Suppletive (different root) · A1
Verb be
be – was/were – been
exist
Usage and typical errors
The most important verb in English and the most irregular: present (am/is/are), past (was/were) and participle (been) share no root. Was goes with I/he/she/it, were with the rest — including the subjunctive 'if I were you' from half the love songs ever written. Classic learner errors: 'he have' instead of 'he has', missing auxiliaries in questions ('you are happy?' for 'are you happy?'), and confusing 'been' with 'gone' ('he has been to London' = went and returned; 'he has gone' = still there). As an auxiliary it builds the continuous ('is working') and the passive ('was made'). Master be and you own 20% of any conversation. In class be appears from lesson one ('my name is') and keeps working at C1 with passives and mixed conditionals. If you memorize one table this year, make it this one.
Same pattern: suppletive
| Base | Past | Participle | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| go | went | gone | move |
| bear | bore | born | endure |
| begin | began | begun | commence |
| bite | bit | bitten | nibble |
| bleed | bled | bled | lose blood |