Động từ to be

Động từ to-be là các động từ mô tả người, vật hoặc địa điểm. Mặc dù chúng là động từ nhưng động từ to-be khác các động từ thông thường khác là chúng không diễn tả hành động cụ thể nào.

Đại từ	Hiện tại	Quá khứ
I	am I am Jane	was I was in Italy last year
you	are You are a student	were You were thirsty
he she it	is He is my friend She is pretty It is a box	was He was angry She was quiet It was empty
we, they	are We are soccer players They are in the library	were We were in Brazil last summer They were 12 years old last year

Chúng ta thêm not để tạo ra thể phủ định của động từ to-be

Hiện tại	Quá khứ
I am not Jane	I was not in Italy last year
You are not a student	You were not thirsty
He is not my friend	He was not angry
She is not pretty	She was not quiet
It is not a box	It was not empty
We are not soccer players	We were not in Brazil last summer
They are not in the library	They were not 12 years old last year

Chúng ta có thể viết tắt để khiến dạng phủ định ngắn hơn

is not = isn't
are not = aren't
was not = wasn't
were not = weren't