Learn to Speak English Easily: How to Use ‘am’?
Learn to speak English easily through the TLP Spoken English Course. The course is designed specially to facilitate self-learning. It is organised into units to help you learn step by step in a simple, systematic and in an easy way. To be able to speak fluently you should go through all the units and do the exercises. To know more you can read: How to Use the Course Content?
Use of ‘am’
In this unit, you will learn the use of ‘am’. We use ‘am‘ with ‘I‘ to talk about oneself in reference to the present.
Talking about oneself
‘Am’ with ‘I’ is used–
- To introduce or talk about oneself
I am ———–. (You can use your name)
I am a student.
I am an engineer.
Note: We use ‘a‘ or ‘an‘ to talk about ‘one‘. But we do not use ‘a‘ or ‘an‘ before the name of a person. To learn the use of ‘a‘ or ‘an‘ refer to the unit Use of ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’.
| I | am | a graduate. a teacher. a businessman. an actor. an officer. an Indian. |
Make sentences using the above table. You can also use words from the following list or such other suitable words in column 3.
saint chef
cricketer dancer
driver singer
professor designer
manager director
journalist tailor
inspector lawyer
lecturer trainee
- To talk about one’s physical, mental state or a situation.
I am hungry.
I am happy.
I am confident.
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
| I | am | tired. intelligent. strong. bored. shocked. |
Make sentences using the above table. You can also use words from the following list or such other suitable words in column 3.
angry rich
lazy smart
lucky handsome
beautiful compatible
sick humble
serious surprised
tired worried
anxious friendly
- To talk about an action, which is continuous in the present, in reference to oneself.
I am playing cricket.
I am reading the newspaper.
I am watching TV.
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
| I | am | studying Chemistry. playing a game. cooking food. working on a project. going to college. |
Make sentences using the above table. You can also use words from the following list or such other suitable words in column 3.
shopping ironing
driving finding
arranging checking
learning riding
selling talking
speaking helping
singing thinking
planning surfing
Exercise: Write more sentences using the examples, which you can use in your day-to-day conversation and practice orally.
Contracted and Negative Forms of ‘I am’
| Positive Form | Negative Form | ||
| Long Form | Short Form | Long Form | Short Form |
| I am | I’m | I am not | I’m not |
Note: The negative of ‘am’ is ‘am not’. Its contracted (short) form is ‘ain’t’ but it is not used in formal English.
I am a manager. I’m a manager.
I am not a manager. I’m not a manager.
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Next: How to use ‘Am’ with ‘I’ in Questions
You can check the meanings of the words in English Oxford Living Dictionaries