beとは 意味・読み方・使い方

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. As an auxiliary verb
   1. (auxiliary) Used with past participles of verbs 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.

   2. Used 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.

      • 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.

   3. (formal) Used with to-infinitives of verbs to express intent, obligation, or appropriateness, or relative future occurence .

      I am to leave tomorrow.

      They are to stay here until I return.

      The season opener was to have been on Monday.

      How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse?

      They were to have been married overseas but COVID forced a change of plans.

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

      He is finished

      He is gone

      (archaic) He is come

      • 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.

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 18:2:

        And he cryed mightily with a strõg voyce, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of deuils […]

      • 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;

      • 1965, J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Decision to Drop the Bomb:

        I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, he takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.

      • 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, page 4:

        His origins are become remote as is his destiny and not again in all the world’s turning will there be terrains so wild and barbarous to try whether the stuff of creation may be shaped to man’s will or whether his own heart is not another kind of clay.

   5. (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

2. As copulative verb
   1. (with there, または dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist.

      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.

      • 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 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume IV, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, page 170:

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

      • 2011 July 6, Mark Sweney, The Guardian:

        "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.

   2. Used to indicate that the subject and object are identical or equivalent.

      Hi, I’m Jim.

      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.

      This is how we do it.

   3. Used to indicate that the subject is an instance of the predicate nominal.

      Rex is a dog.

      A dog is an animal.

      Dogs are animals.

   4. Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective, prepositional phrase.

      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)

   5. Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.

      The sky is a deep blue today.

   6. 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.

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

      I’m 20 (years old).

   8. (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.

   9. (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.

   10. (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, 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, Ireland, 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], “The Quest”, in 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.

   11. (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?

   12. (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?

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

      The Universe has no explanation: it just is.

      That was the week that was.

      • 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, 2nd edition, volume 12, 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 December 13, Richard Schickel, “Not Just an African Story”, in Time:

        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. To remain undisturbed in a certain state or situation.

      Let them be for a few hours.

      Leave us be until the guests arrive.

   3. To occupy a place.

      The cup is on the table.

   4. To occur, to take place.

      When will the meeting be?

   5. (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.

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.
• In most copulative and intransitive con-copulative senses be is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous aspect. See Category:English stative verbs.

Conjugation

Modern