The simple present of the verb BE can be contracted in two ways: with a subject pronoun or with the negative adverb not. Before you continue, review these lessons: Contractions | Verb BE.
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To make a contraction with a subject pronoun and the verb BE, join the two words and replace the first letter of the conjugated verb BE with an apostrophe.
uncontracted | words joined |
first letter eliminated |
contracted | |||
I am | Iam | I |
I’m | |||
You are | Youare | You |
You’re | |||
She is | Sheis | She |
She’s |
For example:
uncontracted | contracted | |
I am happy. | I’m happy. | |
You are funny. | You’re funny. | |
She is beautiful. | She’s beautiful. | |
We are hungry. | We’re hungry. | |
They are young. | They’re young. |
The simple present of the verb BE is frequently contracted with the negative adverbe not. A conjugated form of the verb BE is joined to not and the o in not is replaced with an apostrophe.
uncontracted | words joined |
letter o eliminated |
contracted | |||
is not | isnot | isn |
isn’t | |||
are not | arenot | aren |
aren’t |
Example sentences:
uncontracted | contracted | |
The dog is not friendly. | The dog isn’t friendly. | |
They are not home. | They aren’t home. |
It is not possible to contract the simple present of the first person singular form of BE (am) and the negative adverb not.
uncontracted | contracted | |
I am not happy. |
Note that the verb BE can be contracted with a subject or the negative adverb not. There is no difference in meaning between these phrases.
uncontracted | with subject | with “not” | |
I am not happy. | I’m not happy. | — | |
You are not late. | You’re not late. | You aren’t late. | |
She is not rich. | She’s not rich. | She isn’t rich. | |
We are not hungry. | We’re not hungry. | We aren’t hungry. | |
They are not young. | They’re not young. | They aren’t young. |
The simple past of the verb BE (was | were) cannot be contracted with a subject.
uncontracted | contracted | |
I was not there. | xxx | |
You were not home. | xxx | |
She was not sad. | xxx | |
They were not eating. | xxx |
However, the simple past of BE can contract with the negative adverb not.
uncontracted | contracted | |
I was not there. | I wasn’t there. | |
You were not home. | You weren’t home. | |
She was not sad. | She wasn’t sad. | |
They were not eating. | They weren’t eating. |
In spoken English, contractions are made with any noun followed by the third person form of BE (is). This is informal speech.
uncontracted | contracted | |
Their dog is big. | Their dog’s big. | |
The building is old. | The building’s old. | |
My idea is better. | My idea’s better. |
Contractions with BE are not possible with a subject when BE is the final word of a sentence (occurring in response to a question).
question | response | incorrect | ||
Who is going? | I am. | |||
Is it noon? | Yes, it is | |||
Are they here? | Yes, they are. |
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Related lessons: