Main Forms And Uses Of Irregular Verb ‘To Be' With “Is, Am, Are“

English language is a widely spoken language and its grammar has a wider collection of rules. IELTS modules are judged on a scale of 0 to 9 bands and in each module, 25% of marks are allotted for your grammatical range and accuracy. As it is also known that, any grammar error will change the whole meaning of the sentence too. In this article, we are going to learn

• The differences between regular and irregular verbs.
• Main forms of verb ‘be' (Usage or is, am, are, was, were, been, being)
• Usage of the verb ‘to be'

1. Regular & Irregular Verbs

The verb defines an action. Verb is a word which states that what a noun does/did or will do. There are two types of forms of verbs and every base form has one past form and past participle.

• Regular forms- These forms have regular and fix patterns. The past and past participle forms are formed by adding e/ed/ied.

For example:-

Like	Liked	Liked
Cry	Cried	Cried

• Irregular forms- These forms have irregular and unfixed patterns. These forms are not formed by adding any particular word and can be further divided into four groups.

1. Having no change in three forms

Put	Put	Put
Cut	Cut	Cut

2. Having same base form and past participle

Become	Became	Become
Run	Ran	Run

3. Having same past and past participle form

Buy	Bought	Bought
Lay	Laid	Laid
Dig	Dug	Dug

4. Having three different forms of verbs

Swim	Swam	Swum
Be	Been	Being
Drink	Drank	Drunk
Awake	Awoke	Awaken

2. Main Forms of Verb "Be"

Be is an auxiliary verb. It has in total 8 forms which are:-

• Be (itself)
• Is, am, are (in present
• Was, were (in past)
• Been, being

Usage of be

‘Be' is an auxiliary verb. It can be used as a main verb in the sentences as follows:-

• Be nice to others.
• Let it be.
• Be yourself.
• Be positive.
• This brush can be used for painting.

Be as an auxiliary verb in passive form:-

• Simple present- Guitar is played.
• Simple past- Guitar was played.
• Simple future- Guitar will be played.
• Going to the future- The guitar is to be played.

Usage of is, am, are

“Is, am, are” are the three verbs for an action described in present form. For Example:-

• John is an engineer.
• They are biologically related to each other.
• The jug is on the table.
• I am free to do this task.

‘is' and ‘am’ are singular forms of verb

‘Are' is a plural form of verb.

Usage of was, were

‘Was’ and ‘were’ are past forms of verb ‘be'. For example:-

• The jug was on the table.
• Birds were chirping.
• They were friends earlier.

Usage of ‘being'

Being is a present participle form of verb ‘be'. Being is used in passive tenses. It is a past participle form of verb ‘be’. It is used to tell that any action is going on and in its continuing form. For example:-

• Active- John is playing the guitar.
• Passive- The guitar is being played by John.
• Active- She was cooking the meal.
• Passive- The meal was being cooked by her.

Usage of ‘been'

Been is a past participle form of verb ‘be'. It is used in perfect tenses of past, present and future. It tells that an action is completed. It is used after the words has, have, had, will have. For example:-

• The guitar has been played.

(Guitar play ho chuka hai)

• The rice have been cooked.

(Rice cook ho chuke hai)

• The sun will have been risen.

(Sun rise ho chuka hoga)

3. Usage of the Verb 'To Be':-

The verb ‘be’ is succeeded by ‘to’ and forms a verb ‘to be’ which makes the sense that verb is to be done (kaam kiya jana hai).

For example:- The guitar is to be played.

The letters have to be posted.

‘To be' describes an action and in a sentence, the action is written after ‘to be' as above examples. It is used with the verbs of ‘is, am, are', ‘was, were', ‘has, have, had’.

• 'To be’ with is, am, are:-

(Is, am, are) the helping verbs which are used in present tense and describes that a verb is to be done in present. These are simple present verbs of ‘to be'. These are used to describe the state or feeling in which someone or something is.

For example:-

The clothes are to be washed.

(Kapde dhoye jane hai).

The tea is to be served.

(Tea serve ki jani hai).

• ‘To be' with was, were:-

Was and were are the past forms of verb ‘be'. These verb are used to describe an action which is to be done in past. It describes the feeling or state of someone or something in past time.

For example:-

Clothes were to be washed.

(Kapde dhoye jane the)

The tea was to be served.

(Tea serve ki jani thi).

• ‘To be' with ‘has, have, had':-

Has, have, had are the present and past perfect forms of verb ‘BE'. Has and have are present perfect whereas had is used in past.

When has, have, had are attached with verb ‘to be' in a sentence, it means an action is needed or a compulsion to be done.

For example:-

The clothes have to be washed.

(Kapde dhoye jane chahiye).

The tea had to be served.

(Tea serve krni hi chahiye thi).

Hope this detailed article helps you to use the “to be” verb in an accurate way just like a native English speaker. Make sure you go through the complete post as information is provided in smaller chunks making it easy to understand for you. We will soon come up with more topics of grammar rules and its usage. For the time, just keep practicing.