Verbo To Be

To Be - Present Tense

The verb to be is used to do a descripción (religión, marital status, physical appearance, age, nationality etc..)

STRUCTURE

To Be - Affirmative

Subject To Be Examples

I am I am from New Zealand.

You are You are Chilean.

He is He is twenty years old.

She is She is a nurse.

It is It is a big dog.

We are We are intelligent.

You are You are students.

They are They are married.

To Be - Contractions

Contractions of To Be are very frequent when we are speaking.

To Be Contraction Examples

I am I'm I'm from New Zealand.

You are You're You're Chilean.

He is He's He's twenty years old.

She is She's She's a nurse.

It is It's It's a big dog.

We are We're We're intelligent.

You are You're You're students.

They are They're They're married.

To Be - Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb.

Subject To Be Examples

I am not I am not from Spain.

You are not You are not Australian.

He is not He is not thirty years old.

She is not She is not a secretary.

It is not It is not a small cat.

We are not We are not stupid.

You are not You are not teachers.

They are not They are not single.

To Be - Negative Contractions

There are two ways of forming contractions of To Be in negative sentences. One is with a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I am = I'm) OR a contraction of the verb and not (e.g. are not = aren't)

I'm not from Spain. --- --------------*

You're not Australian. OR You aren't Australian.

He's not thirty years old. OR He isn't thirty years old.

She's not a secretary. OR She isn't a secretary.

It's not a small cat. OR It isn't a small cat.

We're not stupid. OR We aren't stupid.

You're not teachers. OR You aren't teachers.

They're not single. OR They aren't single.

* Notice that the only possible contraction for I am not is I'm not.

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