Be

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Avertissement: cette page est destiné à un analyse grammatical du mot "be" :P


Forms

  • dictionary form (bare infinitive): be
  • present tense: am (1s), is (3s), are (1p, 2s/p, 3p)
  • past tense: was (1s, 3s), were (1p, 2s/p, 3p)


  • present participle: being
  • past participle: been

Major Uses

Most fundamentally be is a copula.

  • Subject is NP: She is the boss.
  • Subject is AdjP: The cat's paws are muddy.
  • Subject is PP: Your keys are on the table.
  • Subject is P: The sun is up. The network is down. The story is out.
  • introduces present & past participles
  • present participle (-ing)
The present participle can be interpreted as a verb, a noun (usually called a gerund), or an adjective.
  • He was writing. (V)
  • This is (his) writing. (N)
  • It is interesting. (Adj)
Only the first is considered verbal.
The use of be + ing usually implies that the speaker is putting the listener in the middle of the action (in medias res): the speaker or writer is like a filmmaker recording an action. Alternately, it can indicate a series of occurrences.
be + -ing derives historically from be + on + -ing
  • past participle (-en / -ed)
The past participle is more like a photograph than a movie.
  • Lincoln and Kennedy were both assassinated.
  • Everything was frozen.
  • It was golden. (cf. adjectives like wooden, rotten)
  • introduces various modal structures with (to)
  • be unable to -- être capable de, pouvoir
  • be about to: être sur le point de
  • be easy to: être facile (de / à)
  • be difficult to: être difficile (de / à)
  • be unlikely to -- être probable que
  • be supposed to -- être censé
  • be unwilling to -- vouloir bien