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Salah satu hal yang paling penting dalam Bahasa Inggris adalah bahwa setiap kalimat bahasa Inggris harus mengandung verb.
Subject + Verb + …
Bentuk verb tersebut selalu mengikuti aspek atau tenses yang digunakan, seperti yang telah ditabulasikan dalam pembahasaan sebelumnya mengenai 16 Tenses dalam Bahasa Inggris.
Dalam Bahasa Indonesia, dilain pihak, kita sering menggunakan kalimat tanpa verb (kalimat nominal), misalnya :
- Dia sakit.
- Saya seorang murid.
- Mereka di sini.
Jika ketiga kalimat diatas kita terjemahkan langsung ke dalam Bahasa Inggris, kalimatnya akan menjadi :
- He sick.
- I a student.
- They here.
Benarkah demikian?
Let’s take a look!
Di kalimat pertama..
Sick adalah adjective.
Di kalimat kedua..
(A) student adalah noun.
Sedangkan di kalimat ketiga..
Here adalah adverb.
Jadi, karena ketiga kalimat ini sama sekali tidak mengandung verb, maka tiga-tiganya adalah salah.
Lantas, verb apa yang tepat digunakan agar ketiga kalimat tadi benar?
Untuk kalimat dengan konteks seperti ini, adjective, noun atau adverb tersebut adalah menerangkan subjek kalimat.
Verbs yang dapat digunakan untuk menjembatani subjek kalimat dengan adjective (disebut predicative adjective), dengan noun (disebut predicative nominative), atau dengan adverb ini, secara kolektif disebut linking atau copulative verbs.
Linking verb yang tepat digunakan untuk ketiga kalimat di atas adalah be (i.e. is, am, are, was, were, be, been), dengan mengikuti pola berikut :
Subject + Be + Adjective/Noun/Adverb
Dengan catatan :
- Be menjadi is, am atau are pada kalimat yang menggunakan simple present tense (see pola 1) dan present continuous (see pola 2).
- Be menjadi was atau were pada kalimat yang menggunakan simple past tense (see pola 3) dan past continuous (see pola 4).
- Be menjadi been pada kalimat yang menggunakan perfect tenses (see pola 5, 6, 7 ,8, 13, 14, 15 & 16).
- Be tetap be (simple form) pada kalimat yang menggunakan future tenses (see pola 9, 10, 11 & 12).
- Be diikuti oleh being (yaitu, untuk memberi makna sedang in action) pada kalimat-kalimat progressive (see pola 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 & 16).
Berikut adalah pola-pola penggunaan be pada setiap tenses/aspek dalam Bahasa Inggris :
1. Subject + is/am/are + adjective/noun/adverb [Simple Present]
- He is sick.
- I am a student.
- They are here.
2. Subject + is/am/are + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Present Continuous]
- He is being sick.
- I am being a student.
- They are being here.
3. Subject + was/were + adjective/noun/adverb [Simple Past]
- He was sick.
- I was a student.
- They were here.
4. Subject + was/were + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Continuous]
- He was being sick.
- I was being a student.
- They were being here.
5. Subject + has/have + been + adjective/noun/adverb [Present Perfect]
- He has been sick.
- I have been a student.
- They have been here.
6. Subject + has/have + been + being + adjective/noun [Present Perfect Continuous]
- He has been being sick.
- I have been being a student.
- They have been being here.
7. Subject + had + been + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Perfect]
- He had been sick.
- I had been a student.
- They had been here.
8. Subject + had + been + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Perfect Continuous]
- He had been being sick.
- I had been being a student.
- They had been being here.
9. Subject + will + be + adjective/noun/adverb [Simple Future]
- He will be sick.
- I will be a student.
- They will be here.
10. Subject + will be + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Future Continuous]
- He will be being sick.
- I will be being a student.
- They will be being here.
11. Subject + would + be + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Future]
- He would be sick.
- I would be a student.
- They would be here.
12. Subject + would + be + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Future Continuous]
- He would be being sick.
- I would be being a student.
- They would be being here.
13. Subject + will + have + been + adjective/noun/adverb [Future Perfect]
- He will have been sick.
- I will have been a student.
- They will have been here.
14. Subject + will + have + been + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Future Perfect Continuous]
- He will have been being sick.
- I will have been being a student.
- They will have been being here.
15. Subject + would + have + been + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Future Perfect]
- He would have been sick.
- I would have been a student.
- They would have been here.
16. Subject + would + have + been + being + adjective/noun/adverb [Past Future Perfect Continuous]
- He would have been being sick.
- I would have been being a student.
- They would have been being here.
Note & Remember :
Di pola kalimat nomor 9, 10, 11 & 12 di atas, baru penggunaan be setelah modal auxiliary will dan would.
The simple form of be juga digunakan setelah modal auxiliary lainnya, seperti, can, may, might, shall, should, must, have to (simple future), dan could, might, should, had to (future in the past).