Subject pronouns and be: I am, you are, she is

Use I when you talk about yourself. Use you for the person or people you are speaking to. Use we for yourself together with one or more other people. These words are subject pronouns: they can replace a name or a longer group of words before the verb.

Write I with a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence. You has the same form for one listener and several listeners. We includes the speaker; they usually refers to people or things outside that group.

Use he or she for a person who uses that pronoun. It often replaces the name of a thing or an animal. They can replace two or more people, animals or things. Choose a pronoun that makes its meaning clear to the listener.

They can also refer to one person, for example when you do not know the person's gender or when that person uses they. It still takes are. For a pet you know, he or she is also common. A thing does not become he or she just because its name has a gender in another language.

The present forms of be are am, is and are. Use am with I, is with he, she and it, and are with you, we and they. Learn the subject and verb together: I am, she is, they are.

A name or noun can also be the subject. One person or one thing normally takes is; two or more take are. First find the whole subject, then choose the verb. You always takes are in these sentences, even when you are speaking to one person.

Use be to connect a subject to information about that subject. The information can be a name, a job, a feeling or a place. The words after be tell the reader what kind of information you mean.

English also uses be to give someone's age. For one person's job, a or an often comes before the job name. A describing word such as tired does not need a or an. Keep be in these sentences; a description alone does not replace the verb.

A complete statement with be normally needs both a subject and the verb. When you describe the weather or tell the time, use it even though there is no object for it to replace.

This rule is about complete statements such as descriptions. Instructions can work differently: a command such as Stop! does not need a spoken subject. For the weather and time statements here, keep it and the matching verb is.

In speaking and everyday writing, a subject pronoun and be often join into a contraction, or short form. I am becomes I'm. You are becomes you're, and he is, she is and it is become he's, she's and it's. We are and they are become we're and they're.

The apostrophe shows where letters are missing. Keep it inside the word. Full forms and contractions have the same basic meaning here. A contraction works before more information; the positive short answers in the last section keep the full verb at the end.

To say something is not true, put not after am, is or are. The subject stays first. You do not need do or does for a negative with be.

Is not can become isn't, and are not can become aren't. You can also contract the subject and verb before not. With I am not, use I'm not as the usual short form in standard English.

For a yes-or-no question, move am, is or are before the subject. Keep the rest of the information after the subject. Be makes its own question; do not add do or does.

To ask for a place or an age, put where or how old before be. Where asks about a place, and how old asks about age. The subject still comes after be in these questions.

A short answer uses yes or no, a subject pronoun, and the matching form of be. Choose the pronoun from the answerer's point of view. When someone asks about you, your reply usually uses I.

At the end of a positive short answer, keep the full form: am, is or are. Do not end that answer with I'm, she's or they're. Negative short answers can use isn't, aren't or I'm not, as well as full negative forms.