The Verb To Be

Probably the best known verb in the world: "To be or not to be..."

Forms of To Be
	Present	Past	Perfect Form	Continuous Form
I	am	was	have / had been	am / was being
he / she / it	is	was	has / had been	is / was being
you / we / they	are	were	have / had been	are / were being

Normally we use the verb to be to show the status or characteristics of something or someone (as a stative verb). It says what Iam, what you are or what something is.

Present Simple (stative)
I am a teacher.	You are a student.	He /She is a student.	It is a car.	We are all teachers.	They arestudents.
Past Simple (stative)
I was a student.	You were a student.	He /She was a student.	It was a nice day yesterday.	We were all students once.	They werestudents.
Future Simple (stative)
I will be a student.	You will bea teacher.	He / She will bea teacher.	It will be nice later.	We will beteachers.	They will bestudents.

When used with the present participle of other verbs it describes actions that are or were still continuing - auxiliary verb be [+ing form of the main verb].

Present Continuous (active)
I am beingsilly.	You are being silly.	He /She is being silly.	It is being silly.	We are beingsilly.	They are being silly.
Past Continuous (active)
I was being silly.	You were being silly.	He /She was being silly.	It was beingsilly.	We were beingsilly.	They were being silly.

Am/Is/Are

The verb to be is used to create simple yes/no questions by simply inverting the order of subject and the "To be" verb.

For example:-

I am a teacher. (Statement)
Am I a teacher? (Question)

Question	Positive Statement	Negative Statement (possible short forms)
Singular
Am I ...?	I am ... (I'm ...)	I am not ... (I'm not ...)
Is he / she / it ...?	He / She / It is ...(He's/She's/It's ...)	He / She / It is not (He / She / It isn't... // He's / She's / It's not ...)
Are you ...?	You are ...(You're...)	You are not (You're not ...// You aren't...)
Am I being ...?	I am being ...	I am not being ... (I'm not being...)
Is he / she / it being...?	He / She / It is being ... (He's/She's/It's being ...)	He / She / It is not being ... (He / She / It isn't being...// He/she/it's not being...)
Are you being ...?	You are being ... (You're being ...)	You are not being ... (You're not being ... // You aren't being...)
Was I ...?	I was ...	I was not. ..
Was he / she / it ...?	He / She / It was ...	He / She / It was not ... (He / She / It wasn't)
Were you ...?	You were ...	You were not ... (You weren't ...)
Was I being ...?	I was being ...	I was not being (I wasn't being...)
Was he / she / it being...?	He / She / It was being ...	He / She / It was not being ... (He / She / It wasn't being... )
Were you being ...?	You were being ...	You were not being ... (You weren't being ...)
Will I be ...?	I will be ... (I'll be ...)	I will not be ... (I'll not be ...)
Will he / she / it be ...?	He / She / It will be ...(He'll / She'll / It'll be ...)	He / She / It will not be (He / She / It won't be ... // He'll not be / She'll not be / It'll not be ...)
Will you be ...?	You will be ...(You'll be ...)	You will not be (You won't be ... // You'll not be ...)
Plural
Are we / you / they?	We / You / They are (We're / You're / They're)	We / You /They are not (We're / You're / They're not // We / You / They aren't)
Are we / you / they being ...?	We / You / They are being ... (We're / You're / They're)	We / You /They are not being (We're / You're / They're not being // We / You / They aren't being)
Were we / you / they ...?	We / You / They were ...	We / You / They were not ... (We / You / They weren't ...)
Were we / you / they being ...?	We / You / They were being ...	We / You / They were not being ... (We / You / They weren't being ...)
Will we / you / they be ...?	We / You / They will be ...(We'll / You'll They'll be ...)	We / You / They will not be (We / You / They won't be ... // We'll / You'll They'll not be ...)

Examples

	Am/Are	Is
Question - ?	"Am I disturbing you?"	"Is this your coat"
Positive Answer - Yes	"Yes you are."	"Yes it is"
Negative Answer - No	"No you're not."	"No it isn't"
	Was / Were	Was
Question - ?	"Was I disturbing you?"	"Was that your old house?"
Positive Answer - Yes	"Yes you were ."	"Yes it was "
Negative Answer - No	"No you weren't."	"No it wasn't."

!Note - The verb to be is also used when forming the passive voice.