Be Definition

be

English

Etymology

From Middle English been (“to be”), from Old English bēon (“to be, become”), from Proto-Germanic *beunan (“to be, exist, come to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, become, come into being, appear”). Cognate with West Frisian binne (“are”), Dutch ben (“am”), Low German bün ("am"), German bin (“am”), Old English būan (“to live, wone”). Irregular forms are inherited from the Old English compound verb bēon-wesan.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /biː/, SAMPA: /bi:/
• (US) IPA: /bi/, SAMPA: /bi/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: b, bee, Bea

Verb

be (highly irregular)

1. (intransitive, now literary) To exist; to have real existence.
   • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:

     Rachel wepynge ffor her chyldren, and wolde nott be comforted because they were not.

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet:

     To be or not to be, that is the question.

   • 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II.2:

     There is surely a peece of Divinity in us, something that was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the Sun.

   • 2004, Richard Schickel, "Not Just an African Story", Time, 13 Dec 2004:

     The genial hotel manager of the past is no more. Now owner of a trucking concern and living in Belgium, Rusesabagina says the horrors he witnessed in Rwanda "made me a different man."

2. With there as dummy subject: to exist.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice:

     Some men there are loue not a gaping Pigge: / Some that are mad, if they behold a Cat: / And others, when the bag-pipe sings i'th nose, / Cannot containe their Vrine for affection.

   • 1817, Jane Austen, Persuasion:

     "There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known even in a crowd, and this you had."

   • 2011, Mark Sweney, The Guardian, 6 Jul 2011:

     "There has been lots of commentary on who is staying and who is staying out and this weekend will be the real test," said one senior media buying agency executive who has pulled the advertising for one major client.

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, without predicate) elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar.

   The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.

   I have been to Spain many times.

6. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same.

   Ignorance is bliss.

7. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.

   3 times 5 is fifteen.

8. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal.

   François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.

9. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it.

   The sky is blue.

10. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

    The sky is a deep blue today.

11. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice.

    The dog was drowned by the boy.

    • 1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, ISBN 9780415127790, page 13:

      Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.

12. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses.

    The woman is walking.

    I shall be writing to you soon.

    We liked to chat while we were eating.

    • 1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, ISBN 9780415127790, page 13:

      In the possibility of radio uses of a constructed language — and such experiments are proving successful — vast sums of money and untold social forces may be involved.

13. (archaic) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs. Often still used for to go

    They are not yet come back. (Macbeth by William Shakespeare) (instead of They have not yet come back.)

    • 1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel, lines 67-68

      ‘I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come,’ she said.

    • 1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems XXV, line 13

      The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;

    He is gone.

14. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form future tenses, especially the future subjunctive.

    I am to leave tomorrow.

    I would drive you, were I to obtain a car.

15. Used to link a subject to a count or measurement.

    This building is three hundred years old.

    It is almost eight.

    I am 75 kilograms.

16. (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.

17. (often impersonal) 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?

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Inflection

• 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 eight:
  • Be itself is the plain form, used as the infinitive, as the imperative, and as the present subjunctive.

    I want to be a father someday. (infinitive)

    That be the only reason. (present subjunctive)

    Let the truth be heard! (infinitive)

    Please be here by eight o'clock. (imperative)

    The librarian asked that the rare books not be touched. (present subjunctive)

  • 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 possible)

    If she were here, she would know what to do. (third-person singular past subjunctive; was is also possible)

  • Being is the gerund-participle, used in noun-like constructions, in the progressive aspect, and after various verbs (like doing). (It's also used as an actual noun; for those senses, see the entry for being itself.)

    I don't like being here.

    All of a sudden, he's being nice to everyone.

    It won't stop being a problem until someone does something about it.

  • Been is the past participle, used in the perfect aspect.

    It's been that way for a week and a half.

  • The verb be has four additional forms which are archaic: thou art (second-person singular present indicative), thou beest (second-person singular present indicative), thou wert / wast (second-person singular past indicative), he, she, it beeth (third-person singular present indicative).
• 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 is 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, contraction does not occur in sentences such as the following:

  • Who's here? —I am.

    I wonder what it is.

    I don't want to be involved. —But you are involved, regardless.

• 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 arguably 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).

References

• “be” in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
• “be” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "be" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: had · you · not · #19: be · at · by · on

Anagrams

• EB

Albanian

Noun

be

1. oath

Amuzgo

Adjective

be

1. red

Balinese

Noun

be

1. fish
2. meat, fish, tofu, egg (everything that is eaten with rice except vegetables)

Catalan

Etymology 1

Noun

be f. (plural bes)

1. The Latin letter B (lowercase b).

Derived terms

• be alta

Usage notes

In some dialects of Catalan, the sounds associated with the letter b and the letter v are the same: [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”).

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic from the sound of a lamb.

Noun

be m. (plural bens)

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

Esperanto

Noun

be (plural be-oj, accusative singular be-on, accusative plural be-ojn)

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

See also

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, bo/be, co/ce, ĉo/ĉa, do/de, e, fo/ef, go/ge, ĝo/ĝe, ho/ha, ĥo/ĥi, i, jo/je, ĵo/ĵi, ko/ka, lo/el, mo/om, no/en, o, po/pa, ro/ar, so/es, ŝo/eŝ, to/ta, u, ŭo/eŭ, vo/vi, zo/ze ^{(Category: eo:Latin letter names)}

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

be

1. in

Derived terms

• befelé

See also

• be-, benn, bent, bél, belső

Japanese

Syllable

be

1. The hiragana syllable べ (be) or the katakana syllable ベ (be) in Hepburn romanization.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /beː/, SAMPA: /be:/

Noun

bē (indeclinable)

1. The name of the letter B.

Coordinate terms

• (Latin’s names for the letters of its own alphabet): ā (A), bē (B), cē (C), dē (D), ē (E), ef (F), gē (G), hā (H), ī (I), kā (K), el (L), em (M), en (N), ō (O), pē (P), kū (Q), er (R), es (S), tē (T), ū (V), ix / īx / ex (X), ȳ (Y), zēta (Z)

References

• Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), part III: “Summary of the Ancient Evidence”, page 32   Clearly there is no question or doubt about the names of the vowels A, E, I, O, U. They are simply long A, long E, etc. (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). Nor is there any uncertainty with respect to the six mutes B, C, D, G, P, T. Their names are bē, cē, dē, gē, pē, tē (each with a long E). Or about H, K, and Q: they are hā, kā, kū — each, again, with a long vowel sound.

Lithuanian

Pronunciation

• IPA: [bɛ]

Preposition

be (with genitive)

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

Antonyms

• su

Lojban

Cmavo

be

1. Connects the following sumti to the previous sumti as an internal sumti (subordinate (relative) clause); by default as the x₂ argument.

   le klama be la paris.

   the one (who is) going to Paris

   le klama be fo la paris.

   the one (who is) travelling via Paris

   tumxra be la mexikos. zei tcadu

   Map of_{(i.e., which depicts)} Mexico City.

Usage notes

• The cmavo be'o can be used to indicate the termination of the internal sumti, but is only required if the parsing of the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.

Derived terms

• befi
• befo

Related terms

• bei
• be'o

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse biðja

Verb

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

1. To pray.
2. To ask something of someone.

Synonyms

• bede

Derived terms

• beding

Related terms

• bøn / bønn

References

• “be” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.
• “be” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse biðja

Verb

be (present tense ber or bed or beder, past tense bad, past participle bede or bedi or bedd or bedt, present participle bedande, imperative be)

1. To pray.
2. To ask something of someone.

Synonyms

• bede

Derived terms

• beding

Related terms

• bøn / bønn

References

• “be” in The Bokmål Dictionary / The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.
• “be” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Old Prussian

Conjunction

be

1. and

   wāiklis be mērgā - a boy and a girl

Preposition

be

1. without

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA: [bɛ]

Noun

be n. (indeclinable)

1. The name of the letter B/b.

Adjective

be (indeclinable)

1. (childish) bad, not suitable, not eatable

Interjection

be

1. (onomatopoeia) A sound of a sheep

Scots

Etymology

Old English bēon-wesan.

Verb

tae be

1. To be.

Conjugation

In most dialects:

In South Scots:

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /be/

Etymology 1

Noun

be f. (plural be)

1. Name of the letter b.

Etymology 2

Echoic

Noun

be m. (plural bes)

1. baa (bleating of a sheep)

Swedish

Etymology

From older bedja, from Old Norse biðja, from Proto-Germanic *bidjanan.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Alternative forms

• bedja (dated)

Verb

be

1. to ask for, request someone else to do something
2. to pray
3. to beg, to plead with someone for help or for a favor

Conjugation

Related terms

• bedjare
• bön
• ombe
• tillbe

Turkish

Noun

be

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

See also

• (Latin script letter names) harf; a, be, ce, çe, de, e, fe, ge, yumuşak ge, he, ı, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, ö, pe, re, se, şe, te, u, ü, ve, ye, ze ^{(Category: tr:Latin letter names)}

Related 'Be' Searches: