Predicate adjective dan Predicate nominative

Salah satu rule penting dalam Bahasa Inggris adalah bahwa setiap kalimat harus mengandung verb.

S + VERB + …

dan bentuk verb tersebut selalu mengikuti tensis/aspek yang digunakan, seperti yang telah ditabulasikan di 16 Tensis dalam Bahasa Inggris.
Dalam Bahasa Indonesia, di lain pihak, kita sering menggunakan kalimat tanpa verb, misalnya:

• Dia sakit.
• Saya seorang murid.
• Mereka di sini

Kalau ketiga kalimat ini kita terjemahkan langsung ke dalam Bahasa Inggris, kalimatnya akan menjadi:

• He sick.
• I a student.
• They here.

Benarkah? 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. Dan, 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:

S + BE + ADJECTIVE/NOUN/ADVERB

Dengan catatan:

1. BE menjadi is, am atau are pada kalimat yang menggunakan simple present tense (see pola 1) dan present continuous (see pola 2).
2. BE menjadi was atau were pada kalimat yang menggunakan simple past tense (see pola 3) dan past continuous (see pola 4).
3. BE menjadi been pada kalimat yang menggunakan perfect tenses (see pola 5, 6, 7 ,8, 13, 14, 15 & 16).
4. BE tetap be (simple form) pada kalimat yang menggunakan future tenses (see pola 9, 10, 11 & 12).
5. 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 tiap tensis/aspek dalam Bahasa Inggris.

No	Patterns	Tenses/aspects
1	S + is/am/are + adjective/noun/adverb	Simple present
2	S + is/am/are + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Present continuous
3	S + was/were + adjective/noun/adverb	Simple past
4	S + was/were + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Past continuous
5	S + has/have + been + adjective/noun/adverb	Present perfect
6	S + has/have + been + being + adjective/noun	Present perfect continuous
7	S + had + been + adjective/noun/adverb	Past perfect
8	S + had + been + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Past perfect continuous
9	S + will + be + adjective/noun/adverb	Simple future
10	S + will be + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Future continuous
11	S + would + be + adjective/noun/adverb	Past future
12	S + would + be + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Past future continuous
13	S + will + have + been + adjective/noun/adverb	Future perfect
14	S + will + have + been + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Future perfect continuous
15	S + would + have + been + adjective/noun/adverb	Past future perfect
16	S + would + have + been + being + adjective/noun/adverb	Past future perfect continuous

Sedangkan yang berikut adalah contoh kalimat penggunaan be untuk tiap tensis/aspek.

No	EXAMPLES	Tenses/aspects
1	He is sick I am a student They are here	Simple present
2	He is being sick I am being a student They are being here	Present continuous
3	He was sick I was a student They were here	Simple past
4	He was being sick I was being a student They were being here	Past continuous
5	He has been sick I have been a student They have been here	Present perfect
6	He has been being sick I have been being a student They have been being here	Present perfect continuous
7	He had been sick I had been a student They had been here	Past perfect
8	He had been being sick I had been being a student They had been being here	Past perfect continuous
9	He will be sick I will be a student They will be here	Simple future
10	He will be being sick I will be being a student They will be being here	Future continuous
11	He would be sick I would be a student They would be here	Past future
12	He would be being sick I would be being a student They would be being here	Past future continuous
13	He will have been sick I will have been a student They will have been here	Future perfect
14	He will have been being sick I will have been being a student They will have been being here	Future perfect continuous
15	He would have been sick I would have been a student They would have been here	Past future perfect
16	He would have been being sick I would have been being a student They would have been being here	Past future perfect continuous

NOTE:

• Di pola 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).
• Untuk penggunaan be dan being lainnya, silakan cek di Penggunaan the simple form of BE dan Penggunaan BEING.