Grammar 1B - Verb TO BE

TO BE - VERBS TENSES

In English, the Infinitive form of verbs is made by TO+VERB (Eg: To Be). To use it as an Imperative you must take out the TO (Eg: BE yourself!).

As in Portuguese, in English we have Regular and Irregular Verbs. The verb TO BE is an Irregular Verb and for this reason its radical will often vary. However, at the Participle, the radical remains:

PRESENT PARTICIPLE     PAST PARTICIPLE  COMPOUND PAST PARTICIPLE
BEING*                               BEEN*                      HAVING BEEN (Auxiliary Verb + Main Verb at Past Participle)

* The Present Participle in English is similar to our Gerúndio, while the Past Participle is more likely to our Particípio.

The best way to learn the Participle is by practice: Read! Read! Read! A harder way would be to decorate the list of verbs, which I DO NOT recommend, as the list is too long.

At the Indicative we have four Tenses for each Time: Simple, Perfect, Continuous and Perfect Continuous. Today we will take a quick look at their structure, using the verb To Be as an example. Later we will go deeper at the study of verbs, knowing when to use each tense.

The To Be (Ser/Estar) is one of the most important and most used verbs in English. Sometimes it will become as the main verb or as an auxiliary verb, and you will have pay attention to the structure of the conjugation, as the same you will have to look at the context to understand if its meaning is "ser" or "estar".


1. SIMPLE TENSE

The most simple conjugation in English are the Simple Tenses, and you will see that verbs in English are much easier to conjugate than Portuguese. So, let's go take a look at it.

SIMPLE PRESENT    SIMPLE PAST

I AM                          I WAS
You ARE                  You WERE
He IS                         He WAS
She IS                      She WAS
It IS                           It WAS
We ARE                  We WERE
You ARE                You WERE
They ARE               They WERE

You can see that at the Simple Present, the conjugation of the 3rd Person of Singular is the same for all three forms (IS), and that this pattern continues at the Simple Past (WAS). The 2nd Person of Singular and Plural (YOU) and the 1st and 3rd Person of Plural (WE/THEY) is the same too at the Present (ARE) and the Past (WERE). Notice that the 1st Person of Singular has an unique form at the Present (AM) and at the Past it is like the 3rd Person of Singular (WAS).

Now, take a look at the Verb to Be at the Simple Future. It is quite different, but really simple:

SIMPLE FUTURE

I WILL BE
You WILL BE
He/She/It WILL BE
We WILL BE
You WILL BE
They WILL BE

The structure is: auxiliary verb WILL + Verb TO BE at Infinitive, and it is the same for all "Person".


2. CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Continuous Tense is the second most used Tense form to conjugate a verb in English. It is quite simple, as it follows the main structure of the Simple Tense, adding the Present Participle of the verb.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS    PAST CONTINUOUS            FUTURE CONTINUOUS

I AM BEING                               I WAS BEING                          I WILL BE BEING
You ARE BEING                     You WERE BEING                 You WILL BE BEING
He/She/It IS BEING                He/She/It WAS BEING          He/She/It WILL BE BEING
We ARE BEING                       We WERE BEING                 We WILL BE BEING
You ARE BEING                      You WERE BEING                You WILL BE BEING
They ARE BEING                    They WERE BEING               They WILL BE BEING

PS: The Continuous Tense has a big influence in our Portuguese, as its translation turns to what we know as "Gerundismo" (when, in Portuguese, we wrongly use three verbs, with one of the at the "Gerúndio"). You might remember it from Telemarketing calls: "Nós vamos estar fazendo..."


3. PERFECT TENSE

The Perfect tense is is conjugated with the auxiliary of the verb TO HAVE, followed by the Past Participle of the verb.

PRESENT PERFECT        PAST PERFECT                    FUTURE PERFECT

I HAVE BEEN                      I HAD BEEN                           I WILL HAVE BEEN
You HAVE BEEN               You HAD BEEN                You WILL HAVE BEEN
He/She/It HAS BEEN*     He/She/It HAD BEEN         He/She/It WILL HAVE BEEN
We HAVE BEEN               We HAD BEEN                  We WILL HAVE BEEN
You HAVE BEEN              You HAD BEEN                You WILL HAVE BEEN
They HAVE BEEN            They HAD BEEN                They WILL HAVE BEEN

* You must have realized that at the Present the only Person who varies is the 3rd Person of the Singular, having, however, the same form for all three genres.

At the Past, we have the same for all "Person". However, remember that the auxiliary verb (To have) will always become at its Past form.

For the Future we will have two auxiliary verbs WILL+HAVE, followed by the Participle form, and it will be conjugated at the same way for all "Person".


4. PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Perfect Continuous is rare used. Its structure is extensive and might seem a little complicated, what it is NOT. It is formed by the main structure of the Perfect Tense, adding a main verb at the Present Participle.

PRESENT PERF. CONTINUOUS      PAST PERF. CONTINUOUS        FUTURE PERF. CONTINUOUS

I HAVE BEEN BEING                           I HAD BEEN BEING              I WILL HAVE BEEN BEING
You HAVE BEEN BEING                    You HAD BEEN BEING               You WILL HAVE BEEN BEING
He/She/It HAS BEEN BEING            He/She/It HAD BEEN BEING        He/She/It WILL HAVE BEEN BEING
We HAVE BEEN BEING                    We HAD BEEN BEING                 We WILL HAVE BEEN BEING
You HAVE BEEN BEING                  You HAD BEEN BEING                 You WILL HAVE BEEN BEING
They HAVE BEEN BEING                 They HAD BEEN BEING               They WILL HAVE BEEN BEING


At the next Verb Lessons we are going to learn other verbs. Don't try to rush! And do not try to decorate the structure of the Tenses, but instead to understand them. If you understand how the verb To Be is made it's going to be much easier for you to learn how to conjugate other verbs in English.

Download the exercises to practice!