Negatives with the Verb “To Be”
The verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) is unique in English grammar. Unlike other verbs, it does not require an auxiliary verb like do or does to form negative sentences. We simply add the word not directly after the verb to be.
1. Present Tense Negatives with “To Be”
In the present tense, the forms of to be are am, is, and are.
Formula: Subject + am/is/are + not + Complement (Adjective/Noun/Adverb)
- Positive: I am hungry.
Negative: I am not hungry. - Positive: He is a student.
Negative: He is not a student. - Positive: They are in the library.
Negative: They are not in the library.
Contractions (Present):
There are two ways to contract present tense negatives with to be (except for I am not):
- I am not -> I’m not (Note: “amn’t” does not exist in standard English).
- is not -> isn’t or ‘s not (e.g. He isn’t or He’s not).
- are not -> aren’t or ‘re not (e.g. We aren’t or We’re not).
2. Past Tense Negatives with “To Be”
In the past tense, the forms of to be are was and were.
Formula: Subject + was/were + not + Complement
- Positive: She was late yesterday.
Negative: She was not late yesterday. - Positive: We were happy with the results.
Negative: We were not happy with the results.
Contractions (Past):
- was not -> wasn’t
- Example: He wasn’t home when I called.
- were not -> weren’t
- Example: They weren’t ready for the exam.
3. Summary Table: Positives vs. Negatives
| Subject | Present Positive | Present Negative | Past Positive | Past Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | I am | I am not / I’m not | I was | I was not / I wasn’t |
| He, She, It | He is | He is not / He isn’t | He was | He was not / He wasn’t |
| You, We, They | We are | We are not / We aren’t | We were | We were not / We weren’t |
Next, we will look at Negatives with Do, Does, and Did to learn how to negate action-based sentences in the Simple Present and Simple Past.