Conceptual Use of this tool

- Initially the tool (to) be is used:

1. to introduce substantives – It’s a car. He’s the captain.
2. to introduce “permanent” adjectives – They’re tall.
3. to introduce “non-permanent” adjectives – You’re tired.
4. to introduce places – It’s in Spain.

- The above table includes:

To English speakers, this concept is “obvious” but in Spanish for example, “to be” can be translated as “ser” 1,2 or “estar” 3,4.

Obviously in the above case, we are dealing with the “bare” grammar without any “decoration” such as adverbs, idiomatic and so on.

We now come to the tenses. I, for the sake of simplicity (sic), like to divide everything into seven, which the ancients say was the magic number and in English it certainly seems to be the case.

→TENSE TABLE

TOOLS

(In this case I will use “you”; second person singular and plural in English)

1.-Present:

Simple: you’re
Subjunctive: if you were

2.-Past:

Simple: you were
Subjunctive: If you’d been

3.-Present Perfect: you’ve been

Past Perfect: you’d been

4.-Future Simple: you’ll be

Future Conditional: you’d be

5.-Future Perfect: you’ll have been

Conditional Perfect: you’d have been

6.-Modal Simple: you should be

Modal Past: you should have been

7.-Going to Future: you’re going to be

Future in the Past: you were going to be

- If you take any of the seven forms (14) and add the concepts above, you can express the four concepts of substantive/permanent adjectives/non-permanent adjective/place in all the possible tenses.

→NEGATIVES

- The negatives tool (NOT) in English requires an auxiliary, and its position at the end of the auxiliary is the rule. Contractions in spoken English are almost mandatory (exceptions: infinitive “not to go”; participle/gerund “not knowing”).

- The negative tool with substantives (NO) (no choice; no smoking) is less common.

- Negative formation in the case of the verb “to be”  (in written English – you are not and so on).

1. you aren’t
if you weren’t
2. you weren’t
if you hadn’t been
3. you haven’t been
you hadn’t been
4. you won’t be
you wouldn’t be
5. you won’t have been
you wouldn’t have been
6. you shouldn’t be
you shouldn’t have been
7. you aren’t going to be
you weren’t going to be

→INTERROGATIVE/ADVERBIAL INTERROGATIVE  FORMS

Invert subject and verb:  you’re = you are = are you?

Why is the “be” tool so important? Well, below we can see what we can do with this simple tool…

Well, there you are! It’s as clear as crystal or as clear as mud. Everything else depends on your imagination – which is to say – predicate/complement/vocabulary and so on or call it what you may.

But remember or take note that there are other things/simple things to take into account which will make it much easier to understand how to master this “simple” language.