Comparative Analysis of the Verb “to be” in Seven Indo-European Languages

Abstract

This study investigates the morphological, syntactic, and semantic features of the verb “to be” in seven Indo-European languages: English, German, Russian, Persian, Sanskrit, Latin, and Lithuanian. As one of the most fundamental verbs across languages, “to be” serves critical grammatical functions such as copula, existential marker, and auxiliary. Using a comparative linguistic framework, the research examines the forms of “to be” in present, past, and future tenses, identifies shared roots and divergences, and highlights regular and irregular paradigms. Tables are provided to demonstrate inflectional patterns and the role of person, number, and tense across these languages. The diachronic analysis traces the evolution of the proto-Indo-European root *h₁es- and its reflexes, revealing both inherited structures and language-specific innovations. The study also contextualizes the verb's syntactic behavior in copular and existential constructions, providing examples in each language. The results illustrate both continuity and transformation within Indo-European verbal systems and offer insights into the historical development of grammatical categories. This paper contributes to comparative and historical linguistics, with implications for language teaching, typology, and philological studies.