Hey!
How's it going?
Welcome to Go Natural English.
In this English tip I'm going to answer a question from a Go Natural English audience
member, Kenza.
Kenza asked, "What is the difference between "being" and "been?"
So, Kenza, that's a great question.
It's kind of a grammar and usage question and I'm happy to share my answer with you.
So, I would like to start off by saying that a really great way to start to be an independent
learner is to expose yourself to a lot of English and you can start recognizing the
differences between things like "being" and "been."
Of course, it's going to help a lot and you're going to learn faster if you have some direct
explanation.
At least, in my opinion, I learn better when I have some direct answer like this English
tip video.
And also in the premium Go Natural English course where you get more explanations, you
get more answers directly, and you learn from exposure to more English because in the course
we have tons of native English conversation for you to listen to and see how we really
use vocabulary and grammar in everyday American English conversation.
So, you can find out more about that on my website, gonaturalenglish.com.
So, back to your question, Kenza, about "being" and "been".
Now, they're both a form of the "to be" verb, but they're used in different tenses.
So, I could use "being" with the progressive like "I am being" -- let me change that a
little bit -- "He is being annoying."
Okay?
"I am being amazing."
Okay, so, "He is being annoying."
Another progressive tense would be "He has been annoying."
So, see, with the present perfect progressive we use "been" and in the present progressive
we use "being".
So, "He is being annoying -- He has been annoying, but now he's not annoying."
So, they're both forms of "to be" so I would recommend to perhaps review grammar a little
bit but don't focus on your books.
Get out of your books.
Listen to more English, perhaps for identifying how you use "being" and "been" in different
tenses.
It would be helpful to listen to stories or to conversations, and as I mentioned with
the Go Natural English premium course, we have a lot of conversations where we talk
about the past and experiences, so we use tenses like "has been" or "have been" so you'll
be able to hear a lot of examples.
So, one more time just to recap -- they're part of the same verb "to be" but we use them
with different tenses.
So, again, "I am being a great teacher", okay? -- the present progressive and in the present
perfect progressive, "I have been a great teacher."
So, we just use them in different tenses.
Alright?
Thanks for your question.
I hope I answered it.
If it's still not clear, leave a comment.
Let me know.
You're going to also ask in the Go Natural English community on facebook.com/gonaturalenglish
or tweet at Go Natural English and I hope to hear from you real soon.
So, come on back and I'll share another tip with you in a couple of days, alright?
Bye for now.