Verb BE

Affirmative (positive) Statements

SUBJECT	PRESENT SIMPLE	PAST SIMPLE
I	am	was
You	are	were
He	is	was
She	is	was
It	is	was
They	are	were
We	are	were

Examples of Affirmative Statements

SUBJECT	PRESENT SIMPLE
I	am	happy.
You	are	late.
He	is	smart.
She	is	intelligent.
It	is	old.
They	are	friendly.
We	are	tired.

SUBJECT	PAST SIMPLE
I	was	happy.
You	were	late.
He	was	smart.
She	was	intelligent.
It	was	old.
They	were	friendly.
We	were	tired.

Affirmative Statements – How to Contract the verb BE

PRESENT SIMPLE	PAST SIMPLE
I’m	[none]
You’re	[none]
He’s	[none]
She’s	[none]
It’s	[none]
They’re	[none]
We’re	[none]

Negative Statements

SUBJECT	PRESENT SIMPLE	PAST SIMPLE
I	am not	was not
You	are not	were not
He	is not	was not
She	is not	was not
It	is not	was not
They	are not	were not
We	are not	were not

Negative Statements – How to Contract the verb BE + NOT

Except for I am, there are two ways to contract the verb BE in negative sentences in the PRESENT SIMPLE form.

PRESENT SIMPLE	PAST SIMPLE
I’m not	I wasn’t
You’re not You aren’t	You weren’t
He’s not He isn’t	He wasn’t
She’s not She isn’t	She wasn’t
It’s not It isn’t	It wasn’t
They’re not They aren’t	They weren’t
We’re not We aren’t	We weren’t

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