We use contractions to make our speech and writing sound less formal in day to day interactions. Let’s learn how to make contractions in the Present Simple with the verb to be and with the auxiliary verb do.
Contractions with To Be
We form contractions with to be in the affirmative and negative.
Affirmative To Be with Contractions
I’m Katherine. Nice to meet you.
You’re sad today. What’s wrong?
He’s a police officer.
She’s a blue bird.
It’s red.
We’re fine today.
They’re green dinosaurs.
Write sentences with each of the pronouns and the verb to be. Use contractions.
Negative To Be Contractions
As you know, we add not to the verb to be to make a sentence negative.
The order is Subject+Verb+Not+Complement.
If you would like to practice this before you continue, play Sentence Builder Level 2.
There are two ways to make the negative contractions. We can just repeat the contraction you already learned above, where we use the short form of to be. Or we can contract the verb to be and not.
For example:
The sentence You are not cat can be either:
You aren’t a cat.
You’re not a cat.
Here are the two ways:
XXXXX I’m not ___________.
You aren’t ___________. You’re not ___________.
He isn’t ___________. He’s not ___________.
She isn’t ___________. She’s not ___________.
It isn’t ___________. It’s not ___________.
We aren’t ___________. We’re not ___________.
They aren’t ___________. They’re not ___________.
LET’S PRACTICE SAYING THE CONTRACTIONS BOTH WAYS:
- Which one isn’t an animal?
ANSWER: A carrot isn’t an animal. It’s not an animal. It’s a vegetable.
- Which one isn’t a person?
ANSWER: A _________ isn’t a person. It’s not a ________. It’s a _________.
- Which one isn’t cutlery?
ANSWER: _________
- Which one isn’t a building?
ANSWER: _________
- Which one isn’t alive?
ANSWER: _________
- Which one isn’t in the sky?
ANSWER: _________
Contractions with Do and Does
With the auxiliary verb do, we only form contractions in the negative.
NEGATIVES:
Subject+ DO NOT+ Verb+ Compliment
The contraction is formed by connecting the auxiliary do or does with not, and shortening the not to n’t.
I do not (don’t) like…
You do not (don’t) like…
He does not (doesn’t) like…
She does not (doesn’t) like…
It does not (doesn’t) like…
We do not (don’t) like…
They do not (don’t) like…
Let’s put it all together!
Can you make contractions with the verb to be and the auxiliary verb to do? Try the quiz to find out!
