THE VERBS "TO BE," "TO HAVE," AND "TO GO"

"To be," "to have," and "to go" are irregular verbs.  Their forms in the present tense are as follows:

  TO BE:                 TO HAVE:             TO GO:
  I am                         I have                      I go
  he, she, it is            he, she, it has          he, she, it goes
  we are                     we have                   we go
  you are                     you have                  you go
  they are                   they have                 they go
  
Note that there is no personal form for "you" as there is in most other languages.  You will use "you" to refer both to close friends and to strangers.


SINGULAR AND PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNS

All English nouns are either singular or plural.  Most words form the plural by adding an  "-s" to the end of the singular form:

  month-->months    
  visa-->visas    
  airport-->airports
  
Other words, already referring to more than one person or thing, do not normally add an   "-s." 

  --the people, the fish, the mice, etc.


INDEFINITE AND DEFINITE ARTICLES

There is no need to worry about whether a noun is masculine,  feminine, or neuter in English.  Normally, a noun is preceded by a definite article (THE) or an indefinite article (A, AN) as follows:

  DEFINITE ARTICLE     INDEFINITE ARTICLE
  the tourist                     a tourist
  the area                         an area
  the card                         a card
  the hotel                        a hotel
  the restaurant               a restaurant
  the people                      some people
  the signs                        some signs


Note that definite articles refer to something specific, while indefinite articles refer to something non-specific.  Use "an" in front of words beginning with vowels and "some" with plural nouns.


CONTRACTIONS

You will want to learn how to use contractions as soon as possible.  Contractions are used constantly in informal English.  Examples of contracted subject/verb forms are:

  TO BE:                           TO HAVE:
  I am-->I'm                           I have-->I've  
  he is-->he's
  we are-->we're                    we have-->we've
  you are-->you're                   you have-->you've
  they are-->they're                they have-->they've

Contractions are frequently used with compound forms of verbs, especially the progressive or continuous form of the present tense ("I'm going."/ "We're leaving.") and the present perfect forms ("I've received the letter. / "They've already left.")

A later lesson will deal with the compound forms of verbs in greater length.