Tenses
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Three small forms — am, is, are — carry every introduction, every small-talk opener, and every first email.
Am, is and are are the three present forms of the verb be. The subject decides: I takes am, he/she/it take is, you/we/they take are.
Updated: July 2026
A1 · Tenses · 8 min
A structured ten-slide lesson for A1 learners. Hear the three forms of be in context, meet the rule from a human tutor, then practise across six interactive drills before a final five-question quiz. The whole arc takes about eight minutes and nothing requires a signup.
Be is the most frequent verb in the English language, and in the present tense it does its work through three small forms: am, is, and are. Unlike almost every other verb, be does not describe an action. It works like an equals sign: it links the subject of a sentence to a piece of information about that subject — a name, a job, a feeling, a place, a state. *I'm Anna* connects you to your name. *He's our engineer* connects a colleague to his role. *We're in Berlin* connects a team to a location. That is exactly why be is the first verb every English course teaches: without it you cannot introduce yourself, describe your team, or say how you feel and where you are. In working life, the first sentences of any meeting — names, roles, moods, availability — run almost entirely on these three unassuming forms.
The present of be has exactly three slots, and the grammatical subject decides which one you need. *I* takes *am* — always, and only *I*. *He*, *she*, and *it* take *is*, and so does every singular noun: *our manager is*, *the printer is*, *the meeting is*. *You*, *we*, and *they* take *are*, along with every plural noun: *our clients are*, *the offices are*. Note that *you* always takes *are*, even when you are speaking to just one person. In real speech these forms almost always appear as contractions: *I'm, you're, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're*. The contraction is not lazy slang — it is the normal spoken form, and it is completely acceptable in everyday business emails too. The full forms, *I am* and *she is*, are reserved for emphasis and for very formal writing. If you learn the contractions from day one, your English will sound natural immediately.
Be is the one verb in English that builds its own negatives and questions — no helper verb required. For the negative, put *not* directly after the form of be: *she is not* becomes *she isn't*, *they are not* becomes *they aren't*. The only irregular corner is *I am not*, which contracts to *I'm not* — English has no standard word *amn't*. For questions, simply swap the subject and the verb: *you are free* becomes *Are you free?*, *he is in the office* becomes *Is he in the office?* This switch is called inversion, and with be it is the entire mechanism. *Do* never appears: *Do you are free?* is impossible in English. Short answers echo the verb form back: *Are you ready? — Yes, I am.* *Is she in today? — No, she isn't.* Master this small pattern and you can already handle a surprising amount of real conversation.
Almost every opening move in business small talk runs on am, is, and are. Introductions: *I'm Anna. I'm from the Hamburg office. This is my colleague Marco.* Jobs and roles: *I'm a project manager. She's responsible for marketing.* Note the article — English says *I'm a consultant*, with *a*, where German drops it. Feelings and states: *I'm fine, thanks. He's very busy this week. We're happy with the results.* Locations: *She's in Room 4. The files are on the server.* And availability, perhaps the most useful pattern of all in working life: *I'm in a meeting until two. Are you free on Friday? He's on holiday this week.* None of these sentences contains an action verb. That is the quiet power of be: with three forms and a handful of nouns and adjectives, you can already navigate the first five minutes of any meeting.
German speakers start with a real advantage here, because *sein* works almost exactly like be: *ich bin* maps to *I am*, *er ist* to *he is*, *wir sind* to *we are* — and even *Ich bin 30* translates directly as *I'm 30*. The traps hide where the two languages part ways. The classic one is *Ich bin einverstanden*: in English, *agree* is a full verb, so the sentence is simply *I agree* — the widespread error *I am agree* mixes the German structure with English words. The second trap is *Ich habe Recht*: German uses *haben*, but English uses be, so the correct sentence is *I'm right*, and its mirror is *You're right* — never *You have right*. The third trap is subtler: many German learners avoid contractions and say *I am Anna. He is my colleague.* Every form is correct, but the rhythm sounds stiff and written. Contract, and you instantly sound more natural.
Be behaves differently from every other verb in the present simple, and the border between the two systems is exactly where A1 learners slip. Other verbs describe actions and need the helper *do* for questions and negatives: *Do you work here?* *I don't know.* Be needs no helper — but it also refuses to share a sentence with a bare action verb. *I'm work in Berlin* is a very common beginner error: the sentence has two competing verbs. Choose one system: *I work in Berlin* (the action, plain present simple) or, for something happening right now, *I'm working* — a pattern you will meet properly in the present continuous lesson. A quick self-check: if your sentence has an adjective, a noun, or a place after the verb, you probably want be. If it has an action, you want the plain verb — and be must stay out of it.
The subject decides — nothing else. "I" takes "am." "He," "she," "it" and every singular noun take "is": "our manager is," "the meeting is." "You," "we," "they" and every plural noun take "are": "our clients are." A quick trick: mentally replace the subject with a pronoun. "The new colleague" becomes "he" or "she" — so "is."
Because "agree" is a full verb in English. The German "einverstanden" is an adjective and needs "sein," so learners naturally carry that structure across. But in English the sentence is simply "I agree," the negative is "I don't agree," and the question is "Do you agree?" Same family: "Ich habe Recht" becomes "I'm right" — with "be," not "have."
English "you" covers German "du," "ihr" and "Sie" all at once — and it takes "are" in every case. Modern English gave up its old singular pronoun "thou" and now uses the former plural "you" for everyone. For you as a learner this is good news: you never have to choose between formal and informal address. "Are you free?" works for the intern and for the CEO alike.
Both exist — the difference is regional. American English treats collective nouns like "team," "staff" or "company" almost always as singular: "The team is ready." British English also allows the plural when the speaker means the individual members: "The team are arguing about the plan." At A1, singular "is" is always the safe choice — both versions are understood everywhere.
Be is the natural starting point of English grammar — all you need first are the subject pronouns (*subject-pronouns*, A1). The sensible next step is the *present-simple* (A2), where every other verb builds its questions and negatives with "do" — the counter-system to be. After that, the *present-continuous* (A2) is worth tackling, because it builds directly on this lesson: it combines the forms of be with the ing-form of the verb.
Ordinary English verbs have only two present forms: "work" and "works." Be has three because, as the most frequent verb in the language, it preserved old person endings that every other verb lost long ago — its forms even descend from what were originally different verbs, which is why "am," "is" and "are" look so unlike each other. For comfort: German "sein," with "bin, bist, ist, sind, seid," is even more irregular. Three forms are a gift by comparison.
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