"is to"

Question

Hello all, when do we use 'to be' for future? such as, How are we to live?, The Gods are not to blame? Can they be replaced with ' be going to?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Please provide examples of these sentences with 'be going to'.

CalifJim · Answer

Notorioz Can they be replaced with ' be going to?

Not always. This is the "is to" idiom. It only has a limited number of forms, namely, am to, is to, are to, was to, and were to.

It can have to do with futurity or obligation or both. In very few cases a complete rephrasing may be necessary to convey the same meaning, but in the majority of cases going or supposed can be added to convey the intended meaning. There is a subtle suggestion of fate or destiny in this construction.

Later in his life he was (going) to become famous.
They were (supposed) to be there at 8.
How are we ( [supposed / going] ) to live?
____________________

'not to blame' is almost a separate idiom.
The gods are not to blame. ~ The gods are not at fault.

CJ

Jaylor · Answer

"to be" is an active/present verb, not a future verb. "to live" "to blame" "to dance".

The rest of the sentence defines its tense:

"He taught me how to dance". It's a past sentence, but "to dance" doesn't show tense, "taught" does. (past tense of "teach")

The future tense of "to be" is "will be", or just "will". We often make sentences future-oriented this way.
"The Gods will be blamed" (active future)
"Blame will be put on the Gods" (passive future)
"How will we live?"

Another way to say "will be" is with "going to be" or just "going", and they are often interchangeable:
"The Gods are going to be blamed"
"Blame is going to be put on the Gods"
"How are we going to live?"

Note that if you use "going", you have to use the auxiliary linking verb "is":
"is going to be" (singular)
"are going to be" (plural)

CalifJim · Answer

Jaylor"to be" is an active/present verb, not a future verb.

I think Notorioz had a typo there. He meant "be to", not "to be".

As it turns out, there is no form of that idiom which is literally "be to", so it's usually called the "is to" idiom.

CJ

Notorioz · Answer

Sorry, yes I meant 'be to' not 'to be'. Thank you all for your help, So can we say that 'am to, is to, are to, was to, were to' sometimes mean 'be supposed to or be going to' ?

CalifJim · Answer

NotoriozSo can we say that 'am to, is to, are to, was to, were to' sometimes mean 'be supposed to or be going to' ?

Yes. The choice of the form of be depends on the subject of the sentence, of course.

I am to arrive there at 8.
He is to leave at 9.
They were to read all five pages.
_________________

Sometimes only context can resolve whether the meaning is closer to "supposed to" or "going to". For example, we need to know more about the situation to decide which meaning of "Lucy was to stay for another three hours" (below) is intended.

Lucy was (supposed) to stay for another three hours. (Her boss ordered her to stay at work.)
Lucy was (going) to stay for another three hours. (She ended up staying at the party longer. It was her own decision.)

CJ

Notorioz · Answer

Thank you so much, I got it.

"is to"

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