Verb "to be"

I combines with am, he/she/it with is, and you/we/they with are. Contracting the form preserves this agreement. Attach the apostrophe and ending to the pronoun without a space.

After the contraction, add the information: who someone is, what they are like or where they are. Do not add another am/is/are: in She’s ready, is is already contained in She’s.

In he is not, she is not and it is not, you can contract the pronoun with is or is with not: he’s not / he isn’t. Likewise, we’re not / we aren’t and they’re not / they aren’t. Both ways preserve the negative.

For I am not in the standard form practised here, use I’m not. Do not transfer aren’t from you to I. Regional amn’t occurs in Irish and Scottish varieties of English, but is not the target form in this course.

With a noun subject, contracting the verb with not is useful: The chair isn’t free; The chairs aren’t free. Do not insert they before aren’t when The chairs is already the subject.

In these exercises, it’s means it is: we describe a characteristic, state or place. Its without an apostrophe expresses possession before a noun: its name, its door, its screen.

Check by substitution: if it is fits here, use it’s. If you mean a name, part or thing belonging to an object or animal already mentioned, use its. In other topics, it’s can also mean it has; we do not practise that meaning here.

In a complete positive short answer after yes, keep full am/is/are: Yes, I am; Yes, he is; Yes, they are. Do not end such an answer with I’m, he’s or they’re.

If the sentence continues, a contraction is possible: Yes, I’m ready. A negative short answer can also use a contraction: No, I’m not; No, he isn’t; No, they’re not. The important point is the structure of the whole answer, rather than yes/no itself.

Contractions suit everyday conversation, notes or messages to someone you know. A full form can also be correct in conversation, particularly for emphasis. Do not consider I am fine incorrect simply because I’m fine is possible.

The advice to use full forms in official texts is a style guideline, rather than a different grammatical meaning. Here we practise short everyday statements, rather than official letters.

For a self-check, ask: is the subject unchanged, is not preserved, is there an apostrophe, and can the sentence end here? If a task explicitly requests a contraction, a full form may be grammatical but miss that requirement. A model open answer is one possible version, rather than a list of every correct sentence.

The subject answers “Who or what is this sentence about?” I needs am; he, she and it need is; you, we and they need are. Changing the order does not remove this agreement.

Move the existing form of be to the beginning. Do not leave a second copy after the subject. Use is for the name of one person, and are for two people. You takes are even when addressing one person.

The subject can contain several words: your new phone, the two chairs. This small group stays together in a question. Be goes before the whole group, rather than inside it.

Keep the description after the subject: an adjective, a role or a simple location expression. Do not lose a/an in a profession phrase, or at, in or from in a place expression. We do not study their separate grammar here, but these words do not disappear when the word order changes.

In our sentences, be itself expresses a state or relationship: busy, a driver, at work. It forms a question without do/does. Do not add either do or another be.

This is not a rule for every English verb. Questions about the activity work have another structure. Learn to keep the two patterns separate.

English needs the appropriate form of be in a question such as Are you free? Do not omit are just because the meaning seems clear. First identify who you are asking about, then build the whole question.

If you are simply transforming a supplied sentence, do not change I to you without a reason. If you are addressing the person who said “I am new”, your question needs you instead. The situation must justify this change of roles.

She is a teacher? is possible in conversation when checking what you heard or expressing surprise. It does not meet our target of forming a neutral question with be before the subject. Not every question with statement word order is ungrammatical: its purpose and situation matter.

A neutral question often has rising intonation at the end, but that is not the only possible intonation. A rising voice is a useful starting point, rather than a ban on every other melody. Written exercises do not assess pronunciation.

Check open answers against the meaning and criteria; the model is only one way to express what is required. Questions with not, question words such as where/who, past forms was/were and the system of short answers belong to related topics.

Do not copy the pronoun from the question. When someone addresses you alone, you in the question becomes I in your answer. When someone asks about themselves with Am I…?, you answer them with you.

Keep the verb to be and the present tense, but make its form agree with the subject of the ANSWER rather than mechanically repeating the question: Are you…? → Yes, I am., not Yes, I are.

You can refer to one person or several. If you answer for yourself and someone else, use we. If we in the question includes both you and the person asking, we can remain in the answer too.

At the end of a standard affirmative short answer, write and say am, is, or are separately: do not contract it with the pronoun. This applies to all persons, not just I.

Distinguish a short answer from a full statement. Yes, I'm ready. is correct because ready follows I'm. But Yes, I'm. with nothing after it is not a correct standard short answer.

With I, use No, I am not. or No, I'm not. In the standard English practised here, do not form I amn't or replace am with aren't.

With he, she, and it, three forms are possible: full is not, contracted isn't, or the pronoun contracted with is followed by separate not. Similarly, you, we, and they can take are not, aren't, or you're/we're/they're not.

Full and contracted negatives preserve the same basic meaning. Contractions are common in conversation; the full form is also correct and can sound more emphatic. If a task specifically asks for a full form, a contraction will not meet that requirement even if it is grammatical.

In a short answer, we usually do not repeat the name or noun. Use it for one thing and they for several. For a person, choose the pronoun established by context; do not guess it from their profession alone.

Then match the verb form: I am; he/she/it is; you/we/they are. The grammatical gender of an object's name in another language does not determine its English pronoun: a phone is it, not he.

In a real conversation, standalone Yes. or No. is possible, as is a full answer. These are not automatically grammatical errors or impolite. Here we specifically practise the pronoun + to be pattern, so the task explicitly asks you to use it.

After a short answer, you can add a useful detail in a separate sentence. There is no need to lengthen the short answer itself or repeat the entire question.

In closed tasks requiring an exact form, follow the visible requirements for a capital letter, comma, and full stop. In your own replies, the model is only one way to express the intended meaning; check your text against the content criteria.

Here we work with ordinary am/is/are questions about a present state, location, or identity. These answers do not introduce do or does. However, No, she doesn't. can correctly answer a different question, for example about a regular action.

Questions with where or who require information, not just Yes/No. Negative questions, tags such as isn't it?, past was/were, and other verbs are neighbouring topics, not extra traps in this A1 lesson.

Before answering, check three things: who you are speaking about, whether you confirm or deny the fact, and which form of to be your pronoun needs.

In an ordinary present-tense affirmative sentence about yourself, choose am, not is, are, or the base form be. Remember the pair I am as one way to begin a thought.

Is and are are not bad words: they are needed with other subjects. In this rule, we are practicing only the speaker I. The pronoun I is always written with a capital letter.

After am, there can be a role, an adjective describing a state, a phrase with from showing origin, or an age. This is one linking verb with different messages, not four different verb forms.

It is useful to learn professions as ready-made combinations: a cook, a doctor, an engineer. There is no article before an adjective such as tired. Detailed article choice is a separate topic.

I am from… tells us about origin, not necessarily about the speaker’s current location. In English, age is also expressed with be: I am 30 or I am 30 years old. Do not translate the idea of “to me” as a separate pronoun.

I am can be shortened to I'm. The apostrophe marks the missing letter a. The contraction is common in conversation; the full form is also correct and may be suitable when speaking more emphatically.

I'm already contains am: you do not need to add another am. In your own complete sentences in this lesson, both forms are acceptable unless the task specifically asks you to practice one of them.

For a simple affirmative sentence, first name the speaker with I, then use am, and then add information about yourself. Do not begin this kind of statement with Am I: that is the word order for a question, which we will study separately.

When someone asks about you, you become I in your answer. Do not copy you from their sentence. In this lesson, we answer with complete statements, for example, I'm ready; short answers such as Yes, I am belong to a related rule.

Before answering, decide what the listener needs: your name, role, origin, age, or state. Choose the appropriate fact and build a complete affirmative sentence. You do not need to reveal real personal information: you can speak as an invented adult character.

Am is not a word that we mechanically put after every I. For example, I work means “I work” and already has a verb. I am working is a different construction for an action in progress; we are not practicing it here. We also do not form negatives or questions here.

A correct English answer may sometimes fail to complete a specific task: naming a profession instead of a state is not a grammatical error, but it does not answer the required meaning. After writing your own text, check its meaning, form, and suitability against the model and criteria; the model is not the only acceptable wording.

He, she and it take is. The name of one person or one thing works the same way: Maria is, my brother is, the small shop is. Several words in the subject do not mean several people or things.

An important qualification to “singular → is”: I takes am, and you takes are even when addressing one person. Two people or several things need are. They also takes are, including when it refers to one person; pronoun choice depends on context, not a person's profession.

After is, you can name a role or thing, describe a quality or state, or give a location or origin. The initial formula with a noun or adjective is useful but not exhaustive: from Spain and at home also naturally follow is.

In profession descriptions such as a teacher, the article belongs to the noun phrase. Do not add it before an adjective alone: is tired. Articles here support the complete sentence rather than form a separate assessment topic.

Is does not mean that any following verb can be added unchanged. He works describes an action; He is tired describes a state. Constructions such as is working are studied separately.

In an ordinary description of an object, it can replace the object's name when the reference is clear. Grammatical gender in another language does not determine the English pronoun: the lamp → it. Name the object first or make sure the other person can see it.

In a weather statement, it does not replace a specific thing: It is cold outside. Even if another language can express this without a subject or linking verb, the complete English sentence needs it and is. There is no need to imagine an object that feels cold.

This is not a rule that it can never concern a person: English has separate identifying constructions such as It's Anna. Here we practise simple descriptions of objects and weather, without those additional uses.

He is, she is and it is can contract to he's, she's and it's. In these simple descriptions, the meaning stays the same. Contractions are common in conversation and informal messages; the full form is also correct. If a task explicitly requests a full or contracted form, that is a learning requirement, not a ban on the other version in English.

The apostrophe in it's matters: it's = it is in this lesson's examples, whereas its expresses possession, as in its name. Do not add another is after he's, she's or it's: the verb is already part of the contraction. In other constructions, 's can have another meaning; those uses are not assessed here.

Introduce a person or thing, then add a useful fact: who they are, what they are like or where they are. Short sentences are sufficient. When writing about one person, you do not need to repeat the name every time if he or she has a clear reference.

When checking your work, distinguish a form error, a change of meaning and an unmet task requirement. She are here contains an error; She is at home can be grammatical but does not mean that she is here; She's here is correct English but does not meet a request to write without contractions.

Short labels and conversational fragments can lack a full sentence structure, but these tasks require complete standard sentences. An open-answer model is only one option. Compare your own text with the criteria; this is self-checking, not independent confirmation of correctness.

You can address one person, address one person politely, or address a group. In every case, the form is you are. Do not replace are with is simply because you are speaking to one person.

The situation tells us how many people are being addressed. You are ready does not itself tell us how many people the speaker is talking to. A noun after are may help: a guest refers to one guest, while guests refers to several; the verb with you stays the same.

We refers to the speaker together with other people. They, in our main exercises, refers to other people or things already mentioned. Both take are, but changing the pronoun changes the participants in the message.

When replying to someone, choose the pronoun from your own perspective. If the other person says you and Lina, and you reply about yourself and Lina, use we. Sharing the form are does not make we and they interchangeable.

Are also follows clearly plural nouns: the chairs, two rooms, my parents. Two separate participants joined by and also make a plural subject: Lena and Tom are here.

Look at the whole subject, not just the word nearest the verb. In Mina and I, the subject consists of two people, so it needs are, even though I on its own takes am. An ordinary singular subject follows a different rule: The door is open, but The doors are open.

A role named after are does not determine the verb form. We are a small group is correct: the subject is we, and a small group describes the group as a whole.

You are, we are, and they are can be contracted to you're, we're, and they're. In an ordinary statement, they convey the same meaning; contractions are particularly common in conversation and informal writing. The full form is also correct.

In a contraction, the apostrophe marks an omitted letter: we're, not were. If an exercise specifically asks for a full form or a contraction, follow that instruction. The other grammatically correct form then fails to meet the particular task requirement; it does not become ungrammatical.

Here we practise affirmative statements about a present state, role, location, or origin. Negatives, question formation, short answers, and -ing verbs are separate topics for later. You can answer a ready-made question with a full affirmative statement without studying the structure of the question itself yet.

Are is not a rule for every situation involving several people. For example, more complex cases with collective nouns are studied separately. They can also refer to one person; it still takes are. Our main situations with they explicitly involve several people or things so that you can first practise a straightforward pattern.

Before speaking, check three things: who you are talking about, whether the message needs be, and whether you have preserved the meaning. Changing We are here to They are here is grammatically possible, but it refers to different participants.

Use am with I; is with he, she and it; are with you, we and they. Not does not change this choice. You takes are for both one listener and several.

A name or noun naming one object usually needs is. Several people or things need are: Anna is not…, Anna and Max are not….

In an ordinary full negative statement, not follows am, is or are. To make a statement negative, do not move be before the subject or add do/does.

The negative itself does not remove an article, adjective or place: a teacher remains a teacher, at home remains at home. The assertion about the fact changes, rather than the sentence’s vocabulary.

Is not can contract to isn’t, and are not to aren’t. The pronoun and be can also contract: she is not → she’s not, we are not → we’re not. Both ways are usual; do not consider one incorrect solely because it looks different.

For the first person in neutral learner English, use I am not or I’m not. Do not combine two contractions in one word such as she’sn’t. If an exercise does not require a particular spelling, the full form and ordinary contraction are equally appropriate.

A negative often corrects an assumption: the listener has misunderstood a person, object or place. You can add a true fact in a second sentence, but do not invent it when it is unknown.

Short words such as Sorry or Thank you suit a polite answer. Politeness does not require removing not or reversing the fact.

Here we practise present statements with be: states, roles and places. A place can follow be + not, rather than just a role or characteristic: here, at home, in the office. Such a statement is also a complete sentence.

Saying “amn’t does not exist” is too categorical: dictionaries record it mainly in Scotland and Ireland. Our target is neutral I am not / I’m not. The regional form is outside this learning objective, rather than evidence that no such word exists.

Don’t be late is a grammatical request or command, rather than a double negative. It instructs someone not to arrive late, rather than stating You aren’t late. Questions, short answers without a named state, commands, was/were and negatives with other verbs are studied separately.