Tip 8
To be - present, past, future
In Tip 1, a brief explanation was provided on the verb -to be-.
The verb -to be- describes -being- in the present, past and future tenses and its form changes according to time and subject:
- I am happy
- We are happy
- You are happy
- They are happy
- He is happy
- She is happy
- It is happy
Notice that all sentences are in the present tense.
The form of the verb -to be- has changed with the subject:
I = am
We, you, they = are
He, she, it = is
It is important to notice that in all the examples above, the forms of the verb -to be- in the present (am, is, are) are not translated in (Hebrew) (some languages):
I am happy – אני ___שמח
He is happy – הוא ___שמח
We are happy – אנחנו ___שמחים
On the other hand, the verb -to be- definitely exists in Hebrew in past and future tense:
I was happy – אני הייתי שמח
I will be happy – אני אהיה שמח
We were happy – אנחנו היינו שמחים
We will be happy – אנחנו נהיה שמחים
She was happy – היא הייתה שמחה
She will be happy – היא תהיה שמחה
past:
I, He, She, It = was
We, you, they = were
future:
I, we, you, they, he, she, it = will be
Therefore remember, the verb -to be- exists in the past and future in (Hebrew) (some languages), but not in the present.
A good trick is to try to find the similarity between sentences that we have (in Hebrew) (in other languages) such as -I was home- and project it into the present tense – I am home.
In the next tip: the purpose of the verb -to be- and why it even exists 🙂
In the next tip: the purpose of the verb -to be- and why it even exists 🙂
