PRESENT TENSE.

Singular.                      Plural.
1.  If I    be,                    1.  If we   be,
2.  If thou be,                    2.  If you  be,
3.  If he   be;                    3.  If they be.

IMPERFECT TENSE.

Singular. Plural. 1.  If I were,[263] 1.  If we were, 2.  If thou were, or wert,[264] 2.  If you were, 3.  If he were; If they were.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PRESENT TENSE.

Singular. 2.  Be [thou,] or Do thou be; Plural. 2.  Be [ye or you,] or Do you be.

PARTICIPLES.

1. The Imperfect. 2. The Perfect. 3. The Preperfect. 
    Being.  Been.  Having been.

FAMILIAR FORM WITH ‘THOU.’

NOTE.—­In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb, is usually and more properly formed thus:  IND.  Thou art, Thou was, Thou hast been, Thou had been, Thou shall or will be, Thou shall or will have been.  POT.  Thou may, can, or must be; Thou might, could, would, or should be; Thou may, can, or must have been; Thou might, could, would, or should have been.  SUBJ.  If thou be, If thou were.  IMP.  Be [thou,] or Do thou be.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—­It appears that be, as well as am, was formerly used for the indicative present:  as, “I be, Thou beest, He be; We be, Ye be, They be.”  See Brightland’s Gram., p. 114.  Dr. Lowth, whose Grammar is still preferred at Harvard University, gives both forms, thus:  “I am, Thou art, He is; We are, Ye are, They are.  Or, I be, Thou beest, He is; We be, Ye be, They be.”  To the third person singular, he subjoins the following example and remark:  “‘I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in it.’  Shak.  Hamlet. Be, in the singular number of this time and mode, especially in the third person, is obsolete; and is become somewhat antiquated in the plural.”—­Lowth’s Gram., p. 36.  Dr. Johnson gives this tense thus:  “Sing.  I am; thou art; he is; Plur.  We are, or be; ye are, or be; they are, or be.”  And adds, “The plural be is now little in use.”—­Gram. in Johnson’s Dict., p. 8.  The Bible commonly has am, art, is, and are, but not always; the indicative be occurs in some places:  as, “We be twelve brethren.”—­Gen., xlii, 32.  “What be these two olive branches?”—­Zech., iv, 12.  Some traces of this usage still occur in poetry:  as,

   “There be more things to greet the heart and eyes
    In Arno’s dome of Art’s most princely shrine,
    Where Sculpture with her rainbow sister vies;
    There be more marvels yet—­but not for mine.”
        —­Byron’s Childe Harold, Canto iv, st. 61.