Auxiliary Verb 'BE' atau 'TO BE'

Kali ini kita akan membahas tentang salah satu jenis auxiliary verb atau kata kerja bantu, yang biasanya dikenal sebagai 'to be'. Pokok bahasan kita tentang 'to be' akan berfokus kepada:

1. Pengertian 'to be'?
2. Bentuk-bentuk 'to be'
3. Kapan 'to be' digunakan?

Oke tanpa berpanjang kata sekarang kita akan langsung belajar tentang 'to be'.

Apa itu 'to be'?

Sama halnya dengan action verb, to be juga bisa berbentuk 'present', 'past' dan 'perfect'. Perhatikan contoh kalimat berikut ini:

• I am a teacher.
• He was a teacher.
• We have been teachers since 2000.

Pada contoh diatas kita akan menemukan kata-kata am, was dan been yang merupakan bentuk present, past dan perfect dari to be. Untuk lebih jelasnya mari cermati tabel dibawah ini:

Bentuk-Bentuk 'to be'

Present	Past	Perfect
am	was	been
is	was	been
are	were	been

Kapan 'to be' digunakan?

To be bisa kita gunakan dalam beberapa kondisi, yaitu:

Pertama, to be diikuti oleh kata benda (noun), contohnya:

• I am a teacher.
• Your brother is a doctor.
• He was not an actor.
• This is a black tie.

Kedua, to be diikuti oleh kata sifat (adjective), contohnya:

• The beautiful girl is smart.
• We are not sad.
• She is happy.
• He was ill last month.

Ketiga, to be bisa diikuti oleh kata keterangan (adverb), contohnya:

• It was ten o'clock when you came here yesterday.
• It is saturday night now.
• Jane was in Jakarta last year.
• Ahmad is in the classroom.
• They were in Singapore yesterday.

Keempat, to be digunakan dalam kalimat present maupun past continuous tense. Contohnya:

• I am exercising now.
• He was reading the report this morning.
• They were having dinner when we arrived.

Kelima, to be digunakan dalam kalimat pasif (passive voice). Berikut contohnya:

• He was born in 1999.
• The verse is recited by a young boy.
• Mrs Saptowati is embraced by her children.
• The magical show was performed last night.