WordCodex

be

See also: Variations of "be"

be - Translingual

Symbol

be

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Belarusian.

be - English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /biː/
  • (General American) IPA: /bi/
  • Homophones: b, bee, Bea

Verb

be (highly irregular; see conjugation table)

  1. (intransitive, now usually literary) To exist; to have real existence, to be alive.
    • The Universe has no explanation: it just is.
  2. (with there, or dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist.
    • There is just one woman in town who can help us.
    • (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.
  3. (intransitive) To occupy a place.
    • The cup is on the table.
  4. (intransitive) To occur, to take place.
    • When will the meeting be?
  5. (intransitive, in perfect tenses) Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar, also extending to certain other senses of "go".
    • The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.
    • I have been to Spain many times.
    • We've been about twenty miles.
    • I have terrible constipation – I haven't been for several days.
    • They have been through a great deal of trouble.
  6. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same.
    • Knowledge is bliss.
    • Hi, I’m Jim.
  7. (copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.
    • 3 times 5 is fifteen.
  8. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject is an instance of the predicate nominal.
    • A dog is an animal.
    • Dogs are animals.
  9. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal.
    • François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.
  10. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective.
    • The sky is blue.
    • Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)
  11. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.
    • The sky is a deep blue today.
  12. (auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice.
    • The dog was saved by the boy.
  13. (auxiliary) Used to form the continuous aspect.
    • The woman is walking.
    • I shall be writing to you soon.
    • We liked to chat while we were eating.
  14. (auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs; this was more common in archaic use, especially with verbs indicating motion. "He is finished", and "He is gone" are common, but "He is come" is archaic.
  15. (formal, auxiliary) Used to express future action as well as what is due to, intended to, or should happen.
    • They are to be married next month.
    • They are to stay here until I return.
    • They are not to be blamed.
    • How are they to get out of this mess?
    • I am to leave tomorrow.
    • I would drive you, were I to obtain a car.
  16. (copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement.
    • This building is three hundred years old.
    • I am 75 kilograms.
    • He’s about 6 feet tall.
  17. (copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years.
    • I’m 20 (years old).
  18. (with a dummy subject it) Used to indicate the time of day.
    • It is almost eight (o’clock).
    • It’s 8:30 [read eight-thirty] in Tokyo.
    • What time is it there? It’s night.
  19. (With since) Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event.
    • It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to "My grandmother died three years ago", but emphasizes the intervening period)
    • It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him.
  20. (rare and regional, chiefly in the past tense) Used to link two noun clauses, the first of which is a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place), and the second of which is a period of time indicating how long ago that day was.
    • I saw her Monday was a week: I saw her a week ago last Monday (a week before last Monday).
    • On the morning of Sunday was fortnight before Christmas: on the morning of the Sunday that was two weeks before the Sunday prior to Christmas.
  21. (often impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like.
    • It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid.
    • Why is it so dark in here?
  22. (dynamic / lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way.
    • "What do we do?" "We be ourselves."
    • When I play fantasy games, I always be a gnome.
    • Why is he being nice to me?
  23. (African-American Vernacular, Caribbean, Ireland, auxiliary, not conjugated) To tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect.

Usage notes

  • When used copulatively with a pronoun, traditional grammar puts the pronoun in the subjective case (I, he, she, we, they) rather than the objective case (me, him, her, us, them), regardless of which side of the copula it is placed. For example, “I was the masked man” and “The masked man was I” would both be considered correct, while “The masked man was me” and “Me was the masked man” would both be incorrect. However, most colloquial speech treats the verb be as transitive, in which case the pronoun is used in the objective case if it occurs after the copula: “I was the masked man” but “The masked man was me”. This paradigm applies even if the copula is linking two pronouns; thus “I am her” and “She is me", and “Am I me?” (versus the traditional “I am she”, “She is I”, “Am I I?”). However, the use of whom with a copula is generally considered incorrect and a hypercorrection, though in some cases (especially in sentences involving a to-infinitive or a perfect tense), such as “Whom do you want to be?”, it can come naturally to some speakers; in short, straightforward sentences, such as “Whom are you?”, this is much rarer and likelier to be considered incorrect.
  • Except senses 12 (auxiliary forming the passive voice), 13 (auxiliary forming the continuous aspect) and 22 (dynamic or lexical be), this is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous aspect. See English stative verbs.

Conjugation

infinitive (to) be
present tense past tense
1st-person singular am, 'm, be† was, 's*, were*
2nd-person singular are, 're, art†, 'rt† were, wast†, wert†
3rd-person singular is, 's, beeth†, bes† was, were*
plural are, 're, be†, been† were, was*, 's*, weren†
subjunctive be, beest† were, wert†
imperative be —
participles being been

†Archaic or obsolete. * Dialectal.

  • The verb be is the most irregular non-defective verb in Standard English. Unlike other verbs, which distinguish at most five forms (as in do–does–doing–did–done), be distinguishes many more:
    • Be itself is the plain form, used as the infinitive, as the imperative, and as the present subjunctive (though many speakers do not distinguish the present indicative and present subjunctive, using the indicative forms for both).
        • I want to be a father someday. (infinitive)
        • If that be true... (present subjunctive; is is common in this position)
        • Allow the truth to be heard! (infinitive)
        • Please be here by eight o’clock. (imperative)
        • The librarian asked that the rare books not be touched. (present subjunctive; speakers that do not distinguish the subjunctive and indicative would use an auxiliary verb construction here)
      • Be is also used as the present tense indicative form in the alternative, dynamic / lexical conjugation of be:
        • What do we do? We be ourselves. (first-person plural present indicative, lexical be)
        • but: Who are we? We are human beings. (first-person plural present indicative, copula be)
      • It is also an archaic alternative form of the indicative, especially in the plural:
        • The powers that be, are ordained of God. (Romans 13:1, Tyndale Bible, 1526)
        • We are true men; we are no spies: We be twelve brethren... (Genesis 42:31-2, King James Version, 1611)
        • I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it. (Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1, circa 1600 — though this may be viewed as the subjunctive instead)
    • Am, are, and is are the forms of the present indicative. Am is the first-person singular (used with I); is is the third-person singular (used with he, she, it and other subjects that would be used with does rather than do); and are is both the second-person singular and the plural (used with we, you, they, and any other plural subjects).
      • Am I in the right place? (first-person singular present indicative)
      • You are even taller than your brother! (second-person singular present indicative)
      • Where is the library? (third-person singular present indicative)
      • These are the biggest shoes we have. (plural present indicative)
    • Was and were are the forms of the past indicative and past subjunctive (like did). In the past indicative, was is the first- and third-person singular (used with I, as well as with he, she, it and other subjects that would be used with does rather than do), and were is both the second-person singular and the plural (used with we, you, they, and any other plural subjects). In the traditional past subjunctive, were is used with all subjects, though many speakers do not actually distinguish the past subjunctive from the past indicative, and therefore use was with first- and third-person singular subjects even in cases where other speakers would use were.
      • I was out of town. (first-person singular past indicative)
      • You were the first person here. (second-person singular past indicative)
      • The room was dirty. (third-person singular past indicative)
      • We were angry at each other. (plural past indicative)
      • I wish I were more sure. (first-person singular past subjunctive; was is also common, though considered less correct by some)
      • If she were here, she would know what to do. (third-person singular past subjunctive; was is also common, though considered less correct by some)
    • Being is the gerund and present participle, used in progressive aspectual forms, after various catenative verbs, and in other constructions that function like nouns, adjectivally or adverbially. (It’s also used as a deverbal noun and as a conjunction; see those senses in the entry for being itself.)
      • Being in London and being in Tokyo have similar rewards but in different languages. (gerund in grammatical subject)
      • All of a sudden, he’s being nice to everyone. (present participle in progressive aspect)
      • His mood being good increased his productivity noticeably. (present participle in adjectival phrase)
      • It won’t stop being a problem until someone does something about it. (gerund after catenative verb)
    • Been is the past participle, used in the perfect aspect. In Middle English, it was also the infinitive.
      • It’s been that way for a week and a half.
  • In archaic or obsolete forms of English, with the pronoun thou, the verb be has a few additional forms:
    • When the pronoun thou was in regular use, the forms art, wast, and wert were the corresponding present indicative, past indicative, and past subjunctive, respectively.
    • As thou became less common and more highly marked, a special present-subjunctive form beest developed (replacing the regular present subjunctive form be, still used with all other subjects). Additionally, the form wert, previously a past subjunctive form, came to be used as a past indicative as well.
  • The forms am, is, and are can contract with preceding subjects: I’m (“I am”), ’s (“is”), ’re (“are”). The form are most commonly contracts with personal pronouns (we’re (“we are”), you’re (“you are”), they’re (“they are”)), but contractions with other subjects are possible; the form is contracts quite freely with a variety of subjects. These contracted forms, however, are possible only when there is an explicit, non-preposed complement, and they cannot be stressed; therefore, the contractions cannot appear at the end of a sentence. Instead one must use the full forms, such as:
    • Who’s here? —I am.
    • I wonder what it is.
  • Several of the finite forms of be have special negative forms, containing the suffix -n’t, that can be used instead of adding the adverb not. Specifically, the forms is, are, was, and were have the negative forms isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, and weren’t. The form be itself does not, even in finite uses, with “not be” being used in the present subjunctive and “do not be” or “don’t be” (or, in dated use, “be not”) being used in the imperative. The form am has the negative forms aren’t, amn’t, and ain’t, but all of these are in restricted use; see their entries for details.
  • Outside of Standard English, there is some variation in usage of some forms; some dialects, for example, use is or ’s throughout the present indicative (supplanting, in whole or in part, am and are), and/or was throughout the past indicative and past subjunctive (supplanting were).

Alternative forms

Synonyms

  • (to exist): See also exist
  • (used to form passive): get

Derived terms

Translations

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bi/, /bə/, /bɪ/, (Northumberland) /bɛ/

Preposition

be

  1. (dialectal, possibly dated) Alternative form of by. Also found in compounds, especially oaths, e.g. begorra.

Noun

be (plural bes)

  1. The name of the Cyrillic script letter Б / б.

Phrasal verbs

  • be after
  • be along
  • be away (=be somewhere else)
  • be down on sb. (show negative attitude towards sb.)
  • be in (be at home or at work)
  • be in on sth. (to be involved in sth.)
  • be not on (be unacceptable)
  • be off (1. be not fresh food) / (2. leave, depart)
  • be on (take place)
  • be on sth. (take drugs)
  • be on about sth.
  • be onto sb.
  • be out (be away)
  • be out of sth. (have no more left)
  • be out to do sth. (attempt)
  • be up (be out of bed)
  • be up for sth. (look forward to sth.)

Anagrams

be - Albanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [bɛ]

Noun

be f (indefinite plural be, definite singular beja, definite plural betë)

  1. oath
  2. vow, swearing

Derived terms

be - Balinese

Romanization

be

  1. Romanization of ᬩᬾ

be - Basque

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/, [be̞]

Noun

be inan

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Declension

indefinite singular plural
absolutive be bea beak
ergative bek beak beek
dative beri beari beei
genitive beren bearen been
comitative berekin bearekin beekin
causative berengatik bearengatik beengatik
benefactive berentzat bearentzat beentzat
instrumental bez beaz beez
inessive betan bean beetan
locative betako beko beetako
allative betara bera beetara
terminative betaraino beraino beetaraino
directive betarantz berantz beetarantz
destinative betarako berako beetarako
ablative betatik betik beetatik
partitive berik — —
prolative betzat — —

be - Blagar

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/

Noun

be

  1. pig

be - Catalan

Pronunciation

  • (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA: /ˈbe/

Noun

be f (plural bes)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Usage notes

In some dialects of Catalan, the sounds associated with the letter b and the letter v are the same: [b ~ β]. In order to differentiate be and ve in those dialects, the letters are often called be alta (“high B”) and ve baixa (“low V”).

Derived terms

Pronunciation

  • (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA: /ˈbɛ/

Noun

be m (plural bens)

  1. sheep, ram, ewe, lamb; an individual of the species Ovis aries.

Hyponyms

be - Dorasque

Noun

be

  1. (Changuena, Chumulu, Gualaca) night

be - East Central German

Preposition

be

  1. (Erzgebirgisch) at; with; by; near; (close) to

be - Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [ˈbe]
  • Hyphenation: '‧be

Interjection

be

  1. The characteristic cry of a sheep.

Derived terms

be - Faroese

Noun

be n (genitive singular bes, plural be)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Declension

Declension of be

be - Guerrero Amuzgo

Adjective

be

  1. red

be - Hungarian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [ˈbɛ]

Adverb

be (comparative beljebb, superlative legbeljebb)

  1. in (towards the interior of a defined space, such as a building or room)
    • Antonym: ki

Usage notes

This term may also be part of the split form of a verb prefixed with be-, occurring when the main verb does not follow the prefix directly. It can be interpreted only with the related verb form, irrespective of its position in the sentence, e.g. meg tudták volna nézni (“they could have seen it”, from megnéz). For verbs with this prefix, see be-; for an overview, Hungarian verbal prefixes.

Derived terms

Compound words

Anagrams

be - Iau

Noun

be

  1. fire

be - Ido

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/, /bɛ/

Noun

be (plural be-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter B/b.

be - Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: **/ˈbe/*
  • Hyphenation: bé

Noun

be f (invariable)

  1. (regional, obsolete) Alternative form of bi

be - Japanese

Romanization

be

  1. Rōmaji transcription of べ (hiragana)
  2. Rōmaji transcription of ベ (katakana)

be - Karajá

Noun

be

  1. water

be - Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA: /beː/, [beː]
  • (Ecclesiastical) IPA: /be/, [bɛː]

Noun

bē f (indeclinable)

  1. The name of the letter B.

Coordinate terms

be - Lithuanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [bʲɛ]

Preposition

be (with genitive)

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

Antonyms

be - Malagasy

Adjective

be

  1. big; great
  2. many; numerous

be - Mandarin

Romanization

be

  1. Nonstandard spelling of bē.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of bê̄.

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

be - Middle English

Verb

be

  1. Alternative form of been

Noun

be

  1. Alternative form of bee

Verb

be

  1. first-person singular present indicative of been

Usage notes

  • Less common than am.

Verb

be

  1. singular present subjunctive of been

Descendants

  • English: be
  • Scots: be

Verb

be

  1. singular imperative of been

Descendants

  • English: be
  • Scots: be

Alternative forms

Verb

be

  1. plural present of been

Usage notes

The usual plural form of been is aren in the North, been in the Midlands, and beth in the South; sind also existed, especially early on, but was not the predominant form in any area.

Descendants

  • English: be (obsolete or dialectal as the plural)
  • Scots: be

be - Mòcheno

Noun

be m

  1. path, way

Derived terms

be - Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

be (imperative be, present tense ber, passive bes, simple past ba or bad, past participle bedt, present participle beende)

  1. to pray
  2. to ask something of someone

Synonyms

Derived terms

be - Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /beː/

Verb

be (present tense ber, past tense bad, supine bede or bedd or bedt, past participle beden or bedd, present participle bedande, imperative be)

  1. to pray
  2. to ask something of someone

Derived terms

be - Occitan

Noun

be f (plural bes)

  1. bee (the letter b)

be - Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/

Preposition

be

  1. about (concerning)
  2. by, in various senses:
    1. near or next to
    2. not later than
    3. based on, according to

be - Old Irish

Alternative forms

  • (2nd sg. pres. subj.): ba

Verb

be

  1. second-person singular present subjunctive of is
  2. first/second-person singular future of is

be - Old Prussian

Conjunction

be

  1. Alternative form of bhe: and
    • wāiklis be mērgā - a boy and a girl

Preposition

be

  1. without

be - Phalura

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/

Pronoun

be (personal, Perso-Arabic spelling بےۡ)

  1. we (1pl nom)

be - Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bɛ/
  • Syllabification: be

Noun

be n (indeclinable)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Adjective

be (comparative bardziej be, superlative najbardziej be, adverb be)

  1. (childish) icky, yucky
    • Synonyms: see zły

Adverb

be (comparative bardziej be, superlative najbardziej be)

  1. (childish) icky, yucky

Interjection

be

  1. (colloquial) Used with children to tell them not to touch something, bad! no touchy!
  2. (onomatopoeia) Used to imitate the sound of a sheep or ram, baa
    • Synonym: me

Derived terms

adjective
interjection
nouns
verbs

be - Romanian

Interjection

be

  1. baa (sound made by sheep or goats)

be - Savi

Pronoun

be

  1. we; first-person plural personal pronoun

be - Scots

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [bi(ː)], [bɪ]

Verb

be

  1. to be

Conjugation

infinitive tae be
present participle bein
past participle been
person singular plural
A thoo1 he/she/it we ye they
regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative
present am amna art artna is isna are arena are arena are arena
past wis wis, wir2
1Archaic.
2Used only with plural pronouns.
infinitive tae be
present participle bein
past participle been
person singular plural
A ee hei/shi/it oo yow yins they
regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative regular emphatic negative
present im em, um imni ir er, ur irni is es isni ir er, ur irni is es isni ir er, ur irni
past wuz wuz, wur wuz wur

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [bə], [bɪ]

Conjunction

be

  1. Alternative form of by

be - Serili

Noun

be

  1. water

be - Slovene

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /béː/

Noun

bẹ̑ m inan

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Inflection

Masculine inan., soft o-stem
nom. sing. bé
gen. sing. bêja

Synonyms

be - Sotho

Adjective

be

  1. bad

be - Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbe/ [ˈbe]
  • Syllabification: be
  • Homophone: ve

Noun

be f (plural bes)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Noun

be m (plural bes)

  1. baa (bleating of a sheep)

be - Sumerian

Romanization

be

  1. Romanization of 𒁁 (be)

be - Swedish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • Homophone: B

Verb

be (present ber, preterite bad, supine bett, imperative be)

  1. to ask for, request someone else to do something
    • Han bad om ett glas vatten ― He asked for a glass of water
    • Jag vill be om en tjänst ― I want to ask you a favor
    • Han bad honom lämna rummet ― He asked him to leave the room
  2. to pray
    • De satt i kyrkan och bad ― They sat in church, praying
  3. to beg, to plead with someone for help or for a favor
    • Hjälp mig! Jag ber dig! ― Help me! I beg of you!

Conjugation

Active Passive
Infinitive be bes
Supine bett betts
Imperative be —
Imper. plural1 ben —
Present Past Present Past
Indicative ber bad bes bads
Ind. plural1 be bådo bes bådos
Subjunctive2 be både bes bådes
Participles
Present participle bedjande, beende
Past participle bedd
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.
Active Passive
Infinitive bedja bedjas
Supine bett betts
Imperative bed —
Imper. plural1 beden —
Present Past Present Past
Indicative beder bad beds, bedes, bedjes bads
Ind. plural1 bedja bådo bedjas bådos
Subjunctive2 bede både bedes bådes
Participles
Present participle bedjande
Past participle bedd
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Synonyms

  • bedja (dated for prayer, archaic for other senses)

be - Tagalog

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: be
  • IPA: /ˈbe/, [ˈbɛ]

Noun

be (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜒ)

  1. (historical) The name of the Latin-script letter B/b, in the Abecedario.
    • Synonyms: (in the Filipino alphabet) bi, (in the Abakada alphabet) ba

be - Tarao

Alternative forms

Noun

be

  1. bean, beans

be - Turkish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/

Noun

be

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B.

Noun

be

  1. Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ب

Interjection

be

  1. (very informal) hey there, hey! you! (implying disapproval of the addressee’s actions)
  2. strengthening of the preceding sentence
    • Bu yük çok ağır be! ― My, this load is very heavy

be - Tzotzil

Pronunciation

  • (Zinacantán) IPA: /ɓɛ/

Noun

be

  1. road, path, way

be - Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Noun

be

  1. wine flask
    • Rượu ngon chẳng quản be sành.
      • Good wine does not mind a terracotta flask.

Adjective

be

  1. beige
    • chiếc áo mưa màu be — a beige raincoat

Verb

be

  1. To build a mud embankment with one's hands.
  2. To prop up the lip of a sack while topping off the sack, to ensure a more generous quantity.
    • lấy tay be miệng đấu khi đong đỗ — to surround the top of a measure with one's hands while measuring beans
    • Đong bình thường, không được be đâu đấy. — Measure it out normally; don't prop up the lip of the sack.

Verb

be

  1. To hug a boundary or riverbank.
    • Thuyền be theo bờ sông.
      • The boat hugged the riverbank.

Interjection

be • (𠻻, 𠾦)

  1. (onomatopoeia) bleat; baa

be - West Makian

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be/

Noun

be

  1. water

be - Yola

Verb

be

  1. Alternative form of ba (“to be”)

Preposition

be

  1. Alternative form of bee (“by”)

Verb

be

  1. Alternative form of ba (“are”)

be - Zia

Noun

be

  1. mouth

be - Zou

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /be˧˩/

Noun

bè

  1. bean

be - Zulu

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɓe/

Verb

-be

  1. (auxiliary) forms continuous tenses [+participial]
    • Ngesonto elilandelayo ngizobe ngisebenza kakhulu.
      • Next week I will be working a lot.

Usage notes

In past tenses, this auxiliary is usually contracted.

Ngibe ngihamba → Bengihamba "I was walking." (recent past)

Ngabe ngihamba → Ngangihamba "I was walking." (remote past)

Inflection

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Meaning and Definition of be
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