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

And yet she has a gift for making politics relatable without enraging rhetoric since, as she points out, political figures are celebrities too.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

She continued: "We are also still keen to hear from anyone who may have been in Piccadilly Gardens on Sunday 13 September around 8.20pm, or saw her in McDonald's at that time."

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

Higher interest rates are a time-tested tool to tame inflation.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Commercial tracking firms generally indicate lower oil flows through the strait, though their estimates are complicated by vessels operating with their transponders switched off and making other hard-to-track movements to avoid being attacked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

“My wife and children are sick. Give me more!”

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly