1. A small word connecting two parts of an idea
Some languages can express a person's state or role without an equivalent of is. An ordinary complete English sentence needs a verb: She is busy. He is my neighbour. Here, is connects the person to their state, role or description.
Begin with two questions: who or what am I talking about, and what do I want to say about them? Put the appropriate form of be between the subject and this description. This rule practises affirmative statements about present states, not questions or negatives.
He / She / It + is + description.
She is busy.
She is busy.
Busy names a state; is cannot simply be removed from a complete standard sentence.
He is my neighbour.
He is my neighbour.
After is, we say who this person is in relation to the speaker.
2. The choice depends on the subject, not its length
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.
He / She / It / Maria / my brother / the shop + is; I + am; you / we / they + are.
The small shop is open.
The small shop is open.
The subject contains three words, but there is one shop.
The shops are open.
The shops are open.
Shops is plural. Changing the number also changes the form of be.
You are ready. She is ready.
You are ready. She is ready.
Both statements can refer to one person, but you and she require different forms.
3. What can follow is?
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.
She is a teacher.
She is a teacher.
This names a profession; a teacher is the noun phrase after is.
He is tired.
He is tired.
Tired is an adjective describing a state; there is no a before it.
Maria is from Spain.
Maria is from Spain.
From Spain gives the person's origin; the subject Maria still needs is.
It is on the desk.
It is on the desk.
When the object is already clear, it + is can state its location.
4. It: a known object or the weather
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.
The lamp is new. It is small.
The lamp is new. It is small.
It refers to one lamp; a feminine noun in another language does not make the English object she.
It is cold outside.
It is cold outside.
It fills the subject position in the weather statement.
5. Full and contracted forms
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.
He is → He's; She is → She's; It is → It's.
She is here. She's here.
She is here. She's here.
These are two correct versions of the same statement, not opposite answers.
It's blue.
It's blue.
The contraction expands to It is blue; without an apostrophe, its does not perform this role.
6. From an exercise to a short message
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.
My friend is a nurse. She is at work.
My friend is a nurse. She is at work.
The person is introduced first, making the reference of she clear in the second sentence.
The room is clean. It is ready.
The room is clean. It is ready.
Both sentences describe the same thing; it maintains the connection between them.
Common mistakes
Incorrect:He are tall.
Correct:He is tall.
He needs is; the correction changes only the form of be, not the height or the person.
Incorrect:She am a doctor.
Correct:She is a doctor.
Am goes with I. She needs is, even when the speaker refers to just one person.
Incorrect:The door open.
Correct:The door is open.
The complete standard sentence about the state of the door lacks a linking verb. Do not transfer a pattern without a linking verb from another language.
Incorrect:My new bag are heavy.
Correct:My new bag is heavy.
The three words my new bag name one bag. Count the things, not the words in the subject.
Incorrect:Is cold outside.
Correct:It is cold outside.
A complete weather statement needs the subject it, even if another language does not use one.
Incorrect:She's is ready.
Correct:She's ready.
She's already includes is. The second is is unnecessary; the equivalent full version is She is ready.
Incorrect:Its clean.
Correct:It's clean.
To describe the object as clean, use it and is. Its without an apostrophe expresses possession and cannot replace it is.