Verb to be, intermediate level

Objectives of today’s lesson:

In this lesson, Learn English with Julia presents to you “Verb To Be – Intermediate Level”, in order for you to:

• complete some am is are questions exercises
• complete verb to be questions exercises pdf
• understand in what contexts the verb to be is used
• know how to conjugate the verb to be in all the tenses possible

Video Script:

hello and welcome to this video dedicated to the verb to be

to be is an auxiliary verb or a full verb

an auxiliary verb means that it is a helping verb

we find it in a complex tense such as:

he was learning – past continuous

or she has been learning – present perfect continuous

we can also find it alone and that is when it is a full verb

She is English, for example

now here you have the different forms of the verb to be

We have the infinitive, the full infinitive, “to be”

the present forms: “am, are, is”

the simple past forms: “was, were”

and the participles: past participle and present participle also known as the “-ing form”

let’s see how to conjugate, how to create the different forms, and also when to use the verb “to be”

First of all the present:

let’s run through all the different forms together

first of all the full form or complete form

I am, you are, he is, she is, it is,

plural: we are, you are, they are

The contracted form in the simple present or present simple:

I’m, you’re, he’s, she’s, it’s,

Now the plural: we’re, you’re, they’re

For the past there is only one form – no contracted form in the affirmative form in the simple past:

I was, you were, he she it was, we were, you were, they were in the negative form when using the verb “to be” we add “not”

Here are a few examples:

And for the question form, don’t forget the inversion, to change the order of the subject and the verb.

For instance: Are you learning?

Are you English? And so on.

Now there’s a complete video dedicated to the tag questions but let’s see a couple of examples together

so if we have the auxiliary “to be” in our main statement we use that verb “to be” in our tag

she isn’t learning, is she?

she is French, isn’t she?

We also use the verb “to be” in

passive constructions, so when we’re using the passive voice.

so also spend some time watching the video dedicated to the passive voice

For example: I was told they were built.

Do be careful because the verb “to be” can exist either in the stative form or a dynamic form.

For example he is dark-haired.

She is being selfish.

you cannot say he is being dark-haired

That is stative. And dynamic means that it can be used in a continuous or progressive tense.

That’s it for today!

Thanks for watching!

See you soon!

Grammar Quiz:

Keywords listed in English:

• auxiliary verb or helping verb
• full verb
• tenses review
• stative form
• dynamic form
• tag questions
• passive constructions

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