see|Appendix:Variations of "be"

wikipedia
English

rank|had|you|not|19|be|at|by|on

Pronunciation
IPA|/bi�/, SAMPA|/bi:/
audio|en-us-be.ogg|Audio (US)
:rhymes|i�
Homophones: bee

Etymology 1
Originated before 900 from ME. term|been|langenm < OE. term|beon|langang, from term|beo|langang + term|-n|langang, infinitive suffix. Irregular forms inherited from the OE. compound verb term|beon-wesan|b�on-wesan|lang=ang.

Verb
infl|en|verb|#Inflection|highly irregular

1. intransitive To occupy a place.

#:The cup is on the table.

1. intransitive To occur, to take place.

#:When will the meeting be?

1. intransitive (without predicate) To exist.
2. intransitive (without predicate) elliptical form of for "be here", "go to and return from" or similar.

#: The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.
#: I have been to Spain many times.

1. italbrac|transitive|copular Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same.

#: Ignorance is bliss.

1. italbrac|transitive|copular|mathematics Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.

#: 3 times 5 is fifteen.

1. italbrac|transitive|copular Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the object.

#: François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995

1. italbrac|transitive|copular Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it.

#: The sky is blue.

1. italbrac|transitive|copular Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

#: The sky is a deep blue today.

1. context|transitive|auxiliary Used to form the passive voice.

#: The dog was drowned by the boy.

1. context|transitive|auxiliary Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses.

#: The woman is walking.
#: I shall be writing to you soon.
#: We liked to chat while we were eating.

! Present indicative
! Past indicative
! Present subjunctive
! Past subjunctive
|-
! First-person singular
| am
| was
| be
| were
|-
! Second-person singular

| are, art (archaic)
| were, wast (archaic)
| be, beest (obsolete)
| were, wert (archaic)
|-
! Third-person singular
| is
| was
| be
| were
|-
! First-person plural
| are
| were
| be
| were
|-
! Second-person plural
| are
| were
| be
| were
|-
! Third-person plural
| are
| were
| be
| were
|}

Translations
Warning! This verb is fraught with irregularities of both form and usage in many languages. Use translations with caution.

trans-top|occupy a place
Bosnian: t-|bs|biti
Croatian: biti#Croatian|biti; nalaziti se (refl.)
Czech: t+|cs|být
Danish: t+|da|være
Dutch: t+|nl|zijn
Esperanto: t+|eo|esti|xs=Esperanto
Finnish: t+|fi|olla
French: t+|fr|être
German: t+|de|sein
Greek: t+|el|είμαι|sc=Grek (eímai)
trans-mid
Irish: t-|ga|bí|xs=Irish
Italian: t+|it|essere
Korean: ko-inline|��|itda
Old Church Slavonic: б���и (byti)
Romanian: t+|ro|fi
Polish: t|pl|by�
Russian: б��� (byt�) impf, на�оди���� (na�odít�s�a) impf
Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|estar
Swedish: t+|sv|vara, t+|sv|ligga, t+|sv|stå, t+|sv|sitta
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|ser
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|ser
Swedish: t+|sv|vara, t-|sv|existera, t+|sv|finnas
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|estar
Swedish: t-|sv|vara här
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|ser
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: ser igual a
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|ser
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|ser, t+|es|estar
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: t+|es|ser
trans-bottom

Slovene: t+|sl|biti
Spanish: (reflexive form of the verb) -t+|es|se, (passive form of the verb) t+|es|ser [...ado/ido]
trans-bottom

trans-top|used to form the continuous forms of various tenses
Danish: not translated
Dutch: zijn usually + aan het ~
Esperanto: t+|eo|esti|xs=Esperanto [...nta]
Finnish: olla (sometimes, normally active tense)
French: not translated; use the equivalent simple tense, or the imperfect in the past
German: t+|de|sein
Greek: use imperfective verb form of the appropriate tense
trans-mid
Irish: t-|ga|bí|xs=Irish
Italian: t+|it|stare
Korean: -ko-inline|�/� ��|gada, -ko-inline|고 ��|go itda, -ko-inline|��|neunda, -ko-inline|��|nda, -ko-inline|��|tda
Polish: t|pl|by�
Romanian: not translated; use the equivalent simple tense, or the imperfect in the past
Spanish: t+|es|estar [...ndo]
trans-bottom

checktrans-top
ttbc|Breton: bezañ
ttbc|Bulgarian: ��м (s�m)
ttbc|Catalan: ser, estar
Chinese:
:ttbc|Cantonese: � (hai6)
:ttbc|Mandarin: � (shì), � (y�u), � (zài)
ttbc|Estonian: olema
ttbc|Faroese: vera
ttbc|Gothic: �����
ttbc|Ancient Greek: εἰμί
ttbc|Hindi: ह�ना (hon�)
ttbc|Hungarian: lenni
ttbc|Icelandic: vera
ttbc|Ido: esar, existar
ttbc|Interlingua: esser, ser#Interlingua|ser
ttbc|Irish: bí
ttbc|Japanese:
:italbrac|auxiliary|copula � (da, informal), �� (desu, semi-formal)
:italbrac|existence �� (��, aru, inanimate); �� (��, iru, animate)
ttbc|Kurdish: bûn
checktrans-mid
ttbc|Latin: esse#Latin|esse (usually cited by its first-person singular form sum#Latin|sum)
ttbc|Lithuanian: būti
ttbc|Macedonian: ��м
ttbc|Maltese: nkun, tkun
ttbc|Manx: bee#Manx|bee
ttbc|Norwegian: være
ttbc|Novial: es#Novial|es
ttbc|Occitan: èsser
ttbc|Old Slavonic: б���и (bŭĭti)
ttbc|Old English: beon-wesan|b�on-wesan
ttbc|Old Norse: vera#Old Norse|vera
ttbc|Persian: fa-Arab|ب�د� (budan)
ttbc|Portuguese: ser#Portuguese|ser (intransitive 2-3; transitive 1-5, 7); estar (intransitive 1,4; transitive 3-7)
ttbc|Romansch: t-|rm|esser|xsRomansch, t-|rm|star|xsRomansch
ttbc|Slovak: byť
ttbc|Swedish: vara#Swedish|vara
ttbc|Urdu: ur-Arab|���ا (hon�)
ttbc|Vietnamese: là#Vietnamese|là (usually omitted when intransitive)
checktrans-bottom

Etymology 2
Abbreviation of term|Belgium.

abbreviation
be

1. context|Internet The country code for Belgium.

Etymology 3
Abbreviation of term|Belarusian.

Noun
infl|en|noun

1. The ISO 639 alpha-2 language code for Belarusian.

References
R:American Heritage 2000|be
R:Dictionary.com|be
R:WordNet 2003|be

Category:100 English basic words
Category:Behaviour
Category:English auxiliary verbs
Category:English irregular verbs
Category:English two-letter words
Category:English verbs

Albanian

Noun
infl|sq|noun

1. oath

Amuzgo

Adjective
infl|amu|adjectives

1. red

Balinese

Noun
infl|ban|noun

1. fish
2. meat, fish, tofu, egg (everything that is eaten with rice exept vegetables)

Catalan

Noun
infl|ca|noun

1. Noun of the letter b.
2. sheep, ram, ewe, lamb

Hungarian

Adverb
infl|hu|adverb

1. in

See also
be-, benn, bent, bél, bels�

Lithuanian

Particle
infl|lt|particle

1. (shows absence of something) without
2. besides; but, except

Lojban

Cmavo
be

1. Connects the following sumti to the previous sumti as an internal sumti (subordinate clause); by default as the x2 argument

#: le klama#Lojban|klama be la paris.
#::the one going to Paris
#: le klama be fo la paris.
#::the one travelling via Paris

Related terms
bei#Lojban|bei
be'o#Lojban|be'o

Category:jbo:Cmavo

Norwegian

Verb
no-verb|be|ber|ba, bad|bedt

1. To pray.
2. To ask something of someone.

Old Prussian

Conjunction
infl|prg|conjunction

1. and

#: w�iklis be m�rg� - a boy and a girl

Preposition
infl|prg|preposition

1. without

Scots

Etymology
OE.|sco term|beon-wesan|b�on-wesan|lang=ang.

Verb
infl|sco|verb|head=tae be

1. To #English|be.

Conjugation
top2
A am#Scots|am (emphatic same, negative amna)
ye are#Scots|are (empahtic same, negative arena)
he/she/it is#Scots|is (emphatic same, negative isna)
we are#Scots|are (empahtic same, negative arena)
ye are#Scots|are (empahtic same, negative arena)
they are#Scots|are (empahtic same, negative arena)
mid2
present participle: bein#Scots|bein
past participle: been#Scots|been
past tense: wis#Scots|wis (with singular pronouns & plural nouns); wis#Scots|wis or wir#Scots|wir (with plural pronouns)

South Scots conjugation
rfc-header|South Scots conjugation
top2
A im#Scots|im (emphatic em or um, negative imni)
ee ir#Scots|ir (emphatic er or ur, negative irni)
hei/shi/it is#Scots|is (emphatic es, negative isni)
oo ir#Scots|ir (emphatic er or ur, negative irni)
yow yins is#Scots|is (emphatic es, negative isni)
they ir#Scots|ir (emphatic er or ur, negative irni)
mid2
present participle: bein#Scots|bein
past participle: been#Scots|been
past tense: wuz#Scots|wuz or wur#Scots|wur (usually used as in English, except with "ee", which can take either)

Swedish
sv-verb-irreg|be|ber|bad|bett|be|bedjande|bedd

Alternative spellings
bedja (now only in religious and archaic contexts)

Verb
infl|sv|verb

1. To ask for, request someone else to do something.
2. To pray.
3. To beg, to plead with someone for help or for a favor.

ar:be
de:be
et:be
el:be
es:be
fa:be
fr:be
gl:be
ko:be
hy:be
hi:be
io:be
it:be
kk:be
ku:be
la:be
lt:be
hu:be
ja:be
no:be
pl:be
pt:be
ro:be
ru:be
simple:be
sl:be
fi:be
sv:be
te:be
vi:be
tr:be
uk:be
zh:be

• 2007-12-19 15:39 - 212.2.99.88 - /* English */

Full Revision History