Native English Answer: What's the Difference Between Being and Been?

Hey!

How's it going?

Welcome to Go Natural English.

In this English tip I'm going to answer a question from a Go Natural English audience

member, Kenza.

Kenza asked, "What is the difference between "being" and "been?"

So, Kenza, that's a great question.

It's kind of a grammar and usage question and I'm happy to share my answer with you.

So, I would like to start off by saying that a really great way to start to be an independent

learner is to expose yourself to a lot of English and you can start recognizing the

differences between things like "being" and "been."

Of course, it's going to help a lot and you're going to learn faster if you have some direct

explanation.

At least, in my opinion, I learn better when I have some direct answer like this English

tip video.

And also in the premium Go Natural English course where you get more explanations, you

get more answers directly, and you learn from exposure to more English because in the course

we have tons of native English conversation for you to listen to and see how we really

use vocabulary and grammar in everyday American English conversation.

So, you can find out more about that on my website, gonaturalenglish.com.

So, back to your question, Kenza, about "being" and "been".

Now, they're both a form of the "to be" verb, but they're used in different tenses.

So, I could use "being" with the progressive like "I am being" -- let me change that a

little bit -- "He is being annoying."

Okay?

"I am being amazing."

Okay, so, "He is being annoying."

Another progressive tense would be "He has been annoying."

So, see, with the present perfect progressive we use "been" and in the present progressive

we use "being".

So, "He is being annoying -- He has been annoying, but now he's not annoying."

So, they're both forms of "to be" so I would recommend to perhaps review grammar a little

bit but don't focus on your books.

Get out of your books.

Listen to more English, perhaps for identifying how you use "being" and "been" in different

tenses.

It would be helpful to listen to stories or to conversations, and as I mentioned with

the Go Natural English premium course, we have a lot of conversations where we talk

about the past and experiences, so we use tenses like "has been" or "have been" so you'll

be able to hear a lot of examples.

So, one more time just to recap -- they're part of the same verb "to be" but we use them

with different tenses.

So, again, "I am being a great teacher", okay? -- the present progressive and in the present

perfect progressive, "I have been a great teacher."

So, we just use them in different tenses.

Alright?

Thanks for your question.

I hope I answered it.

If it's still not clear, leave a comment.

Let me know.

You're going to also ask in the Go Natural English community on facebook.com/gonaturalenglish

or tweet at Go Natural English and I hope to hear from you real soon.

So, come on back and I'll share another tip with you in a couple of days, alright?

Bye for now.