Particularities of the verb forms

1. ‘to be’ can be an auxiliary verb and lexical (main) verb.
2. It has more forms in the present and past than all other verbs.
3. When ‘to be’ appears as the main verb, it requires ‘to have’ as an auxiliary verb in the perfect tenses (example: “I have been”).

Forms of the irregular verb ‘to be’ in all tenses

‘to be’ is one of the most common and most difficult verbs, so all its verb forms in all tenses are listed here. The tables also highlight the particular forms that differ from the repeating ones. For clarification, the grammatical persons are presented as follows:

Number	Person
Singular	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it
Plural	1 we 2 you 3 they

Forms in the present

Tense	Person and subject	Simple	Progressive/continuous
Present	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	am are is are are are	am being are being is being are being are being are being
Present perfect	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	have been have been has been have been have been have been	(have been being) (have been being) (has been being) (have been being) (have been being) (have been being)

• Information: Negations are solely formed with ‘not’ placed after the form of ‘to be’. This method contrasts with the rule of ‘don’t/doesn’t’, which applies to all other verbs except the modals.
• Grammatically, these forms would be possible; however, they sound very unnatural and are usually not used.

Forms in the past

Tense	Person and subject	Simple	Progressive/continuous
Past	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	was were was were were were	was being were being was being were being were being were being
Past perfect	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	had been	(had been being)

• Information: Negations are solely formed with ‘not’ placed after the form of ‘to be’. This method contrasts with the rule of ‘didn’t’, which applies to all other verbs except the modals.

Forms in the future

Tense	Person and subject	Simple	Progressive/continuous
Future (will)	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	will be	will be being
Future (going to)	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	am going to be are going to be is going to be are going to be are going to be are going to be	am going to be being are going to be being is going to be being are going to be being are going to be being are going to be being
Future perfect	1 I 2 you 3 he, she, it 1 we 2 you 3 they	will have been	(will have been being)

Infinitives and imperatives of ‘to be’

The imperative expresses commands and exists only in the 2nd person singular and plural, with its forms agreeing. Note that the negated (negative) imperative is formed with ‘don’t’, which is not the case with the other tenses above:

Person and subject	Imperative (affirmative)	Imperative (negated)
2 you 2 you	be be	don’t be don’t be

The infinitive is the base form and, like the participles, appears in different aspects:

Verb form (aspect)	Infinitive	Present participle	Past participle
Simple	to be	being	been
Progressive	to be being	–	–
Perfect	to have been	having been (perfect participle)	–
Perfect progressive	(to have been being)	(having been being)	–