# to be



## J.F. de TROYES

The verb « to be » is’nt always translated the same way into another language: whereas English uses one verb, Spanish has two;  Arabic does’nt  use it in the present tense… What about other languages?  Could you give as many equivalents as possible of these four sentences by setting them out in order to point out differences and similarities. I’ll start with these examples :        
    (“to be1/to be2” = there are 2 verbs “to be” )
*Arabic    *
1 -  هو طالب   - huwa tâlib-        ( no verb)
2- كان طالبًًا     - kân tâliban-      ( to be )
3-هو هنا            -huwa hinâ-        ( no verb )
4-  هو جوعًا     -huwa jaw’an-     ( no verb)
*Chinese         *
 1- 他 是 学生 (Ta1 shi4 xue2-sheng)      (to be1)
 2-他是 过 学生 (Ta1 shi4 guo xue2-sheng ) (to be)
3-他 在 这里 ( Ta1 zai4 zhe4 li3 )       (other prep./verb)
4- 他 饿 了 ( Ta1 e4  le )                                 (other:”to be hungry”) 
*French   *
1-Il est étudiant ( to be)
2-Il était étudiant ( to be)
3-Il est ici ( to be)
4-Il a faim  (other:verb“to have”)  
*Spanish  *
1-Es estudiante     (to be1)
2-Era estudiante    (to be1)  
3-Está aqui         (to be2)  
4-Tiene hambre      (other:verb”to have”) 
*Swahili*
1-Yeye(ni)mwanafunzi       (“to be”or no)
2-Yeye alikuwa mwanafunzi (to be)
3-Yeye yupo        (other verb= “to be+suff.) 
4-Awa na jaa      (other verb=to have=to be with)


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## F84

In Turkish it is a bit complicated:

'O öğrenci' (He student)  --> the verb 'to be' is "hidden" (in Turkish to be=olmak)
'O öğrenci idi' --> In Turkish the past tense is expressed by the suffixe 'di'
'O burada' (He here) --> the same as the first example, the verb is "hidden"
'O aç' --> the verb is "hidden" but there also another way to express this: 'Acıktım' = I got hungry

Generally I can say that the verb to be is hidden especially in the third singular person. I'd like to note that we can delete the personal pronoun O and say only 'öğrenci' or 'burada'. For example if we want to say I am a student, we say '(Ben) öğrenciyim'. We can delete Ben=I because we understand from the suffixe that it is me...
I hope I was hepful...


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## ameana7

Good explanation F84  We conjugate the verbs in Turkish according to subjects. In these examples, "öğrenci= student" is called "noun-verb", because of the hidden "to be". For instance,

O bir kalemdi= It was a pencil.

O= It
bir= a
kalem=pencil
kalem*di=*the verb as a suffix "to be" in past tense


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## übermönch

J.F. it would make it alot easier if you gave the English sentences you're talking about! 


J.F. de TROYES said:


> 4-Il a faim (other:verb“to have”)


Can't you say "Il est affamé." instead?
For instance, in German, both "Er ist hungrig" and "Er hat Hunger" constellations are legitime.


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## F84

'Il est affamé' would mean 'He is *very* hungry'. It is not the exact equivalence of 'He is hungry'...


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## vince

There are also some other uses of the English verb "to be":
- to be doing (progressive aspect)
- to be done (passive)

Also, can you please change "Chinese" to Mandarin? There are many Chinese languages for which "to be" sounds nothing like "shi" (是). Also, many of those sentences don't make grammatical sense in anything but Mandarin.


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## ronanpoirier

In Hungarian the equivalent is the verb "lenni". I think there are no mystery about it... at least, I can't remember anything special...


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## übermönch

When it comes to _being_, Russian has to offer quite some delightful anomaliae! I wouldn't dare to give the Russian translation of the word, there are lots of 'em, considering how much it means in English. The one word covering all meanings is *byt'*, however, since it's not as as exact as the others, it may not always be prefered. Most interessting thing about byt' is that it's _simple present form_ simply _does not involve making a sound, it is not spoken,_ however, it still *is* written! - sentences still need a verb to make sence grammatically, that is why is nonexistant word is written like that: "*-*". 
1.
On *- *student (he is a student)
or
On *yavliayetsa* studentom (yavliatsa = to be [something/somehow]; lit. "reveal-self".)
2.
On *byl* studentom (he was a student)
or
On *yavlialsya* studentom 
3.
On *-* zdes' (he is here)
or
On *nakhoditsya* zdes' (nokhoditsya = to be [somewhere];lit. "find-self")
4.
On - golodnyi (he is hungry)
or
On *hochet* yest' (he wants to eat)
or
On *yavliayetsya* golodnym

As you might guess, "-" is not the best word to stress in a sentence - that's why a synonym (as given after "or") is prefered if you want to stress the process. Aaand I might have made a mistake, I most probably did  considering the comlicatedness of the issue! 


EDIT:
And yet, *byt'* has another simple present form, *yest'*, however... it's so complicated... uhm, yes, it's only used as _"There is"_. I guess.
_*There is* a house in New Orleans_
_*Есть* дом в Новом Орлеане._
Possession in Russian is expressed the same way - without using a _"_to _have"_ verb.
У меня *есть* дом.("At me *there is* a house.")
I have a house.

However, if you want to expr- wait- Oookay, that's complicated enough i'd say 

GERMAN:
1. Er ist ein Student
2. Er war ein Student
3. Er ist hier
4. Er ist hungrig
And some people dare to say German and English were quite different for two languages from one group!  compare!


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## elroy

A few small corrections: 





J.F. de TROYES said:


> *Arabic *
> 1- هو طالب - huwa tâlibun- ( no verb)
> 2-كان طالبًًا - kâna tâliban- ( to be )
> 3-هو هنا -huwa hunâ- ( no verb )
> 4- هو جوعان -huwa jaw’ânun- ( no verb)


 By the way, it is possible to express the verb "to be" in the present tense in Arabic, but only in limited contexts.


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## Outsider

*Portuguese*
1-É estudante. (to be 1)
2-Era estudante. (to be 1)
3-Está aqui. (to be 2)
4-Tem fome. / Está com fome.  (other: verb “to have” / to be 2)


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## avalon2004

In Greek the verb _είμαι _(ειμί) has been used with the meaning "to be" since antiguity, although it is used much more often in the modern language. 

I am a student = Είμαι σπουδαστής
I was a student= Ήμουν σπουδαστής
You (sing/inf) are a student= Είσαι σπουδαστής
You (sing/inf) were a student= Ήσουν σπουδαστής

Another verb that is used with the meaning "exist" is υπάρχω, 
e.g._ υπάρχει _ένα αυτοκίνητο στο δρόμο= _there is_ a car on the road.

It is quite normal to omit the verb "to be" when its meaning is implied:
Εγώ είμαι ευτυχισμένος, εκείνος ___ λυπημένος= I'm happy, he's sad (omission of "is").

In set phrases, Greek may use another verb instead of "to be":
Έχεις δίκιο = You're right (literally: you have reason)
Πεινάω = I'm hungry (a separate verb is used to convey the meaning because the literal είμαι πεινασμένος implies "I am hungry FOR something")


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## Lemminkäinen

übermönch said:


> Most interessting thing about byt' is that it's _simple present form_ simply _does not involve making a sound, it is not spoken,_ however, it still *is* written! - sentences still need a verb to make sence grammatically, that is why is nonexistant word is written like that: "*-*".



I thought the "-" was only used between nouns, so:

1) Его отец - профессор
2) Она инженер

Is that wrong?


As for Norwegian, it's very simple. We only use "å være" (bokmål) or "å vere" (nynorsk), and it's mostly used the same way as in English (e.g. "I _am_ hungry", "I _am_ 45 years old").
The present form is *er*, which is used in all persons.


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## Ilmo

*Finnish:*
In Finnish there is only one verb that means in English both "to be" and "to have" (en español tanto "ser" y "estar" como "tener" y "haber".
1 - Hän on opiskelija
2 - Hän oli opiskelija
3 - Hän on täällä
4 - Hän on nälkäinen/Hänellä on nälkä

The two alternatives in the case 4 depend on whether you use an adjective (hungry) or a noun (hunger). In the latter case the meaning is literally "he has hunger". The construction is actually the same as in Russian "У меня есть", the verb is all the time in the third person singular.


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## übermönch

Lemminkäinen said:


> I thought the "-" was only used between nouns, so:
> 
> 1) Его отец - профессор
> 2) Она инженер
> 
> Is that wrong?



Yes, it is. Correct would be _"Ona - inzhener"_ the "-" sign is a verb and it cannot be emitted. I am absolutely sure, though even some native speakers tend to forget about it.


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## Lemminkäinen

übermönch said:


> Yes, it is. Correct would be _"Ona - inzhener"_ the "-" sign is a verb and it cannot be emitted. I am absolutely sure, though even some native speakers tend to forget about it.



Alright, thanks for letting me know


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## J.F. de TROYES

vince said:


> There are also some other uses of the English verb "to be":
> - to be doing (progressive aspect)
> - to be done (passive)
> 
> Also, can you please change "Chinese" to Mandarin? There are many Chinese languages for which "to be" sounds nothing like "shi" (是). Also, many of those sentences don't make grammatical sense in anything but Mandarin.


 
You are quite right, Vince; it's a common habit, but a bad one to use "Chinese" instead of "Mandarin" ; I know there are many Chinese languages, as different between themselves as Roman languages are, but I must confess that I don't like this word that reminds me of the senior officials of the old Chinese Empire, so I'd prefered to say "Beijing Chinese" !


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## J.F. de TROYES

übermönch said:


> J.F. it would make it alot easier if you gave the English sentences you're talking about!
> 
> Oh! yes. Thanks for saying it. It's a blunder! I had the intention of doing it. Here are the sentences:
> 
> *English*
> **
> 1- He is a student
> 
> 2- He was a student
> 
> 3- He is here
> 
> 4- He is hungry


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## samanthalee

J.F. de TROYES said:


> You are quite right, Vince; it's a common habit, but a bad one to use "Chinese" instead of "Mandarin" ; I know there are many Chinese languages, as different between themselves as Roman languages are, but I must confess that I don't like this word that reminds me of the senior officials of the old Chinese Empire, so I'd prefered to say "Beijing Chinese" !


 
Actually, "Beijing Chinese" is not exactly "Mandarin".
 "Beijing Chinese" is a dialect spoken in Beijing. Half the vocabulary will not be comprehensible to the rest of China.

We don't have a Chinese equivalent for the word "Mandarin"; Singapore calls it "Chinese", China calls it "The Common Tongue", Taiwan calls it "The National Language".

There are 56 races within China all with their own languages and the majority Han itself has so many dialects. We will go mad trying to take all of them into account. Except for Cantonese and Min which have the backing of Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively, the other Chinese dialects/languages have not much of a foothold in the world. So we really can safely ignore them.

So it is fine to continue using "Chinese" to refer to "Mandarin".


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## vince

samanthalee said:


> Actually, "Beijing Chinese" is not exactly "Mandarin".
> "Beijing Chinese" is a dialect spoken in Beijing. Half the vocabulary will not be comprehensible to the rest of China.



Not half the vocabulary! Perhaps you are referring to regional slang. Beijing-hua is a dialect of what linguists call "Mandarin", the language spoken (nowadays) in almost all of China, Taiwan, and Singapore.



> We don't have a Chinese equivalent for the word "Mandarin"; Singapore calls it "Chinese", China calls it "The Common Tongue", Taiwan calls it "The National Language".



There, then you can call it Putonghua (Common Tongue), or Guoyu (National Language) if you don't like Mandarin. But Chinese should really be used only if one is specifically referring to the Mandarin-based written language used as the standard.



> the other Chinese dialects/languages have not much of a foothold in the world. So we really can safely ignore them.



This is why Italian and Chinese languages (other than Tuscan and Mandarin) will soon go extinct: even native speakers look down upon them.

Anyway,
the Cantonese word for "to be" is
係 (hai6). e.g. 呢位係我父親 (this is my father) (ni wai hai ngo fu can)

Not to be confused with 喺 (hai2), which means "at" (approximately equivalent to Mandarin 在 (zai4). It differs only in tone from 係.


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## samanthalee

vince said:


> Not half the vocabulary! Perhaps you are referring to regional slang. Beijing-hua is a dialect of what linguists call "Mandarin", the language spoken (nowadays) in almost all of China, Taiwan, and Singapore.


 
But if you have heard a Beijing native speak their Beijing-hua, you have to agree that it is not Mandarin. Mandarin (Putong-hua) is a standardised language derived from Beijing Chinese (Beijing-hua), but they are not equivalent. Half the time, Beijing-hua pronounciation deviates from the Putong-hua dictionary standard.

So we cannot subsitute "Mandarin" with "Beijing Chinese". It will be like subsituting "English" with "Scottish English"


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## optimistique

In Dutch very often you can use verbs like *staan (*to stand*) & liggen* (to lie*) *and in some specific cases *lopen* (to walk), *hangen* (to hang) and *vallen *(to fall) instead of the normal verb for 'to be', which is *zijn*.

'staan', 'lopen' & 'liggen' can be used for some sort of continuous form.

He is irritating me = Hij *zit*/*loopt** me te irriteren (*= choice is personal).
She is calling him names = Ze *staat/loopt/zit *hem uit te schelden.
etc.


Note that one can say: _Hij *zit* me te irriteren, _while that person is standing.


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## J.F. de TROYES

ameana7 said:


> Good explanation F84  We conjugate the verbs in Turkish according to subjects. In these examples, "öğrenci= student" is called "noun-verb", because of the hidden "to be". For instance,
> 
> O bir kalemdi= It was a pencil.
> 
> O= It
> bir= a
> kalem=pencil
> kalem*di=*the verb as a suffix "to be" in past tense


 
Thanks to both of you, F84 and Ameana7  for your explanations; Turkish is very interesting for anyone who is keen on linguistics.


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## J.F. de TROYES

ronanpoirier said:


> In Hungarian the equivalent is the verb "lenni". I think there are no mystery about it... at least, I can't remember anything special...


 
Does'nt the form change from a tense to another ?


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## palomnik

Optimistique raises an interesting point, albeit perhaps unawares.  English frequently allows the use of the verb "to be" where in other languages (German and Russian, for example, and apparently Dutch too) a more specific verb needs to be used, particularly when indicating location:

English:  The book is on the table.  
German:  Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch.
Russian:  Книга лежит на столе.

Of course, in English you can say "the book is lying on the table", but you normally wouldn't unless it was necessary to be so specific.  In German and Russian it wouldn't be idiomatic to be as unspecific as the English is.


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## amikama

Like Arabic, the verb *להיות* ("to be") is not normally used in the present, only in the past and future.

1- He is a student
הוא סטודנט

2- He was a student
הוא *היה* סטודנט

3- He is here
הוא כאן/פה

He will be here
הוא *יהיה* כאן/פה


4- He is hungry
הוא רעב

He was hungry
הוא *היה* רעב


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## J.F. de TROYES

amikama said:


> Like Arabic, the verb *להיות* ("to be") is not normally used in the present, only in the past and future.
> 
> 1- He is a student
> הוא סטודנט
> 
> 2- He was a student
> הוא *היה* סטודנט
> 
> 3- He is here
> הוא כאן/פה
> 
> He will be here
> הוא *יהיה* כאן/פה
> 
> 
> 4- He is hungry
> הוא רעב
> 
> He was hungry
> הוא *היה* רעב


 

Could you please transpose into Latin writing ?  Thanks


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## Toxina

_*Romanian*

*To be = a fi 
**          = a se afla (only when expresses the existence)*

He is a student.
       El este student.

He was a student.
       El era student.

He is here.
       El este (se afla) aici.

He will be here.
       El va fi (se va afla) aici. (Depends on the context. He will be here soon.Va ajunge in curand.)

He is hungry.
       Lui ii este foame.

He was hungry.
       Lui ii era foame.

_


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## Miguelillo 87

IN Náhuatl.- 

_moyetztica: _To be in a place, try to get acostume to a place.

_ca: _To Be someone or something


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## J.F. de TROYES

Toxina said:


> _*Romanian*_
> 
> _*To be = a fi *_
> _*= a se afla (only when expresses the existence)*_
> 
> _He is a student._
> _El este student._
> 
> _He was a student._
> _El era student._
> 
> _He is here._
> _El este (se afla) aici._
> 
> _He will be here._
> _El va fi (se va afla) aici. (Depends on the context. He will be here soon.Va ajunge in curand.)_
> 
> _He is hungry._
> _Lui ii este foame._
> 
> _He was hungry._
> _Lui ii era foame._


 Thanks. Col you please give a "word for word" translation of the two last sentences, especially for "Lui ii" ?


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## Toxina

J.F. de TROYES said:


> Thanks. Col you please give a "word for word" translation of the two last sentences, especially for "Lui ii" ?


 First of all, I apologize...it’s «* îi* », not « ii »

  He is hungry. Lui îi este foame.
  « Lui » is a personal pronoun (dative, stressed form), equivalent: (to) him 
  « îi » is also a personal pronoun in dative but it’s not stressed
  Sometimes the stressed form can be omited.
  Who is hungry ? Cui îi este foame ? (Cui =To whom)
  The same way happens for : He is thirsty. He is cold.  He is afraid (of something).   and so on


  He was hungry. 
  (Lui) îi=he, was=era


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## Child_of_darkness

It is only one verb in polish, which means "to be" - być.

1. He is a student - On jest studentem
2. He was a student - on był studentem
3. He is here - On jest tutaj
4. He will be here - On będzie tutaj
5. He is hungry - On jest głodny
6. He was hungry - On był głodny.


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## jazyk

> It is only one verb in polish, which means "to be" - być.


Well, sometimes you can use other verbs as well:

The book is on the table. = Książka leży na stole.
The man is by the window. = Pan stanie przy oknie.
The office is next to the station. Biuro znajduje się obok dworca.


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## Child_of_darkness

jazyk said:


> Well, sometimes you can use other verbs as well:
> 
> The book is on the table. = Książka leży na stole.
> The man is by the window. = Pan stanie przy oknie.
> The office is next to the station. Biuro znajduje się obok dworca.



Yes, that's right, but i think you can do it in almost every language:

The book is on the table = The book lies on the table
The man is by the window = The man is staying by the window
The office is next to the station = The office is located next to the station.



jazyk said:


> The man is by the window. = Pan stanie przy oknie.



It should be - "Mężczyzna stoi/jest przy oknie". "Pan stanie przy oknie" means something like "Mr., stay by the window please".


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## jazyk

You're right, again. I guess I was preoccupied with other matters Slavic when I wrote that post.


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## Child_of_darkness

hehe... no problem


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## J.F. de TROYES

Toxina said:


> First of all, I apologize...it’s «* îi* », not « ii »
> 
> He is hungry. Lui îi este foame.
> « Lui » is a personal pronoun (dative, stressed form), equivalent: (to) him
> « îi » is also a personal pronoun in dative but it’s not stressed
> Sometimes the stressed form can be omited.
> Who is hungry ? Cui îi este foame ? (Cui =To whom)
> The same way happens for : He is thirsty. He is cold. He is afraid (of something). and so on
> 
> 
> He was hungry.
> (Lui) îi=he, was=era


 
Oh! now it becomes clear to me. Thanks a lot.


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## ergaster

Italian for to be is _essere_


1- He is a student - _E' uno studente_
2- He was a student - _Era uno studente_
3- He is here - _E' qui_
4- He is hungry - _Ha fame _(other verb= to have, like other roman languages)



vince said:


> This is why Italian and Chinese languages (other than Tuscan and Mandarin) will soon go extinct: even native speakers look down upon them.


If you mean Italian dialects I agree, although the process won't be so fast as many dialects are far from disappearing. 
Anyway, that is really sad. Every single language that goes extinct makes humanity poorer.


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## optimistique

Child_of_darkness said:


> Yes, that's right, but i think you can do it in almost every language:
> 
> The book is on the table = The book lies on the table
> The man is by the window = The man is staying by the window
> The office is next to the station = The office is located next to the station.


 
Though I think you cannot say in almost every language:

There is not much to ask = There doesn't *fall *much to ask? 
There is not much to see = There doesn't *fall *much to see?

like in Dutch: 
Er *valt* niet veel te vragen. 
Er *valt *niet veel te zien.


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## parakseno

Toxina is right, of course. I just wanted to add that in Romanian there is another verb to express existence: "a exista" (it's true that it's not that frequently used, "a fi" is prefered because it's shorter ).

Also, for
"The book is on the table"
Romanian is perfectly confortable with "a fi" (to be):
"Cartea e pe masă."


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