Here is the positive form (positive refers to a regular sentence, not a negative or a question).
| Positive | Positive Short 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 |
| you are | you’re |
| they are | they’re |
Next, here’s the negative form: You include the word ‘not‘.
| Negative | Negative short form (contracted form) |
| I am not | I’m not |
| you are not | you aren’t (you’re not) |
| he is not | he isn’t (he’s not) |
| she is not | she isn’t (she’s not) |
| it is not | it isn’t (it’s not) |
| we are not | we aren’t (we’re not) |
| you are not | you aren’t (you’re not |
| they are not | they aren’t (they’re not) |
Lastly, here’s the question form of the present simple with ‘be‘. There are two types of questions: ‘yes / no’ questions, and ‘wh’ questions.
Firstly, here’s the ‘yes / no’ question form:
Yes / No Questions
am I ?
are you ?
is he ?
is she ?
is it ?
are we ?
are they ?
To form a ‘wh’ question, simply place the question word at the beginning.
| Wh Questions | |
| where am I ? | |
| what are you ? | |
| why is he ? | |
| who is she ? | |
| where is it? | |
| when are we ? | |
| what are you ? | |
| how are they ? |
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Make sentences with ‘be’ using the short forms (choose positive, negative, or question):
- (he / be / French)
He is not French. (positive) - (we / not / be / cold)
We are not cold. (negative) - (he / be / a football player?)
Is he a football player? (question) - (where / be / John?)
- (we / be / German)
- (he / not / be / a journalist)
- (we / not / be / singers)
- (you / be / a nurse?)
- (they / be / from Libya)
- (where / be / David?)
- (how / be / your mother?)
- (we / be / thirsty)
- (how long / be / the film?)
- (how often / be / you in London?)
- (he / be / handsome)
- (I / not / be / English)
- (you / not / be / a doctor)
- (she / not / be / Italian)
- (he / be / my brother)
- (you / not / be / Egyptian)
- (you / be / hungry)
- (they / not / be / at home)
- (when / be / the party?)
- (Julie and Ann / be / on the bus?)
- (she / be / kind?)
- (they / be / German?)
- (you / be / late?)
- (I / be / early?)
- (you / be / from London?)
- (they / be / sad)
- (she / be / beautiful)
- (we / be / in love)
- (where / be / you?)
- (I / be / happy)
- (what / be / this?)
- (I / not / be / too hot)
- (she / not / be / called Julia).
- (how old / be / she?)
- (what time / be / the train?)
- (he / not / be / an accountant)
