ARE meaning: 1. we/you/they form of be: 2. we/you/they form of be: 3. present simple of be, used with…. Learn more. Test your puzzle skills with today's game. The world's leading online dictionary: English definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more. A trusted authority for 25+ years! Are is a fundamental verb in the English language, primarily serving as the plural and sometimes second-person singular form of the verb to be. It plays a critical role in forming continuous tenses, passive voice, and linking subjects with their complements. One distinguishable meaning of the term word can be defined on phonological grounds. It is a unit larger or equal to a syllable, which can be distinguished based on segmental or prosodic features, or through its interactions with phonological rules. Is it raining, or snowing, or what? Is this exciting, or what? A clever play, what? What you need is a vacation. What angered us was the tone of the article. What does he care? … what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk. William Shakespeare. What minerals do we export? What mountains! ARE definition: 1. we/you/they form of be: 2. we/you/they form of be: 3. present simple of be, used with…. Learn more. The meaning of ARE is present tense second-person singular and present tense plural of be. In English, there are 16 punctuation marks — the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, em dash, en dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, double quotation marks, single quotation marks, and ellipsis — and they’re not as scary as they sound. 'What is' is used with singular nouns or non-countable nouns, while 'what are' is used with plural nouns. The choice between them depends on the subject of the sentence. This phrase is correct and commonly used in English. Use 'what is' when the subject of the sentence is singular or a non-countable noun. What is your name? To use to be in the present tense, you have to first decide which is correct, is or are. The right choice depends on the subject for two reasons. It has to match subject-verb agreement: If the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular; if the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural.