Beとは 意味・読み方・使い方

関連する語

• B.Eng.
• B.E.E.

アナグラム

• EB

アナグラム

• EB

発音

• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /biː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bi/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: b, bee, Bea

動詞

be (highly irregular; see conjugation table)

1. (intransitive, now usually literary) To exist; to have real existence, to be alive.

   The Universe has no explanation: it just is.

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew ij:[18], folio iij, recto:

     Rachel wepynge ffor her chyldren / and wolde nott be comforted becauſe they were not.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 265:

     To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 351:

     […] it were great sottishnesse, and apparent false-hood, to say, that that is which is not yet in being, or that already hath ceased from being.

   • 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II.2, link:

     There is surely a peece of Divinity in us, something that was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the Sun.

   • 1893, Andrew Martin Fairbairn, Christ in the Centuries, and Other Sermons, volume 12, second edition, E.P. Dutton & Company, page 116:

     And after this death there is to be no resurrection. The old man of sin has ceased to be; once crucified, he lives no more. The death is utter; the end complete.

   • 1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):

     This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!

   • 2004, Richard Schickel, "Not Just an African Story", Time, 13 December:

     The genial hotel manager of the past is no more. Now owner of a trucking concern and living in Belgium, Rusesabagina says the horrors he witnessed in Rwanda "made me a different man."

2. (with there, または dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 178:

     Some men there are loue not a gaping Pigge: / Some that are mad, if they behold a Cat: / And others, when the bag-pipe sings i’th nose, / Cannot containe their Vrine for affection.

   • 1817 December​, [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume IV, London: John Murray, […], 1818, →OCLC, page 170:

     "There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known even in a crowd, and this you had."

   • 2011, Mark Sweney, The Guardian, 6 July:

     "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.

   There is just one woman in town who can help us.

   (または, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.

3. (intransitive) To occupy a place.

   The cup is on the table.

4. (intransitive) To occur, to take place.

   When will the meeting be?

5. (intransitive, in perfect tenses) Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar, also extending to certain other senses of "go".

   The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.

   I have been to Spain many times.

   We've been about twenty miles.

   I have terrible constipation – I haven't been for several days.

   They have been through a great deal of trouble.

6. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same.

   Knowledge is bliss.

   Hi, I’m Jim.

7. (copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.

   3 times 5 is fifteen.

8. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject is an instance of the predicate nominal.

   A dog is an animal.

   Dogs are animals.

9. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal.

   François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.

10. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective.

    The sky is blue.

    Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)

11. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

    The sky is a deep blue today.

12. (auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice.

    The dog was saved by the boy.

    • 1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, →ISBN, page 13:

      Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.

13. (auxiliary) Used to form the continuous aspect.

    The woman is walking.

    I shall be writing to you soon.

    We liked to chat while we were eating.

    • 1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, →ISBN, page 13:

      In the possibility of radio uses of a constructed language — and such experiments are proving successful—vast sums of money and untold social forces may be involved.

14. (auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs; this was more common in archaic use, especially with verbs indicating motion. "He is finished", and "He is gone" are common, but "He is come" is archaic.
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 133:

      They are not yet come back.

      instead of the modern They have not yet come back.

    • 1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel, ll.67-68

      ‘I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come,’ she said.

    • Matthew 28:6 (various translations, from the King James Version of 1611 to Revised Version of 1881):

      He is not here; for he is risen […].

    • 1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems XXV, l.13, page 51:

      The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;

15. (formal, auxiliary) Used to express future action as well as what is due to, intended to, or should happen.

    They are to be married next month.

    They are to stay here until I return.

    They are not to be blamed.

    How are they to get out of this mess?

    I am to leave tomorrow.

    I would drive you, were I to obtain a car.

16. (copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement.

    This building is three hundred years old.

    I am 75 kilograms.

    He’s about 6 feet tall.

17. (copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years.

    I’m 20 (years old).

18. (with a dummy subject it) Used to indicate the time of day.

    It is almost eight (o’clock).

    It’s 8:30 [read eight-thirty] in Tokyo.

    What time is it there? It’s night.

19. (With since) Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event.

    It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to "My grandmother died three years ago", but emphasizes the intervening period)

    It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him.

20. (rare and regional, chiefly in the past tense) Used to link two noun clauses, the first of which is a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place), and the second of which is a period of time indicating how long ago that day was. [from 15th c.]

    I saw her Monday was a week: I saw her a week ago last Monday (a week before last Monday).

    On the morning of Sunday was fortnight before Christmas: on the morning of the Sunday that was two weeks before the Sunday prior to Christmas.

    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume V, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 97:

      Miss Lardner (whom you have seen at her cousin Biddulph's) saw you at St James's church on Sunday was fortnight.

    • 1770, Ireland, Historical Memoirs of the Irish Rebellion, in the year 1641 […] In a letter to Walter Harris, Esq; [By John Curry.] The fourth edition, with corrections throughout the whole, and large additions, by the author, page 186:

      And so, without as much as to return home to furnish myself for such a journey, volens, nolens, they prevailed, or rather forced me to come to Dublin to confer with those colonels, and that was the last August was twelvemonth.

    • 1803, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Journals of the House of Commons, page 249:

      That they were present at the Election in August was Twelvemonth, at which there was the strictest Scrutiny that ever they saw in their Lives, by all the Four Candidates.

    • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 79-80:

      Allow me to recommend some of the kipper—It was John Hay that catched it Saturday was three weeks.

    • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Adam Bede […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book fifth, page 53:

      “Did there come no young woman here—very young and pretty—Friday was a fortnight, to see Dinah Morris?”

    • 1895, Miss M. E. Rope of Suffolk, quoted by Joseph Wright, in The English Dialect Dictionary, page 202:

      'Twas there to-morrow is a week.

    • 1907, John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, I, page 20:

      I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that.

    • 1920 (published), St. George Kieran Hyland, A Century of Persecution Under Tudor and Stuart Sovereigns from Contemporary Records, London, Paul, page 402, quoting an earlier document, Loosley volume 5, no. 28, "List of Prisoners: In Sir W. More's handwriting": :

      Theobald Green gent dead in the Marshalsea in August was twelvemonth

      John Grey gent delivered out of the Marshalsea about August last by Mr. Secretary and remains in St. Mary Overies.

      John Jacob gent delivered out of the Marsh. the XVII of May was twelvemonth and sent to Bridewell by order of the Council.

21. (often impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like.

    It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid.

    Why is it so dark in here?

22. (dynamic / lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way.
    • 2006 October 9, Kristin Newman (writer), Barney Stinson (character), How I Met Your Mother, season 2, episode 1:

      "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."

    "What do we do?" "We be ourselves."

    When I play fantasy games, I always be a gnome.

    Why is he being nice to me?

23. (African-American Vernacular, Caribbean, Ireland, auxiliary, not conjugated) To tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect.
    • 1996, David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk, screenplay of The Nutty Professor

      Women be shoppin’! You cannot stop a woman from shoppin’!

    • 2020, Moneybagg Yo, Thug Cry:

      Niggas be tellin' these bitches 'bout business

使用する際の注意点

• When used copulatively with a pronoun, traditional grammar puts the pronoun in the subjective case (I, he, she, we, they) rather than the objective case (me, him, her, us, them), regardless of which side of the copula it is placed. For example, “I was the masked man” and “The masked man was I” would both be considered correct, while “The masked man was me” and “Me was the masked man” would both be incorrect. However, most colloquial speech treats the verb be as transitive, in which case the pronoun is used in the objective case if it occurs after the copula: “I was the masked man” but “The masked man was me”. This paradigm applies even if the copula is linking two pronouns; thus “I am her” and “She is me", and “Am I me?” (versus the traditional “I am she”, “She is I”, “Am I I?”). However, the use of whom with a copula is generally considered incorrect and a hypercorrection, though in some cases (especially in sentences involving a to-infinitive または a perfect tense), such as “Whom do you want to be?”, it can come naturally to some speakers; in short, straightforward sentences, such as “Whom are you?”, this is much rarer and likelier to be considered incorrect.
• Except senses 12 (auxiliary forming the passive voice), 13 (auxiliary forming the continuous aspect) and 22 (dynamic または lexical be), this is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous aspect. See Category:English stative verbs.

Conjugation

• The verb be is the most irregular non-defective verb in Standard English. Unlike other verbs, which distinguish at most five forms (as in do–does–doing–did–done), be distinguishes many more:
  • Be itself is the plain form, used as the infinitive, as the imperative, and as the present subjunctive (though many speakers do not distinguish the present indicative かつ present subjunctive, using the indicative forms for both).

    I want to be a father someday. (infinitive)

    If that be true... (present subjunctive; is is common in this position)

    Allow the truth to be heard! (infinitive)

    Please be here by eight o’clock. (imperative)

    The librarian asked that the rare books not be touched. (present subjunctive; speakers that do not distinguish the subjunctive かつ indicative would use an auxiliary verb construction here)

    Be is also used as the present tense indicative form in the alternative, dynamic / lexical conjugation of be:

    What do we do? We be ourselves. (first-person 複数形 present indicative, lexical be)

    but: Who are we? We are human beings. (first-person 複数形 present indicative, copula be)

    It is also an archaic alternative form of the indicative, especially in the plural:^[1]

    The powers that be, are ordained of God. (Romans 13:1, Tyndale Bible, 1526)^[2]

    We are true men; we are no spies: We be twelve brethren... (Genesis 42:31-2, King James Version, 1611)^[3]

    I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it. (Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1, circa 1600 — though this may be viewed as the subjunctive instead)^[4]

  • Am, are, and is are the forms of the present indicative. Am is the first-person singular (used with I); is is the third-person singular (used with he, she, it かつ other subjects that would be used with does rather than do); and are is both the second-person singular and the plural (used with we, you, they, かつ any other 複数形 subjects).

    Am I in the right place? (first-person 単数形 present indicative)

    You are even taller than your brother! (second-person 単数形 present indicative)

    Where is the library? (三人称単数 present indicative)

    These are the biggest shoes we have. (複数形 present indicative)

  • Was and were are the forms of the past indicative and past subjunctive (like did). In the past indicative, was is the first- and third-person singular (used with I, as well as with he, she, it かつ other subjects that would be used with does rather than do), and were is both the second-person singular and the plural (used with we, you, they, かつ any other 複数形 subjects). In the traditional past subjunctive, were is used with all subjects, though many speakers do not actually distinguish the past subjunctive from the past indicative, and therefore use was with first- and third-person singular subjects even in cases where other speakers would use were.

    I was out of town. (first-person 単数形 past indicative)

    You were the first person here. (second-person 単数形 past indicative)

    The room was dirty. (三人称単数 past indicative)

    We were angry at each other. (複数形 past indicative)

    I wish I were more sure. (first-person 単数形 past subjunctive; was is also common, though considered less correct by some)

    If she were here, she would know what to do. (三人称単数 past subjunctive; was is also common, though considered less correct by some)

  • Being is the gerund and present participle, used in progressive aspectual forms, after various catenative verbs, and in other constructions that function like nouns, adjectivally or adverbially. (It’s also used as a deverbal noun かつ as a conjunction; see those senses in the entry for being itself.)

    Being in London and being in Tokyo have similar rewards but in different languages. (gerund in grammatical subject)

    All of a sudden, he’s being nice to everyone. (現在分詞 in progressive aspect)

    His mood being good increased his productivity noticeably. (現在分詞 in adjectival phrase)

    It won’t stop being a problem until someone does something about it. (gerund after catenative verb)

  • Been is the past participle, used in the perfect aspect. In Middle English, it was also the infinitive.

    It’s been that way for a week and a half.

• In archaic or obsolete forms of English, with the pronoun thou, the verb be has a few additional forms:
  • When the pronoun thou was in regular use, the forms art, wast, and wert were the corresponding present indicative, past indicative, and past subjunctive, respectively.
  • As thou became less common and more highly marked, a special present-subjunctive form beest developed (replacing the regular present subjunctive form be, still used with all other subjects). Additionally, the form wert, previously a past subjunctive form, came to be used as a past indicative as well.
• The forms am, is, and are can contract with preceding subjects: I’m (“I am”), ’s (“is”), ’re (“are”). The form are most commonly contracts with personal pronouns (we’re (“we are”), you’re (“you are”), they’re (“they are”)), but contractions with other subjects are possible; the form is contracts quite freely with a variety of subjects. These contracted forms, however, are possible only when there is an explicit, non-preposed complement, and they cannot be stressed; therefore, the contractions cannot appear at the end of a sentence. Instead one must use the full forms, such as:

  Who’s here? —I am.

  I wonder what it is.

• Several of the finite forms of be have special negative forms, containing the suffix -n’t, that can be used instead of adding the adverb not. Specifically, the forms is, are, was, and were have the negative forms isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, and weren’t. The form be itself does not, even in finite uses, with “not be” being used in the present subjunctive and “do not be” or “don’t be” (または, in dated use, “be not”) being used in the imperative. The form am has the negative forms aren’t, amn’t, and ain’t, but all of these are in restricted use; see their entries for details.
• Outside of Standard English, there is some variation in usage of some forms; some dialects, for example, use is or ’s throughout the present indicative (supplanting, in whole または in part, am かつ are), and/or was throughout the past indicative and past subjunctive (supplanting were).