Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use be in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Be means used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice. Example: “The dog was saved by the boy.”

Examples of be by meaning

verbUsed with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.

  • The dog was saved by the boy.
  • Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, →ISBN, page 13

verbUsed with present participles of verbs to form the continuous aspect.

  • The woman is walking.
  • I shall be writing to you soon.
  • We liked to chat while we were eating.

verbUsed with to-infinitives of verbs to express intent, obligation, appropriateness, or relative future occurrence.

  • I am to leave tomorrow.
  • They are to stay here until I return.
  • I'd been to've been ambassador, but fell seriously ill.

verbUsed with past participles of certain intransitive verbs to form the perfect aspect.

  • He is finished.
  • He is gone.
  • He is come.

verbTo tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect.

  • Niggas be tellin' these bitches 'bout business2020, Moneybagg Yo, Thug Cry

verbTo exist.

  • There is just one woman in town who can help us.
  • (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.
  • "There has been lots of commentary on who is staying and who is staying out and this weekend will be the real test," said one senior media buying agency executive who has pulled the advertising for one major client.2011 July 6, Mark Sweney, The Guardian

verbUsed to declare the subject and object identical or equivalent.

  • 3 times 5 is fifteen.
  • These four are the ones going to the quarter-finals.
  • François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.

verbUsed to indicate that a predicate nominal applies to the subject.

  • Rex is a dog.
  • A dog is an animal.
  • Dogs are animals.

More sentences with be

  • I give you my word that I will be there on time.From the entry word
  • Many readers find the first book of A Tale of Two Cities to be confusing.From the entry book
  • You may be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.From the entry may
  • We've worked out the schedule for Easter week: we'll be shopping Monday.From the entry Monday
  • In very ancient or poorly documented languages, the precise semantics of words tend to be uncertain.From the entry semantics
  • We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.From the entry minute
  • You may be able to barter for some of the items you need at the local market.From the entry barter
  • To deny that the arrangement was a quid pro quo would be laughably disingenuous.From the entry quid pro quo
  • Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite.From the entry head
  • Bequests and legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.From the entry abate
  • In a democratic world you'd be able to say what you thought wherever you were.From the entry able
  • With that obstacle removed, I am now able to proceed with my plan.From the entry able
  • I can’t find my reading glasses, but they must be somewhere about the house.From the entry about
  • After my bout with Guillan-Barre Syndrome, it took me 6 months to be up and about again.From the entry about
  • Despite her proper upbringing, we found her manners to be terribly abrasive.From the entry abrasive
  • I need to get my planting done, as the season will soon be on us.From the entry on
  • The downy woodpecker can be found in the same environments as the hairy woodpecker.From the entry the
  • The term is to be used according to its usual acceptation.From the entry acceptation
  • Your definition of "elephant" needs to be more precise than "a big animal with large ears".From the entry definition

Meaning of be

  1. verb Used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.
  2. verb Used with present participles of verbs to form the continuous aspect.
  3. verb Used with to-infinitives of verbs to express intent, obligation, appropriateness, or relative future occurrence.

Full definition of be

Questions about be in a sentence

How do you use be in a sentence?
Be is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The dog was saved by the boy.”
What is a short sentence with be?
“Dogs are animals.”
What does be mean?
Be means used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: be (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use be in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/be. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.