Grammar

Question

what are the tenses of the word (be)

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I'll make you a deal:  you make me a list of the names of the tenses, and then I'll give you the forms of 'be' for each.

Jemaasjr · Answer

Something I want to know, is way they use "to be" as the lexeme when the first persion singular "is" seems more obvious, at least to me.

The tenses I was obliged to learn in school were future perfect, future, present, past and past perfect.

Mister Micawber · Answer

What is your example of 'to be' where 'is' is expected?

Jemaasjr · Answer

Apparently I did not explain myself well enough. If you look up a word in the dictionary like "eaten", if it is listed at all, they will reference you to the first person singular, "eat". My understanding is that this is the lexeme, the word that stands for "eat, ate, eaten." In English the lexeme of "eaten" is the first person singular "eat", although some grammarians will call it "to eat."

Now if I look up "are," the dictionary tells me that it is the present plural of "be." But what I would expect is that it would tell me that it is the present plural of "am" or "is" because those are the verbs I actually use if I want the singular of "are." My guess is that this has something to do with Latin, but it seems like complete nonsense to me that "be" would be the lexeme for words like "am or were."

As for usage, I can not use "be" in the same place I can use is. "I am John," is fine, but few people would say, "I be John," or "We be the Johnsons," and yet somehow "be" is supposed to be in the same word family as "is and were" and the rest of the linking verbs?

So, I don't know, hopefully this is clear.

John

Mister Micawber · Answer

It has nothing to do with Latin, since 'be' is [url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=be]GERMANIC[/url]. But your understanding is incorrect: the dictionary form or bare infinitive form (not the 1st person present singular) is the lexeme for both regular and irregular verbs. As such, 'be' is the lexeme around which all its forms ( am, is, are, was, were, being, been) cluster. It is in fact the most irregular of English verbs.

Of course you cannot use 'be' in place of 'am'– just as you cannot use 'is' or 'were' in place of 'am'. It has its own very common uses: To be or not to be, that is the question.

Cool Breeze · Answer

jemaasjrNow if I look up "are," the dictionary tells me that it is the present plural of "be." But what I would expect is that it would tell me that it is the present plural of "am" or "is" because those are the verbs I actually use if I want the singular of "are."

MM has given you agood answer; I'll just elaborate a little.

It is obvious that you have never been taught the forms of to beand how to use them. (It's never too late to start!

) Are can be singular or plural, by the way.

A. the full/complete infinitive: I want to be here.
Used after many verbs such as want, expect, desire etc. Also used after adjectives and there are other uses.

B. the plain/bare infinitive = infinitive without to: It will be easy for us.
Used after can, could; shall, should; may, might; will, would and must. Also used after let and do, does, did. There are other uses.

Be is also used as an imperative, an order or command: "Don't worry, be happy!"

C. The present tense forms:
Singular:
1. I am here
2. you are here (One person only, so are is singular!)

3. he/she/it/everybody/this man/that car is here

Plural:
1. we are here
2. you are here (Two or more people, are is plural!)
3. they/these men/those cars are here

D. The past tense forms:
Singular:

1. I was here yesterday
2. you were here
3. he/she/it/everybody was here

Plural:
1. we were here yesterday
2. you were here
3. they/these men/those cars were here

E. Been is most commonly used in the present perfect and past perfect tenses: This has been very difficult for him. It had been my dream for years.

F. Being, the present participle or the gerund, depending on its syntactic function, can be used in such a variety of ways that I won't even attempt to cover them here. A couple of examples: Being right isn't always easy. He is being stupid!

There are other uses and names for these verb forms. Be and were can be subjunctives as well: Be what it may, I don't want to see it! If I were rich, I would buy a Porsche. In informal English was is often used instead of were as a subjunctive, which sometimes complicates things even further!

I have occasionally been amazed at native speakers' questions as to whether was or were should be used in a certain context. It took me a while to realise that this stems from the scarcity of verb forms in English. The indicative and the subjunctive are so similar that their uses and meanings overlap in people's minds and this may lead to confusion and hesitation.

This is not a comprehensive exposition of to be but I hope it will get you started on the right track!

CB

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