English Lesson 01: The verb 'to be': Explanation

Hello.

In this video we are going to learn about the verb 'to be'.

The verb 'to be' is the most important verb.

That is why it should be the first thing you learn about

when you start learning english.

It also has many uses,

and it’s very irregular,

so you will see it in many forms.

It can be used as a main verb,

but it is also used as an auxiliary verb

to form other tenses.

So it is very important to understand

when we use the different forms.

So lets starts by looking at the forms

of the verb 'to be' in the present tense.

When you talk about yourself,

you use the 1st person.

So you say 'I'

We call this the subject pronoun.

and the correct form of the verb 'to be'

in the first person is 'am'.

So you say 'I am...'.

When you are talking about the person

you are talking to, you use the 2nd person.

The subject pronoun for the 2nd person is 'You'.

and the correct form of the verb

is 'are' so you say 'You are...'

When you are talking another person

or a thing you use the 3rd person.

The subject pronoun for the 3rd person

is 'He' if it is a man,

'She' if it is a woman,

or 'it' if it is a thing.

and the correct form of the verb is 'is'

so you say 'he is...', 'she is...' or 'it is...'

When you are talking about a group of people

that includes yourself,

you use the 1st person plural.

The subject pronoun for the 1st person plural is 'we

and the correct from of the verb to be is 'are'.

So you say 'We are...'

In fact whenever you talk about more than one person

or thing the form of the verb is 'are'.

The second person plural is when you talk about

a group of people that does not include yourself.

Then you use the subject pronoun 'you'

so it is the same as the second person singular.

So you say 'You are...'

The third person plural is when you talk about a group of people

or things that does not include you

or any of the people you are talking to.

Then you use the subject pronoun 'They'.

So you say 'They are...'

So lets look at some of the ways

that we use the verb 'to be' and some examples.

One of the ways we use the verb 'to be'

is to describe a role or a relationship.

Listen to and repeat these examples

I am your friend.

You are my brother.

It is a banana.

We are a class.

Another way we use the verb 'to be'

is to describe the location of something.

Listen to and repeat these examples

I am at home.

You are on holiday

She is on television

They are in the classroom.

We also use the verb 'to be'

when we describe something with an adjective.

Listen to and repeat these examples.

I am happy.

You are tall.

She is lovely.

They are late.

Or we can use the verb 'to be'

to compare things with comparatives and superlatives.

Listen to and repeat these examples.

I am shorter than my brother.

Your are quicker than the others.

Belen is the most beautiful.

You are the best class.

We will look at comparatives and superlatives

in more detail in a future video.

For now we are focussing on learning the different forms

of ‘to be’ in the present simple tense.

Again we will look at this more later but 'to be'

is also used to make the continuous tenses.

Listen to and repeat these examples.

I am working in my office.

You are running in the park.

She is helping her friend.

They are going to France.

The verb 'to be' is used a lot so we use contractions

to make things easier and quicker to say.

So 'I am' becomes 'I’m'

'You are' becomes 'You’re'

'He is' becomes 'He’s'

'She is' becomes 'She’s'

'It is' becomes 'It’s'

'We are' becomes 'We’re'

'You are' becomes 'You’re'

and 'They are' becomes 'They’re'

So now lets try some exercises.

Click here to Start the first exercise,

or here to see a list of all the exercises about the verb 'to be'.