be

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   Used to describe or identify someone or something.

   She is a teacher and her brother is a doctor.

2. 2
   verb

   Used with another verb to form continuous tenses or the passive.

   The dog was saved by the boy.

3. 3
   verb

   To exist or be real.

   I wondered whether ghosts could really be.

4. 4
   verb

   To cost a particular amount.

   How much is this jacket?

Common collocations

• be after Verb + preposition/particle
• be back Verb + adverb
• be on Verb + adverb
• been around Verb + adverb

From Middle English been (“to be”). See below for more. Further etymology of be and its conjugated forms The various forms have three separate origins, which were mixed together at various times in the history of English. * The forms beginning with b- come from Old English bēon (“to be, become”), from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, exist, come to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-yé-ti (“to grow, become, come into being, appear”), from the root *bʰuH-. In particular: ** Now-dialectal use of been as an infinitive of be is either from Middle English been (“to be”) or an extension of t…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images