beon

Etymology 1
From, from , related to , ultimately from ,. The past tense forms are from (from which also ), from.

Verb

 * 1) to be; exist
 * 2) * c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Greater Litany"
 * "ang"

- Sē ðe gōd bēon wile, clypiġe tō ðām þe ǣfre is gōd, þæt hē hine gōdne ġewyrċe.


 * 1) * late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of 
 * "ang"

- Þā cwæþ hē, "Wāst þū hwæt mann sīe?" Þā cwæþ iċ, "Iċ wāt þæt hit biþ sāwol and līchama."


 * 1) * c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Lord's Ascension"
 * "ang"

- Eft hē cwæð, "Iċ bēo mid ēow eallum dagum, ōð þisre worulde ġeendunge," sēðe lyfað and rīxað mid þām Ælmihtiġan Fæder and ðām Hālġum Gāste ā on ēċnysse. Āmen.


 * 1) * c. 992, Ælfric, "The Passion of the Blessed Stephen Protomartyr"
 * "ang"

- Ǣlċ lof bið on ende ġesungen.


 * , "St. Andrew"
 * "ang"

- Wē bēoþ mid þē swā hwæder swā þū færest.


 * 1) to become

Usage notes

 * The verbs and  both mean to be, but in different circumstances. For most purposes,  is used;  is used for what is known as the "gnomic present" and the future tense of to be.
 * The gnomic present, in short, refers to anything which is a general truth, like Winter biþ ċealdost ("Winter is coldest"), or Fēower sīðum seofon bēoþ eahta and twēntiġ ("Four times seven is (lit. " are ") twenty-eight"). Generally, statements about the self will not be gnomic. For example, although it may seem that a statement like I am a person is always true, such a statement is nonetheless rendered with : Iċ eom mann.
 * To be is the only verb in Old English for which the future tense may be indicated with morphology instead of adverbs or context clues, and for this purpose, is used. So, I am the king is rendered as Iċ eom sē cyning, but I will be the king is rendered as Iċ bēo sē cyning. Note that  is not used for any other verb's future tense; both I see it and I will see it are written as Iċ hit ġesēo .
 * Both and  share past tense forms.
 * Both and  are copulative verbs, which means they are not transitive and do not take a direct object. Because of this, predicate nouns and adjectives will be in the nominative case. For example: Hēo is iċ ("She is I"), not *Hēo is mē ("She is me").