Many Indo-European languages also use the verb "to be" as an auxiliary for the formation of compound (periphrastic) tenses (I’m working; I was bitten).
The e-grade *h1es- (see Indo-European ablaut) is found in such forms as English is, Irish is, German ist, Latin est, Sanskrit asti, Persian ast, Old Church Slavonic jestĭ.
The zero grade *h1s- produces forms beginning with /s/, like German sind, Latin sumus, Vedic Sanskrit smas, etc.
This verb is generally reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European thus:[1] The root *bʰuH- or *bʰuh₂- (which did not have ablaut variations in the protolanguage[2]) probably meant 'to grow', but also 'to become'.
*bʰuH- was a preterito-present verb, i.e. Imperfect endings for Present, and can be reconstructed as follows:[1] The root *h2wes- may originally have meant "to live",[1] and has been productive in all Germanic languages.
[3][page needed] It has also been seen as the origin of the Latin imperfect (eram, eras, erat) and future tenses (ero, eris, erit).
Donald Ringe argues that the copula was sometimes unaccented in Pre-Proto-Germanic, which would have then triggered the voicing under Verner's law.
From this root comes the present stem of the so-called "substantive verb" in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, tá and tha respectively, as well as taw in Welsh.
Today, this survives in that several Romance languages (Galician-Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan) use it as one of their two copulae, and there is also a Romance tendency for a past participle derived from *steh2- to replace the original one of the copula (this occurs in French, Italian and the main dialects of Catalan).
While it is not a full copula (it can normally only be used as an auxiliary with another verb), it does have shades of meaning that resemble that of the Italian sto cucinando ("I am cooking").
In Swedish, which usually lacks gerund forms, the corresponding stå is often used similarly, along with sitta ("to sit"), ligga ("to lie") and gå ("to walk").
In Hindustani the past tense of the copula honā "to be" which are «tʰā», «tʰe», «tʰī» and «tʰī̃» are derived from Sanskrit «stʰā».
Historically speaking, like most of Indo-European languages that make use of suppletive roots to denote ‘to be’, Persian integrates Proto-Indo-European (PIE) verbs *h1es- (to be) and *bhuH (to grow> to become> to be).
It is, in fact, from the declension of PIE *h1es- (to be) that six present stems have been created and assigned to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and plural to act as the present-tense conjugation of Persian būdan (to be), as shown in the following table.
This generalized conjugational paradigm is also applied to the past tense of the verb būdan (shown in the table below).
The evolution of this exceptional form, might go back to ancient Iranian languages, where ast could have two variants (cf.
The pseudo-verb hastan (to exist) has only simple present tense; in addition, it is truly and purely existencial only in the case of third person singular (hast).
Except for Latin, the older Italic languages are very scarcely attested, but we have in Oscan set (they are), fiiet (they become), fufans (they have been) and fust (he will be), and in Umbrian sent (they are).
In several modern Romance languages, the perfect is a compound tense formed with the past participle as in English, but the old Latin perfect survives as a commonly used preterite in Spanish and Portuguese, and as a literary "past historic" in French, Italian and Catalan.
es est sumus estis sunt stās stat stāmus stātis stant es est sommes estes sont estes este estons estez estent es est sommes êtes sont eres/sos es somos sois son estás está estamos estáis están sei è siamo siete sono stai sta stiamo state stanno és é somos sois são estás está estamos estais estão ets és som sou són estàs està estem esteu estan sunteţi sunt sì esti simu siti sù stai sta stamu stati stannu sès es sèm sètz son fuistī fuit fuimus fuistis fuērunt/fuēre stetistī stetit stetimus stetistis stetērunt/stetēre fus fu fumes fustes furent estas esta estames estastes esterent fus fut fûmes fûtes furent fuiste fue fuimos fuisteis fueron estuviste estuvo estuvimos estuvisteis estuvieron fosti fu fummo foste furono stesti stette stemmo steste stettero foste foi fomos fostes foram estiveste esteve estivemos estivestes estiveram fores fou fórem fóreu foren estugueres estigué estiguérem estiguéreu estigueren fuseși/fuși fuse/fu fuserăm/furăm fuserăți/furăți fuseră/fură fusti fu fumu fùstivu furu stasti stesi stèsimu stàsivu stèsiru foguères foguèt foguèrem foguèretz foguèron erās erat erāmus erātis erant stābās stābat stābāmus stābātis stābant iers iert iermes seroiz ierent estoies estoit estiens estiez estoient étais était étions étiez étaient eras era éramos erais eran estabas estaba estábamos estabais estaban eri era eravamo eravate erano stavi stava stavamo stavate stavano eras era éramos éreis eram estavas estava estávamos estaveis estavam eres era érem éreu eren estaves estava estàvem estàveu estaven erai era eram erați erau eri era èramu èravu èranu stavi stava stàvamu stàstivu stàvanu èras èra èram èratz èran fuerās fuerat fuerāmus fuerātis fuerant steterās steterāt steterāmus steterātis steterant - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - foras fora fôramos fôreis foram estiveras estivera estivéramos estivéreis estiveram - - - - - - - - - - fuseseși fusese fuseserăm fuseserăți fuseseră - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - eris/ere erit erimus eritis erunt stābis stābit stābimus stābitis stabunt seras sera serons serez seront seras sera serons serez seront serás será seremos seréis serán estarás estará estaremos estaréis estarán sarai sarà saremo sarete saranno starai starà staremo starete staranno serás será seremos sereis serão estarás estará estaremos estareis estarão seràs serà serem sereu seram estaràs estarà estarem estareu estaran vei fi va fi vom fi veți fi vor fi - - - - - - - - - - seràs serà serem seretz seràn fueris fuerit fuerimus fueritis fuerint steteris steterit steterimus steteritis steterint - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - sīs sit sīmus sītis sint stēs stet stēmus stētis stent soies soit soions soiiez soient estoises estoise estons estez estoisent sois soit soyons soyez soient seas sea seamos seáis sean estés esté estemos estéis estén sia sia siamo siate siano stia stia stiamo stiate stiano sejas seja sejamos sejais sejam estejas esteja estejamos estejais estejam siguis/sigues sigui/siga siguem sigueu siguin/siguen estiguis/estugues estugui/estiga estiguem estigueu estiguin/estiguen să fii să fie să fim să fiți să fie fussi fussi fùssimu fùssivu fùssiru stassi stassi stàssimu stàssivu stàssiru siás siá siam siatz sián essēs/forēs esset/foret essēmus/forēmus essetis/forētis essent/forent stārēs stāret stārēmus stārētis stārent fusses fust fussons fussiez fussent esteüsses esteüst esteüssons esteüssoiz esteüssent fusses fût fussions fussiez fussent fueras/fueses fuera/fuese fuéramos/fuésemos fuerais/fueseis fueran/fuesen estuvieras/estuvieses estuviera/estuviese estuviéramos/estuviésemos estuvierais/estuvieseis estuvieran/estuviesen fossi fosse fossimo foste fossero stessi stesse stessimo steste stessero fosses fosse fôssemos fôsseis fossem estivesses estivesse estivéssemos estivésseis estivessem fossis fos fóssim/fóssem fóssiu/fósseu fossin/fossen estiguessis estigués estiguéssim/estiguéssem estiguéssiu/estiguésseu estiguessin/estiguessen să fi fost să fi fost să fi fost să fi fost să fi fost fussi fussi fùssimu fùssivu fùssiru stassi stassi stàssimu stàssivu stàssiru foguèsses foguèsse foguèssem foguèssetz foguèsson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - fueres fuere fuéremos fuereis fueren estuvieres estuviere estuviéremos estuviereis estuvieren - - - - - - - - - - fores for formos fordes forem estiveres estiver estivermos estiverdes estiverem - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - seroies seroit seriens seriez seroient esteroies esteroit esteriiens esteriiez esteroient serais serait serions seriez seraient serías sería seríamos seríais serían estarías estaría estaríamos estaríais estarían saresti sarebbe saremmo sareste sarebbero staresti starebbe staremmo stareste starebbero serias seria seríamos seríeis seriam estarias estaria estaríamos estaríeis estariam series/fores seria/fóra seríem/fórem seríeu/fóreu serien/foren estaries estaria estaríem estaríeu estarien ai fi ar fi am fi ați fi ar fi fori fora fòramu fòravu fòranu - - - - - - - - - - es - - este - stā - - stāte - soies - soiiens soiiez - esta - estons estez - sois - soyons soyez - sé - seamos sed/sean - está - estemos estad/estén - sii - - siate - sta - - state - sê - - sede - está - - estai - sigues - - sigueu/sigau - estigues - - estigueu/estigau - fii - - fiți - sì - - siti - stai - - stati - siá - siam siatz - estō estō - estōte suntō stātō stātō - stātōte stantō - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The proto-Germanic verb for 'to be', *wesaną, and its conjugations are mostly derived from the Proto-Indo-European verb *h2wes (‘stay overnight, camp’).
is not considered archaic or dialectal but rather a special use of the verb būti, to be, mostly used to describe repeated actions or states, or habits.
In modern Gaelic, person inflections have almost disappeared, but the negative and interrogative are marked by distinctive forms.
(PIE root *wel-, also in Welsh gweled, Germanic wlitu- "appearance", and Latin voltus "face"), then coming to mean "here is" (cf.
Though the situation is undoubtedly more complicated, King (2003) notes the following variations in the present tense as spoken (not as written according to the standard orthography): For example, the spoken first person singular dw i'n is a contraction of the formal written yr ydwyf fi yn .