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To Be - Affirmative

Subject I You He She It We You They To Be am are is is is are are are Examples I am from New Zealand. You are Chilean. He is twenty years old. She is a nurse. It is a big dog. We are intelligent. You are students. They are married.

To Be - Contractions
Contractions of To Be are very frequent when we are speaking. To Be I am You are He is She is It is We are You are Contraction I'm You're He's She's It's We're You're Examples I'm from New Zealand. You're Chilean. He's twenty years old. She's a nurse. It's a big dog. We're intelligent. You're students. They're married.

They are They're

To Be - Negative Sentences
The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb. Subject I You To Be Examples

am not I am not from Spain. are not You are not Australian.

He She It We You They

is not is not is not

He is not thirty years old. She is not a secretary. It is not a small cat.

are not We are not stupid. are not You are not teachers. 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. She's not a secretary. It's not a small cat. We're not stupid. You're not teachers. They're not single. ----------------* OR You aren't Australian. OR She isn't a secretary. OR It isn't a small cat. OR We aren't stupid. OR You aren't teachers. OR They aren't single.

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

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

To Be - Questions
To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject. Affirmative You are happy.

Subject Verb Question Are Verb you Subject happy?

Affirmative

Question

I am intelligent. He is a pilot. It is a big house. We are ready. You are doctors. They are rich.

Am I intelligent? Is he a pilot? Is it a big house? Are we ready? Are you doctors? Are they rich?

You are a student. Are you a student? She is from Spain. Is she from Spain?

To Be - Short Answers
In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions. Are you a student? - Yes, I am (a student). The last part (a student) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear. Question Am I intelligent? Is he a pilot? Is it a big house? Are we ready? Are you doctors? Are they rich? Short Answers** Yes, you are. Yes, he is. Yes, it is. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Yes, they are. Short Answers No, you aren't. No, I am not. No, he isn't. No, she isn't. No, it isn't. No, we aren't. No, we aren't. No, they aren't.

Are you a student? Yes, I am. Is she from Spain? Yes, she is.

** With To Be, We don't use contractions in affirmative short answers unless there is additional information after it (in which case they are no longer considered short answers).

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