Course n3
Course n3
Be, Do and Have are auxiliary verbs, they are irregular verbs and can be used as main verbs. The
verbs 'to be' and 'to have' are the most commonly used auxiliary verbs and work alongside the main
verbs in any statement.
Modal verbs are also auxiliary verbs, but will be treated separately, these are can, could, may, might,
must, shall, should, will, and would, they differ from the others in that they can never function as a main
verb.
The Verb To Be
The verb ‘to be’ is the first verb we all learn to use. Why? Because it is used in many ways. We use ‘to
be’ to:
give personal information, like name, origin, age
to describe feelings
to describe a person, place or object
as an auxiliary verb to make continuous tenses
as an auxiliary verb to make passive sentences
So you can see how important it is. Let’s start by looking at how to form the verb ‘to be’.
Structure
The verb ‘to be’ is an irregular verb, and even In the present simple it has three different forms – am,
are and is:
FORMS OF TO BE
PERFECT CONTINUOUS
PRESENT PAST FORM FORM
YOU / WE / THEY are were have / had been are / were being
The verb ‘to have’ is very common in English because it is used as a verb in several situations, and is
also an important auxiliary verb. ‘To have’ can mean:
possess/own
eat or drink
take or receive
do/experience something
make something happen
as an auxiliary verb for perfect tenses
Structure
Like the verb ‘to be’, the verb ‘to have’ is an irregular verb. Here is the structure:
FORMS OF TO HAVE
When we refer to things we own and possess, a common alternative to ‘have’ is ‘have got’. It’s probably
more common in British English than in American English and can be considered more informal. The
meaning is the same but the formation of the structure changes for the questions and negatives.
FORMS OF TO DO
PERFECT CONTINUOUS
PRESENT PAST FORM FORM
EXamples
DO DOES
"Do you always take the bus to "Does she ever do her homework on
QUESTION - ? work?" time?"
POSITIVE ANSWER -
YES "Yes, I do." "Yes, she does."
NEGATIVE ANSWER -
NO "No, I don't." "No, she doesn't."
When using the continuous tense do becomes doing and it doesn't change.
DOING
QUESTION - ? "What are you doing? Are you doing your homework?"
When using the simple past tense do becomes did and it doesn't change.
DID
When using the perfect tense do becomes done and it doesn't change.
DONE