In the twenty-first century, English is one of the most commonly used languages in the world, as well as a generally accepted international means of communication. According to various estimates, about one and a half billion people on the planet own it. Therefore, if you often travel abroad, work or plan to
get a job in the office of an international company, and also do business with foreign colleagues or have the need to read the literature in the original, learning English is mandatory for you. Today, there are many methods and textbooks whose main goal is to learn the language in the shortest possible time, especially since English is quite easy to learn, you just have to regularly work on your vocabulary and learn simple grammar, which is not at all complicated. Let's look at one of the basic topics, namely,
what the verb to be in English is, its use in writing and in everyday speech. Having mastered the information in this grammar section, you can easily make simple sentences necessary for communication. The main thing is to read the topic carefully and fix it with examples.
The verb to be in English
To begin with, remember that to be can be both semantic (usually it is used most often in this context) and a modal or auxiliary verb. Despite all the apparent complexity, it is very easy to learn simple rules for its use. Let's look at cases in which the verb to be in English acts as a semantic one. First, in this context, its Russian-speaking counterparts will be “to be,” “to take place,” “to be somewhere.” Since to be refers to irregular verbs, its conjugation will differ depending on the time and subject with which you use this part of speech. See the table below for how the verb to be conjugates in English. Despite the rather large amount of information, this topic needs to be properly memorized, since it is a very important grammatical component of the language.
How to conjugate the verb to be
| Number (unit or multip.) | Face (1st, 2nd or 3rd) | Real simple time | Simple past tense |
| Unity number | 1st | I am | I was |
| Unity number | 2nd | You are | You were |
| Unity number | 3rd | He / she / it is | He / She / It was |
| Multiple | 1st | We are | We were |
| Multiple | 2nd | You are | You were |
| Multiple | 3rd | They are | They were |
Examples :
He is at grandmother's house. - He (is) in the house of the grandmother.
There is no any information about it. - There is no information on this score.
To be acting as a linking verb
The use of the verb in any sentence is inherent in English grammar, and it should always be after the noun. In this case, to be is the connection between the subject and the nominal member of the predicate. See the table above for a detailed description of its conjugation, because here too the form to be will depend on the number and face of the noun.
Examples :
This apple is very tasty. - This apple is very tasty.
She is her elder sister. “She's her older sister.”
Today is a rainy day. - Today is a rainy day.
Negation with the verb to be and its forms is formed using the particle not , which comes after the predicate. For instance:
We are not there anymore. - We are no longer there (not in the same place where we were before).
Mary and Jack are not classmates with each other. “Mary and Jack are not classmates.”
Also in some, but very rare cases, to be used as a modal verb or as an auxiliary in the formation of long forms. For example:
She is to pass her first exam. - She is going to pass her first exam (the modality to be in this case is the intention to do something).
She is reading a novel. - She reads a novel (in this case, to be helps to form a simple long time).
English verb table
In any language, this is one of the most important parts of speech. We absolutely cannot convey any action without using the verb in the sentence. In English, they can be divided into right and wrong (that is, those whose past tense is not formed according to the rules). Their table can be found in any textbook or language course. Now let's just look at the most used verbs in English. It is recommended to memorize them. This knowledge will greatly facilitate your communication and reading articles or fiction.
The most used verbs of English with translation| Verb | Translating to Russian language |
| be | to be |
| can | be able to |
| have | to have in stock) |
| do | do, create |
| use | use, use |
| say | speak |
| make | do, make |
| like | like |
| write | write |
| look | look at anything |
| see | see anything |
| call | call or call someone |
| come | to come |
| go | go (verb movement) |
| know | know know |
| live | live, live life anywhere |
| take | take |
| work | work, including on something or somewhere |
| find | find |
| get | receive |
| write | write something |
| speak | talk talk |
| give | give, give |
| help | help someone |
| read | to read |
| buy | buy, shop |
| meet | meet or meet |
| understand | understand |
| tell | say (something to anyone) |
| arrive | arrive at any destination |
By memorizing this list of verbs, you can easily maintain a simple conversation or read simple fiction. Now you are one step closer to being able to speak English with ease.