Definition of 'be'
Verb
To exist; to have real existence.
*1526 , Bible , tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:
*:Rachel wepynge ffor her chyldren, and wolde nott be comforted because they were not.
* (William Shakespeare), :
*:To be', or not to ' be , that is the Question.
*, II.12:
*:it were great sottishnesse, and apparent false-hood, to say, that that is which is not yet in being, or that already hath ceased from being.
*1643 , (Thomas Browne), Religio Medici , II.2:
*:There is surely a peece of Divinity in us, something that was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the Sun.
*2004 , Richard Schickel, "Not Just an African Story", Time , 13 December:
*:The genial hotel manager of the past is no more. Now owner of a trucking concern and living in Belgium, Rusesabagina says the horrors he witnessed in Rwanda "made me a different man."
With there as dummy subject: to exist.
*1598 , (William Shakespeare), The Merchant of Venice :
*:Some men there are loue not a gaping Pigge: / Some that are mad, if they behold a Cat: / And others, when the bag-pipe sings i'th nose, / Cannot containe their Vrine for affection.
*1817 , (Jane Austen), Persuasion :
*:"There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known even in a crowd, and this you had."
*2011 , Mark Sweney, The Guardian , 6 July:
*:"There has been lots of commentary on who is staying and who is staying out and this weekend will be the real test," said one senior media buying agency executive who has pulled the advertising for one major client.
To occupy a place.
:The cup is on the table.
To occur, to take place.
:When will the meeting be ?
(without predicate) .
:The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.
:I have been to Spain many times.
(copulative) (Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same).
:Ignorance is bliss.
(transitive|copulative|mathematics) (Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same).
:3 times 5 is fifteen.
(copulative) (Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal).
:François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.
(copulative) (Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it).
:The sky is blue.
(copulative) (Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase).
:The sky is a deep blue today.
(auxiliary) (Used to form the passive voice).
:The dog was drowned by the boy.
*
(auxiliary) (Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses).
:The woman is walking.
:I shall be writing to you soon.
:We liked to chat while we were eating.
*
(archaic)
*1606 , by (William Shakespeare):
*:They are''' not yet come back.'' (instead of the modern ''They '''have not yet come back. )
*1850 , (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), The Blessed Damozel , ll.67-68
*:‘I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come,’ she said.
*Matthew 28:6 (various translations, from the King James Version of 1611' to Revised Version of ' 1881 ):
*:He is not here; for he is risen.
*1922 , , (Last Poems) XXV, l.13:
*:The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;
(auxiliary) .
:I am to leave tomorrow.
:I would drive you, were I to obtain a car.
(Used to link a subject to a count or measurement).
:This building is three hundred years old.
:It is almost eight.
:I am 75 kilograms.
(used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event).
:It has been three years since my grandmother died.'' (similar to ''My grandmother died three years ago, but emphasizes the intervening period)
:It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him.
(often|impersonal) .
:It is''' hot in Arizona, but it '''is not usually humid.
:Why is it so dark in here?
Conjugation
(
Modern conjugation)
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | infinitive
| colspan="5" | be
|-
! colspan="2" | present participle/gerund
| colspan="5" |
|-
! colspan="2" | past participle
| colspan="5" |
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | indicative
! colspan="2" | subjunctive
! colspan="2" | imperative
|-
! colspan="1" | singular
! colspan="1" | plural
! colspan="1" | singular
! colspan="1" | plural
! colspan="1" | singular
! colspan="1" | plural
|-
! rowspan="3" | present
| I )
| we )
| I be
| we be
| —
| be
|-
| you )
| you )
| you be
| you be
| be
| be
|-
| he/she/it )
| they )
| he/she/it be
| they be
| —
| —
|-
! rowspan="3" | preterite
| I *
| we
| I **
| we
|rowspan="3" colspan="2" bgcolor="lightgray"|
|-
| you
| you
| you
| you
|-
| he/she/it *
| they
| he/she/it **
| they
|}
*Some non-standard dialects use in these instances.
**Some non-standard dialects use in these instances.
(
der-bottom)
(
Archaic conjugation)
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | infinitive
| colspan="5" | be
|-
! colspan="2" | present participle/gerund
| colspan="5" |
|-
! colspan="2" | past participle
| colspan="5" |
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | indicative
! colspan="2" | subjunctive
! colspan="2" | imperative
|-
! colspan="1" | singular
! colspan="1" | plural
! colspan="1" | singular
! colspan="1" | plural
! colspan="1" | singular
! colspan="1" | plural
|-
! rowspan="3" | present
| I )
| we )
| I be
| we be
| —
| be
|-
| thou
| ye
| thou
| ye be
| be (thou)***
| be (ye)***
|-
| he/she/it )
| they )
| he/she/it be
| they be
| —
| —
|-
! rowspan="3" | preterite
| I *
| we
| I **
| we
|rowspan="3" colspan="2" bgcolor="lightgray"|
|-
| thou
| ye
| thou
| ye
|-
| he/she/it *
| they
| he/she/it **
| they
|}
*Some non-standard dialects will have in these instances.
**Some non-standard dialects will have in these instances.
***It is optional to include the subject which is to be stated after the imperative.
(
der-bottom)
* The verb distinguishes eight:
** itself is the plain form, used as the infinitive, as the imperative, and as the present subjunctive.
**::
I want to be a father someday. (infinitive)
**::
If that be true... (present subjunctive)
**::
Allow the truth to be heard! (infinitive)
**::
Please be here by eight o'clock. (imperative)
**::
The librarian asked that the rare books not be touched. (present subjunctive)
**: is also used as the present tense indicative form in the alternate, dynamic / lexical conjugation of
be :
**::
What do we do? We be ourselves.'' '' (first-person plural present indicative, lexical be)
**:: but:
Who are''' we? We '''are human beings. (first-person plural present indicative, copula be)
**: It is also an archaic alternative form of the indicative, especially in the plural[http://books.google.fr/books?id=q3QSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA357&lpg=PA357&dq=mood+tense+of+be+in+%22I+be%22&source=bl&ots=mjI9wpNsbf&sig=mCMwoBB65B9i6GvFTaOhErLON78&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZUogT7TkGKaksQLgyoSTDg&redir_esc=y
v=onepage&q=mood%20tense%20of%20be%20in%20%22I%20be%22&f=false]:
**::
The powers that be , are ordained of God. (Romans 13:1, Tyndale Bible, 1526)
**::
We are true men; we are no spies: We be twelve brethren... (Genesis 42:31-2, King James Version, 1611)
**::
I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it. (Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1, circa 1600)
** , and any other plural subjects).
**:
Am I in the right place? (first-person singular present indicative)
**:
You are even taller than your brother! (second-person singular present indicative)
**:
Where is the library? (third-person singular present indicative)
**:
These are the biggest shoes we have. (plural present indicative)
** .
**:
I was out of town. (first-person singular past indicative)
**:
You were the first person here. (second-person singular past indicative)
**:
The room was dirty. (third-person singular past indicative)
**:
We were angry at each other. (plural past indicative)
**:
I wish I were more sure.'' (first-person singular past subjunctive; ''was is also possible, though considered less correct)
**:
If she were here, she would know what to do.'' (third-person singular past subjunctive; ''was is also possible, though considered less correct)
** ). (It's also used as an actual noun; for those senses, see the entry for being itself.)
**:
I don't like being here. (gerund)
**:
All of a sudden, he's being nice to everyone. (present participle in the progressive aspect)
**:
It won't stop being a problem until someone does something about it. (present participle in the progressive aspect)
** is the past participle, used in the perfect aspect. In Middle English, it was also the infinitive.
**:
It's been that way for a week and a half.
* In archaic or obsolete forms of English, with the pronoun thou, the verb has a few additional forms:
** When the pronoun was in regular use, the forms art, wast, and wert were the corresponding present indicative, past indicative, and past subjunctive, respectively.
** As , previously a past subjunctive form, came to be used as a past indicative as well.
* The forms contracts quite freely with a variety of subjects. These contracted forms, however, are possible only when there is an explicit, non-preposed complement, and they cannot be stressed; therefore, contraction does not occur in sentences such as the following:
*:
Who's here? —I am .
*:
I wonder what it is .
*:
I don't want to be involved. —But you ''are'' involved, regardless.
* Several of the finite forms of , but all of these are in restricted use; see their entries for details.
* Outside of Standard English, there is some variation in usage of some forms; some dialects, for example, use ).
Usage notes
When used copulatively with a pronoun, traditional grammar puts the pronoun in the subjective case (), regardless of which side of the copula it is placed. For example, "I was the masked man''" and "''The masked man was I''" would both be considered correct, while "''The masked man was me''" and "''Me was the masked man''" would both be incorrect. However, most colloquial speech treats the verb ''be'' as transitive, in which case the pronoun is used in the objective case if it occurs after the copula: "''I was the masked man''" but "''The masked man was me''". This paradigm applies even if the copula is linking two pronouns - "''I am her''" but "''She is me''" (versus the traditional "''I am she''" and "''She is I''") and "''Am I me?''" (versus the traditional "''Am I I? ").
Synonyms
* (used to form passive) get
References
*
*
*
Statistics
*
