Showing results for "are"

• an inflection of be.
• an inflection of be.

are

¹ American  

[ahr, er] / ɑr, ər /

verb

1. present indicative plural and 2nd person singular of be.

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are ² American  

[air, ahr] / ɛər, ɑr /

noun

1. a measure of surface area: 1 are is equal to 1/100 (0.01) of a hectare (100 square meters or 119.6 square yards). a

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are ¹ British  

/ ɑː, ə /

verb

1. the plural form of the present tense (indicative mood) of the verb `be' and the singular form used with you

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are ² British  

/ ɑː /

noun

1. a. a unit of area equal to 100 sq metres or 119.599 sq yards; one hundredth of a hectare

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Etymology

Origin of are¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English aren, are, arn, Old English (Northumbrian) aron; cognate with Old Norse eru, 3rd person plural; replacing Old English bēoth, sind; cf. art ²

Origin of are²

First recorded in 1810–20; from French, from Latin ārea “vacant piece of level ground, open space in a town, threshing floor”; see area

Explanation

Are is the plural of "is" and "am," a form of the most common verb "be." He is going, but we are going. Are is also used with you, as in, "Are you going to the movies?" In English, the forms of be break down like this: "I am; you are; he is; we are; they are; you (more than one of you) are." Are, of course, is only used when you are talking about things that are happening now. When they already happened, the word is were: we are here now, but we were there yesterday. Are is also a metric measurement equal to 100 square meters, but the unit is rarely used these days.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

are

Orangutans are critically endangered, and around 104,000 orangutans remain in Borneo and Sumatra, down from more than 230,000 a century ago, according to conservation group WWF.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Roughly 90% of the ETF’s contracts are tied to a route connecting China with the Middle East, according to Alejandro Garza, founder and chief executive of Aztlan Equity Management, in an article in Axis Business.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

"We've been told that the burns on her hands and feet are improving, although even after she recovers, she may not return 100 percent to how she was before she suffered the burns."

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

The Citi team note that trend-following strategies, which typically thrive in stagflationary environments, are coming off a strong month.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

It is raining on the day of Joey’s graduation, but the stage at Carville is decorated with flowers and two chaplains are on hand to deliver remarks.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly