Verb to be, Beginner level
Objectives of today’s lesson:
In this lesson, Learn English with Julia presents to you “Verb To Be – Beginner Level”, in order for you to:
- practise through ESL verb to be exercises
- start watching teaching the verb to be to ESL students
- understand how to use the verb to be
- feel confident pronouncing the verb to be
Video Script:
Hello! Let’s look at the verb to be together. Now why is the verb to be so important ?
1/ Well first of all it is an auxiliary verb, a verb that helps create more complex tenses than the simple present or present simple.
For example: I am learning > That is the present continuous
We need the verb to be as an auxiliary to create that tense.
2/ Secondly the verb to be is important because it has its own meaning, it is a full verb. It also works alone.
For example: I am an English teacher.
3/ Also please be careful: it is an irregular verb.
So now today we are going to look at the simple present or present simple.
We will have to discover the other forms of the verb to be in the past but also its irregular past participle.
That will come a bit later. Now let’s look at the forms.
- This here, the verb to be, is called the infinitive.
- “be” is the bare infinitive, the infinitive without “to”, ok? This is called infinitive / bare infinitive.
- Now let’s look at this form. So here we have the “+” > it’s positive. It’s the affirmative form. You have two possibilities: a/ you have the full form and b/ the contracted form: I am / I’m
Listen to the pronunciation: I am / I’m - Now here before you start conjugating please learn your personal pronouns
These are your subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
Singular (I, you, he, she, it)
Plural (we, you, they)
Please learn your pronouns.
Let’s carry on:
he is – he’s
she is – she’s
it is – it’s
we are – we’re
you are – you’re
they are – they’re - Now the negative form. Sometimes you have two options but in most cases three. So I’m going to read them for pronunciation:
I am not – I’m not
you are not – you’re not – you aren’t
he is not – he’s not – he isn’t
she is not – she’s not – she isn’t
it is not – it’s not – it isn’t
we are not – we’re not – we aren’t
you are not – you’re not – you aren’t
they are not – they’re not – they aren’t - Now let’s look at the use: when do I use the verb “to be” in this tense?
In the present simple / the simple present?
When an action or event is usual. It generally happens.
When something is true. Something true: I am an English teacher.
When something shows the general state. So for example general state: I am hungry
And an action or event that usually happens: The English class is at 4:00 p.m.
Thank you for watching!
Keywords listed in English:
- to be
- auxiliary verb, an auxiliary
- full verb (it has its own meaning)
- irregular verb
- tenses review
