быть

Etymology
, from, from. Cognate with 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬. Other cognates include 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, and 🇨🇬.

The present forms are suppletive, from.

Verb

 * 1) to be

Usage notes

 * Omitted in the present tense except in the third-person singular "есть", which is used occasionally to express possession or definition or for emphasis. "есть" was originally the 3rd person singular, but is now used for all persons, e.g. "я и есть тот челове́к" - "I am that person". See also —.
 * Negative forms with feature stress on the particle in standard Russian for masculine, neuter and plural forms past tense: "не́ был", "не́ было", "не́ были".

Conjugation
Notes on present tense forms:
 * is the only Russian present tense form. In works of literature, it can be used as a copula, as in Church Slavonic, for emphasis.
 * Extremely rarely, Church Slavonic forms, , , , appear in some styles of literature. They are not understood by most speakers and normally are not considered part of the language.
 * is the Church Slavonic 3rd person plural. In modern Russian it has been conflated with the noun, and may occur in formal styles with a vague unetymological meaning ‘is in essence’ indiscriminately of person and number.