Pronunciations (9)
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/ˈbiː/
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[ˈbɪi̯]
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/ˈbɪ/
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[ˈbɪ]
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/ˈbə/
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[ˈbə]
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/beɪ/
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biː
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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bi
Pronunciation notes
- US
Verb
As an auxiliary verb: Used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.
Usage- auxiliary
- Examples
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The door was opened by Anna.
The dog was saved by the boy.
Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.
As an auxiliary verb: Used with present participles of verbs to form the continuous aspect.
- Examples
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They are studying English.
The woman is walking.
I shall be writing to you soon.
More examples (4)
We liked to chat while we were eating.
I can't always be catering to your whimsies.
I was being deadly serious when I made that suggestion.
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.
As an auxiliary verb: Used with to-infinitives of verbs to express intent, obligation, appropriateness, or relative future occurrence.
- Examples
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We are to meet at noon.
I am to leave tomorrow.
They are to stay here until I return.
More examples (3)
I'd been to've been ambassador, but fell seriously ill.
How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse?
They were to have been married overseas but COVID forced a change of plans.
As an auxiliary verb: Used with past participles of certain intransitive verbs to form the perfect aspect.
- Examples
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He is finished.
He is gone.
More examples (8)
He is come.
They are not yet come back.
And he cryed mightily with a strõg voyce, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of deuils[…]
‘I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come,’ she said.
He is not here; for he is risen […].
The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
His origins are become remote as is his destiny and not again in all the world’s turning will there be terrains so wild and barbarous to try whether the stuff of creation may be shaped to man’s will or whether his own heart is not another kind of clay.
As an auxiliary verb: To tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect.
Usage- Caribbean
- Ireland
- auxiliary
- not conjugated
- Examples
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More examples (1)
1996, David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk, screenplay of The Nutty Professor Women be shoppin’! You cannot stop a woman from shoppin’!
Niggas be tellin' these bitches 'bout business
More examples (1)
I be fingering my pussy till my fingers turn soggy; Yeah, I love masturbation; that’s my favorite fucking hobby; I be spitting on my pussy; yeah, I gotta keep it soppy; I be gooning out in public; ain’t nobody gonna stop me.
As a copulative verb: To exist.
Usage- with-dummy-subject
- Examples
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There is a shop near the station.
There is just one woman in town who can help us.
(or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.
More examples (3)
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.
"There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known even in a crowd, and this you had."
"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.
As a copulative verb: Used to declare the subject and object identical or equivalent.
- Examples
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This is my brother.
Hi, I’m Jim.
3 times 5 is fifteen.
More examples (3)
These four are the ones going to the quarter-finals.
François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.
This is how we do it.
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate that a predicate nominal applies to the subject.
- Examples
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Anna is a doctor.
Rex is a dog.
A dog is an animal.
More examples (1)
Dogs are animals.
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective or prepositional phrase.
- Examples
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The room is quiet.
The sky is blue.
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remooue this cup from me: neuerthelesse, not my will, but thine be done.
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.
- Examples
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Her kindness is a great comfort.
The sky is a deep blue today.
As a copulative verb: Used to link a subject to a measurement.
- Examples
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The table is two meters long.
This building is three hundred years old.
I am 75 kilograms.
More examples (1)
He’s about 6 feet tall.
As a copulative verb: Used to state the age of a subject in years.
Usage- with a cardinal numeral
- Examples
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My sister is ten.
I’m 20 (years old).
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate the time of day.
Usage- with a dummy subject it
- Examples
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It is three o'clock.
It is almost eight (o’clock).
It’s 8:30 [read eight-thirty] in Tokyo.
More examples (1)
What time is it there? It’s night.
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event.
Usage- with since
- Examples
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It is two years since we first met.
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.
As a copulative verb: Used to link two noun clauses: a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place) and a period of time indicating how long ago that day was.
Usage- past
- Rare
- Regional
- Examples
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I saw her Monday was a week: I saw her a week ago last Monday (a week before last Monday).
On the morning of Sunday was fortnight before Christmas: on the morning of the Sunday that was two weeks before the Sunday prior to Christmas.
More examples (8)
Miss Lardner (whom you have seen at her cousin Biddulph's) saw you at St James's church on Sunday was fortnight.
And so, without as much as to return home to furnish myself for such a journey, volens, nolens, they prevailed, or rather forced me to come to Dublin to confer with those colonels, and that was the last August was twelvemonth.
That they were present at the Election in August was Twelvemonth, at which there was the strictest Scrutiny that ever they saw in their Lives, by all the Four Candidates.
Allow me to recommend some of the kipper—It was John Hay that catched it Saturday was three weeks.
“Did there come no young woman here—very young and pretty—Friday was a fortnight, to see Dinah Morris?”
'Twas there to-morrow is a week.
I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that.
Theobald Green gent dead in the Marshalsea in August was twelvemonth John Grey gent delivered out of the Marshalsea about August last by Mr. Secretary and remains in St. Mary Overies. John Jacob gent delivered out of the Marsh. the XVII of May was twelvemonth and sent to Bridewell by order of the Council.
As a copulative verb: To pass or spend (time).
- Examples
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and when he compares both sides, he will be some time at a loss to fix any determination.
More examples (1)
The bag was crisp with ice, and with my fingerless gloves I was a bit of time unholing the buttons. But I got the flap turned back at last, and there was Ryan grey-faced and stark.
As a copulative verb: To take a period of time.
- Examples
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Dinner will be ten minutes.
It was an hour before he returned.
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate ambient conditions such as weather, light, noise or air quality.
Usage- impersonal
- often
- with it as a dummy subject
- Examples
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It is cold outside.
It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid.
Why is it so dark in here?
As a copulative verb: To exist or behave in a certain way.
Usage- especially
- irregular
- in progressive tenses
- Examples
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You are being very kind.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead.
"What do we do?" "We be ourselves."
More examples (3)
Just be yourself.
Why is he being nice to me?
Dad is taking a nap, so we're all being quiet.
As an intransitive lexical verb: To exist; to have real existence, to be alive.
Usage- Literary
- usually
- Examples
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The Universe has no explanation: it just is.
That was the week that was.
More examples (8)
This is something that was meant to be.
Rachel wepynge ffor her chyldren / and wolde nott be comforted becauſe they were not.
To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?
[…]it were great sottishnesse, and apparent false-hood, to say, that that is which is not yet in being, or that already hath ceased from being.
There is surely a peece of Divinity in us, something that was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the Sun.
And after this death there is to be no resurrection. The old man of sin has ceased to be; once crucified, he lives no more. The death is utter; the end complete.
This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!
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."
As an intransitive lexical verb: To remain undisturbed in a certain state or situation.
- Examples
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Let them be for a few hours.
Leave us be until the guests arrive.
As an intransitive lexical verb: To occupy a place.
- Examples
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The keys are on the table.
The cup is on the table.
As an intransitive lexical verb: To occur, to take place.
- Examples
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The meeting is on Monday.
When will the meeting be?
As an intransitive lexical verb: Elliptical form of “be here”, “go to and return from” or similar, also extending to certain other senses of “go”.
Usage- in perfect tenses
- Examples
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I have been to Berlin.
The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.
I have been to Spain many times.
More examples (3)
We've been about twenty miles.
I have terrible constipation – I haven't been for several days.
I’ve been into town this morning.
Noun
The name of the Cyrillic script letter Б / б
Verb
have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
- Examples
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John is rich
This is not a good answer
be identical to; be someone or something
- Examples
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The president of the company is John Smith
This is my house
occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Where is my umbrella?
The toolshed is in the back
More examples (1)
What is behind this behavior?
have an existence, be extant
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Is there a God?
be identical or equivalent to
- Synonyms
- Examples
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One dollar equals 1,000 rubles these days!
form or compose
- Broader terms
- Examples
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This money is my only income
The stone wall was the backdrop for the performance
More examples (4)
These constitute my entire belonging
The children made up the chorus
This sum represents my entire income for a year
These few men comprise his entire army
work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function
- Synonyms
- Examples
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He is a herpetologist
She is our resident philosopher
represent, as of a character on stage
- Examples
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Derek Jacobi was Hamlet
spend or use time
- Examples
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I may be an hour
have life, be alive
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Our great leader is no more
My grandfather lived until the end of war
to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted — used only in infinitive form
- Examples
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let her be
be priced at
- Synonyms
- Examples
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These shoes cost $100