What is the verb form of born?

Conjugation of verb «be born» in English

Conjugation of the verb be born was born / been born / being born / is born

All forms Indefinite Continuous Perfect Perfect Continuous Infinitives Participles

Present Indefinite

I am born
you are born
he/she/it is born
we are born
you are born
they are born

Present Perfect

I have been born
you have been born
he/she/it has been born
we have been born
you have been born
they have been born

Present Continuous

I am being born
you are being born
he/she/it is being born
we are being born
you are being born
they are being born

Present Perfect Continuous

I have been being born
you have been being born
he/she/it has been being born
we have been being born
you have been being born
they have been being born

Past Indefinite

I was born
you were born
he/she/it was born
we were born
you were born
they were born

Past Continuous

I was being born
you were being born
he/she/it was being born
we were being born
you were being born
they were being born

Past Perfect

I had been born
you had been born
he/she/it had been born
we had been born
you had been born
they had been born

Past Perfect Continuous

I had been being born
you had been being born
he/she/it had been being born
we had been being born
you had been being born
they had been being born

Future Indefinite

I will be born
you will be born
he/she/it will be born
we will be born
you will be born
they will be born

Future Continuous

I will be being born
you will be being born
he/she/it will be being born
we will be being born
you will be being born
they will be being born

Future Perfect

I will have been born
you will have been born
he/she/it will have been born
we will have been born
you will have been born
they will have been born

Future Perfect Continuous

I will have been being born
you will have been being born
he/she/it will have been being born
we will have been being born
you will have been being born
they will have been being born

Conditional Present

I would be born
you would be born
he/she/it would be born
we would be born
you would be born
they would be born

Conditional Present Continuous

I would be being born
you would be being born
he/she/it would be being born
we would be being born
you would be being born
they would be being born

Conditional Perfect

I would have been born
you would have been born
he/she/it would have been born
we would have been born
you would have been born
they would have been born

Conditional Perfect Continuous

I would have been being born
you would have been being born
he/she/it would have been being born
we would have been being born
you would have been being born
they would have been being born

Participles

been born
being born

Infinitives

to be born
to have been born
to be being born
to have been being born

To be – present and past

Daisy has a date with Jack and Sophie is working in Brazil.

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of to be. They are in red in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, to be correctly.

Transcript

Daisy: Jack? Where are you? I’m here at the café . and you’re . um . not! So, I imagine something happened. Mmmm . The plan was to meet at the café at 6, wasn’t it?

Daisy: Hi, Mum, it’s me. Are you there yet?
Mum: Yes, love, I’m here. The journey was fantastic. The airline was so nice, put me in Business Class.
Daisy: Great. Lucky you.
Mum: Are you OK, Daisy?
Daisy: Well, no . not really. I’m here in the café . and Jack’s not here . it’s OK though, he was late last time too.
Mum: Oh, so, that’s OK, is it?
Daisy: Well, you know what I mean.
Mum: I was just like you when I was with your dad.
Daisy: Mmmm. Really?
Mum: He was always late, but he always had a great excuse!
Daisy: Yeah, I can imagine. Mum, I’ve got to go. Alfie’s just appeared! Speak soon.

Alfie: Was that your mum?
Daisy: Yeah.
Alfie: Where is she now?
Daisy: Brazil this week.
Alfie: Wow, her job is so cool.
Daisy: Yeah, and now all the hotels ask her to write about them, the airlines give her free tickets, restaurants give her free meals and she goes on amazing trips . yeah, I guess it is a dream job.
Alfie: Was she always a writer?
Daisy: No, she was an English teacher for years, travelled around, worked in different countries. She only started writing when she came back to England and met my dad. Her blog was one of the first travel blogs though.
Alfie: She got into blogging just at the right time then?
Daisy: I guess so. But all jobs are boring if you do them every day.
Alfie: I don’t know. Travelling the world for free and writing about it . no boss .
Daisy: Sorry, Alfie, I’ve got to go – look, it’s Jack . with Emilia.
Alfie: Oh . Daisy. Are you OK?
Daisy: Yeah, I’m fine, Alfie. See you later, OK?
Alfie: See you, Daisy.

The form of the verb to be is am (contracted to ‘m), is (‘s) and are (‘re) in the present tense and was/were in the past. To be is used as an auxiliary verb, to form continuous tenses and the passive, and as a main verb. Here we are looking at it as a main verb.

After the verb to be we use an adjective phrase, a noun phrase, a preposition phrase or an adverb phrase.

Oh, wow! That sounds complicated.

No, don’t worry. I’m going to give you lots of examples. Here are some examples with adjectives or adjective phrases:

I’m a bit tired.
He was late last time too.
The journey was fantastic.
My brother isn’t very tall.

Here are examples with nouns or noun phrases:

She was an English teacher for years.
They’re both teachers at our school.
That’s my laptop.

And here are examples with adverb and preposition phrases:

I’m here at the café, and you’re not!
Are you there yet?
Your phone’s in my bag.
Where were you at 5 o’clock?

So you use contractions (I’m, you’re, he’s, etc.) in the present. Can you use contractions in the past?

No, we don’t contract was or were.

I was just like you when your Dad and I were together.

What about forming questions and negatives?

They are quite easy. For questions, you just change the order of the subject and the verb. Sometimes you need to add a question word.

Is he in his room?
Where are you?
What was that noise?

For negatives, you just add not. If you’re speaking, don’t forget to use a contraction.

We aren’t ready yet.
Is Daisy at home? ~ No, she isn’t.
Those books weren’t on the table. I don’t know where they are.

I think I’ve heard a different type of contraction. Like We’re not ready yet.

Yes, that’s also possible. Also:

Is Daisy at home? ~ No, she’s not.

But there’s only one form of the first person negative:

I’m not interested in football.

And there’s only one way to contract the past negative form:

She wasn’t always a writer.
There weren’t any peppers in the supermarket.

To be is used in a lot of everyday questions, isn’t it? Can you give me some more examples?

OK, in this table there are some common areas where we use to be.

What about Where were you born? ~ I was born in London. Isn’t that with to be?

Yes, but that’s a passive. We’ll look at passives another day.

‘To be or not to be.’

And that’s Shakespeare. We’ll look at Shakespeare another day too!

Conjugating the French Verb «Naître» (to be Born)

Meaning «to be born,» the French verb naître is easier to remember if you associate it with a nativity scene for Christmas. When you want to use it in complete sentences, it will need to be conjugated.

Naître is an irregular verb, so that does make it a bit of a challenge. However, this lesson will guide you through the most important conjugations you need to know.

The Basic Conjugations of Naître

Verb conjugations are necessary because they allow us to indicate when the action of being born happened in the past, is occurring in the present, or will take place in the future. In English, we use —ing and —ed for this, but in French we also have to change the verb according to the subject pronoun.

Naître is a little tricky because it is an irregular verb, meaning it doesn’t follow a common pattern. You cannot rely on your studies of other verbs when learning this one. Instead, you’ll need to commit all of these to memory.

Use the chart to study the present, future, and imperfect past tenses of naître. Match the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense for your sentence and practice these in simple sentences. For example, «I am being born» is je nais and «he will be born» is il naîtra.

As you might imagine, not every one of these will make perfect sense. After all, you can only be physically born once in your lifetime. However, there are some other subjective uses for these phrases, so they’re all good to study.

The Present Participle of Naître

The present participle of naître is naissant. Notice how this one also changes the accented î to a regular i as if found in the present tenses of the verb. It’s one of those quirks that makes naître irregular.

Naître in the Compound Past Tense

The passé composé is the most common compound conjugation of naître and it indicates the past tense. To form it, you will use the auxiliary verb être and the very short past participle né.

The key here is to conjugate être to the present tense for the subject and to leave the past participle unchanged. For example, «I was born» is je suis né and «we were born» is nous sommes né.

More Simple Conjugations of Naître

There are a few other conjugations you may need, though those above should be your top priority. You will use the subjunctive and the conditional when the action has some degree of uncertainty. On rare occasions, you may also encounter the passé simple or imperfect subjunctive.

You may not have many occasions to use the imperative form for naître, though if you do remember that it’s okay to omit the subject pronoun. Rather than tu nais, simplify it to nais.