The Verb "To Be"

The verb "to be" is the most important verb in English. It functions as a main verb and an auxiliary verb, and has many different forms depending on tense and subject.

"To be" ක්‍රියා පදය ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවේ වඩාත්ම වැදගත් ක්‍රියා පදයයි. එය මූලික ක්‍රියා පදයක් ලෙසද සහායක ක්‍රියා පදයක් ලෙසද ක්‍රියා කරයි. කාලය හා කතෘ අනුව එහි විවිධ ආකාර ඇත.

Present Tense: I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are

Past Tense: I was, you were, he/she/it was, we were, they were

Past Participle: been

Using "Be"

"Be" is the base form of the verb. It's used after modal verbs like can, could, may, might, must, should, etc.

"Be" යනු ක්‍රියා පදයේ මූලික ආකාරයයි. එය can, could, may, might, must, should වැනි modal ක්‍රියා පද අනුගමනය කරමින් භාවිතා වේ.

You should be more careful.

She might be late for the meeting.

They must be at home by now.

Using "Been"

"Been" is the past participle of "be". It's used in perfect tenses (has been, have been, had been) and passive voice.

"Been" යනු "be" හා අතීත කෘදන්ත ආකාරයයි. එය perfect tenses (has been, have been, had been) සහ කර්තෘ වැකිය තුළ භාවිතා වේ.

I have been to England twice.

She had been waiting for over an hour when he arrived.

The project has been completed ahead of schedule.

Using "Was" and "Were"

"Was" and "were" are both past tense forms of "be". "Was" is used with I, he, she, it. "Were" is used with you, we, they.

"Was" සහ "were" යන දෙකම "be" හා අතීත කාල ආකාර වේ. "Was" භාවිතා කරන්නේ I, he, she, it වලට අනුව වන අතර "were" භාවිතා කරන්නේ you, we, they වලට අනුව ය.

I was at home yesterday.

They were excited about the trip.

She was not feeling well last night.

Summary Table

Form Usage Example
Be Base form, after modals You should be careful
Been Perfect tenses, passive voice I have been there
Was Past tense (I, he, she, it) He was happy
Were Past tense (you, we, they) We were late