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To be

lecturer, university professor, teacher, chemistry    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

I am Canadian.   


Name

She is Erica.

 

Age

He is 35.

 

Job

She is an architect. 

 

Description

It is beautiful.     

 

Location

They 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


woman, femme   I am a sales assistant.  I am not a customer.   

medical sector staff doctor hospital secteur médical employé docteur médecin interne  He is a doctor.      He is not a pharmacist.

France, map, carte   It is France.      It is not Italy.

Couple in Paris romantic outside walking holding hands  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? 

 


Late person man hard hat watch construction   Am I on time?        woman femme office worker employée de bureau office bureau desk bureau laptop ordinateur  Is she at work?

woman, femme, scientist, scientifique microscope research recherche  Is it interesting?     Paris friends ami  Are they in Paris?  



The contracted form

visitor_airport_visiteur_visitante travel hand shake meet handshake serrer voyage    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

Image


 

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

medical sector staff doctor hospital secteur médical employé docteur médecin interne  He's a doctor.      He isn't a pharmacist.

Image   It's France.      It isn't Italy.

Image   We're French.     We aren't Swiss.