To be
James is a teacher.
The affirmative form
The affirmative form: subject + 'to be'
I am
You are
He is
She is
It is
They are
We are
They are
Nationality Name She is Erica. Age He is 35. Job She is an architect. Description It is beautiful. LocationThey are in London.
The negative form
The negative form: subject + 'to be' + not
I am not
You are not
He is not
She is not
It is not
We are not
They are not
I am a sales assistant. I am not a customer.
He is a doctor. He is not a pharmacist.
It is France. It is not Italy.
They are in Paris. They are not in London.
The interrogative form
The Interrogative form: 'to be' + subject Am I? Are you? Is he? Is she? Is it? Are you? Are we? Are they?
Am I on time? 
Is she at work?
Is it interesting? 
Are they in Paris?
The contracted form
Hello. I'm Tony.
Replace the first letter of am, are and is with an apostrophe.
Full form | Contracted form |
I am | I'm |
You are | You're |
He is | He's |
She is | She's |
It is | It's |
We are | We're |
They are | They're |
Use the contracted form when speaking and in informal writing.
Use the full form in formal writing.
Examples
I'm American. You're a manager. He's a doctor. | ||
She's at work. | ||
It's interesting. | ||
We're French. | ||
They're in Paris. | ||
The negative form
|
I'm American. I'm not Canadian. |
Construction
The contracted form of 'to be' in the negative:
subject + contracted form of 'to be' + not You're not
or
subject + 'to be' with contracted form of not You aren't
Note: I'm not 
I amn't 
Contracted form 1 | Contracted form 2 | |
I'm not | - | |
You're not | You aren't | |
He's not | He isn't | |
She's not | She isn't | |
It's not | It isn't | |
We're not | We aren't | |
They're not | They aren't |
Examples
He's a doctor. He isn't a pharmacist.
It's France. It isn't Italy.
We're French. We aren't Swiss.
