[Indo-European] To be, being #2

Be: a simple word at first glance. It's easy to pronounce, easy to spell, and it holds only one meaning: existence. But this word is deceptively complex! This series will be about "being" in every major language in the Indo-European family.

"Be" is versatile and it usually conjugates in an irregular pattern. In fact, the root rarely resembles the conjugated forms. One factor which may explain this phenomenon is suppletion. This is where a language lacks a form of a particular word, so it absorbs a different word for that function. For example, maybe the language doesn't have a form of "be" which means "to be (in the future)". Let's say that "ve" means "to become". Over time people start to see "ve" as the future tense of "be".

This second chapter will only cover the basic conjugated forms of "to be". Present indicative.

[English]

To be, being.
Present tense: I am, you are, he / she / it is, we are, you (all) are, they are.

[Dutch]

zijn / wezen - to be
Present tense: ik ben, jij bent, hij is, wij zijn, jullie zijn, zij zijn.

[German]

sein - to be
Present tense: ich bin, du bist, er / sie / es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie sind.

[Danish]

at være - to be 
Present tense: jeg er, du er, han / hun / det er, vi er, I er, de er.

[Norwegian]

å være - to be
Present tense: jeg er, du er, han / hun / det er, vi er, dere er, de er.

[Swedish]

att vara - to be
Present tense: jag är, du är, han / hon / det är, vi är, ni är, de är.

[Spanish]

ser - to be
Present tense: yo soy, tú eres, él / ella / ello / uno / usted es, nosotros somos, vosotros sois, ellos / ellas / ustedes son.
estar - to be (transient)
Present tense: yo estoy, etc. 

[French]

être - to be
Present tense: je suis, tu es, il / elle / on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils / elles sont.

[Portuguese]

ser - to be
Present tense: eu sou, tu és, ele é, nós somos, vós sois, eles são.
estar - to be (transient)
Present tense: eu estou, etc.

[Italian]

essere - to be
Present tense: io sono, tu sei, lei / lui è, noi siamo, voi siete, loro sono.

Origination

Everything began with:

• Proto-Indo-European: *bʰúHt (to become) 

• Proto-Germanic: *beuną (to be, to become)
• German: bin, bist
• Dutch: ben, bent
• Latin: fuī (I was), futūrus (becoming)
• Spanish: fui
• Portuguese: fui

• Proto-Indo-European: *h₁ésti (to be)
• Proto-Italic: *staēō (to stand)
• Latin:  stāre (to stand) 
• Spanish: está 
• Portuguese: está 
• Proto-Italic: *ezom (to be)
• Latin: 
• sum (I am)
• Italian: sono, siamo, siete
• French: suis, sommes, sont 
• Spanish: soy, somos, sois, son
• Portuguese: sou, somos, sois, são
• esse (to be)
• Spanish: es
• Portuguese: és
• French: es 
• eris (you will be)
• Spanish: eres

• Proto-Germanic: *isti (to be), a form of *wesaną (to be)
• English: is
• Dutch: is
• German: ist
• Proto-Germanic: *arun (to be), a form of *wesaną (to be)
• English: are
• Danish: er
• Norwegian: er
• Swedish: är 
  

• Proto-Indo-European: *h₁ésmi (I am, I exist)
• Proto-Germanic: *immi (I am), a form of *wesaną (to be)
• English: am
• Proto-Indo-European: *h₂wes- (to dwell)
• Proto-Germanic: *wesaną (to be) 
• German: seid, sind
• Dutch: zijn

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this article.