ verb and how to fix common mistakes.

The ‘be’ verb is the most commonly used verb in the English language, yet it can be tricky to use because it comes in many forms.

Madam Azimah shares how to use the ‘be’ verb correctly and common mistakes made by second language learners. Watch the replay of the live session here.

Or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

There are eight forms of the ‘be’ verb:

Present tense:

  1. Am is used with ‘I’ (contracted to “I’m”)
  2. Are  is used with ‘you’ , ‘we’ , ‘they’, ‘those’, ‘these’ and plural subjects 
  3. Is is used with ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘this’ and a singular subject

Past tense:

  1. Was is used with ‘I’ ,  ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’ and a singular subject
  2. Were is used with ‘you’, ‘we’ , ‘they’, ‘those’, ‘these’   and plural subjects

Past Participle:

  1. Been is used with has, have or had 

e.g. has been, have been, had been

Present Participle:

  1. Being is used with am, are, was, were 

e.g. They are being difficult.

Infinitive Form:

  1. Be is used with modal verbs like will, would, could, should

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