The verb to be is possibly the weirdest verb in the English language, but you have to know it because you will use it all the time. Not only do you want to tell other people all about you, you need to be able to conjugate the verb to be to create prefect and progressive tenses of regular English verbs. Here it is, tense by tense.
Present tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I am | we are |
| you are | you are |
| he, she, it is | they are |
Note that the singular forms are in the first column and plural forms are in the second column. Singulars are for one person or thing and plurals for more than one. “You” is listed twice because it may refer to one person or to a group. (Just one more bit of illogic in the language.)
Past tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I was | we were |
| you were | you were |
| he, she, it was | they were |
Future tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I will be | we will be |
| you will be | you will be |
| he, she, it will be | they will be |
Present perfect
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I have been | we have been |
| you have been | you have been |
| he, she, it has been | they have been |
Past perfect
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I had been | we had been |
| you had been | you had been |
| he, she, it had been | they had been |
Future perfect
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I will have been | we will have been |
| you will have been | you will have been |
| he, she, it will have been | they will have been |
