been
- 01 A1 Beginner
the form of 'be' used after 'have' or 'has' to talk about past actions or states.
the past participle of 'be', functioning as the head of a verb phrase in perfect aspect constructions.
Simple“I have been to that restaurant many times and the food is always great.”
In context“The researchers have been in constant communication since the initial findings were published last autumn.”
UsageUsed with 'have' or 'has' to form the present perfect tense.
PitfallI have been to Paris last year. I went to Paris last year.Do not use 'have been' with a specific past time like 'last year'. Use the simple past 'went' instead.
- 02 A2 Elementary
used to say that you visited a place and have now come back.
used in the present perfect to indicate a completed visit to a location.
Simple“Have you ever been to Italy during the summer holidays?”
In context“Having been to the site on several occasions, the architect was well-acquainted with the topographical challenges of the project.”
UsageOften followed by the preposition 'to'.
PitfallShe has gone to the shop; she'll be back in a minute. She has been to the shop; she bought some milk.Use 'been' if the person has already returned; use 'gone' if they are still there.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Germanic *ga- Proto-West Germanic *ga- Old English ġe- Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuHyétider.? Proto-Germanic *beuną Proto-West Germanic *beun Old English bēon Old English ġebēon Middle English been English been From Middle English been (past participle), from Old English (ġe)bēon. By surface analysis, be + -en.
Either from Middle English been (“to be”, infinitive) (from Old English bēon, equivalent to be + -en (infinitive ending)), or from a dialectal use of the preceding past tense form as an infinitive form (compare dialectal use of (I)'s, (I) is in the first person, (he) am in the third person, etc).
From Middle English been (plural indicative form); equivalent to be + -en (plural present ending).
From Middle English been, bene, ben, beon, from Old English bēon (“bees”), equivalent to bee + -en (plural ending).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
For Mandarin speakers 去过 (qù guo) means “to have gone to a place and returned” — While 'been' functions as the past participle of 'be', Mandarin speakers frequently map it exclusively to 去过 (qù guo) to express visiting a location. This leads to confusion when 'been' is used in the passive voice or to describe a state, such as 'It has been raining', which does not use the 去过 (qù guo) logic.
Mandarin lacks a grammaticalized perfect aspect marked by auxiliary verbs and participles, instead using particles like 了 (le) or 过 (guò) to signify completion or experience. Learners often omit 'been' after 'have' or 'has', producing 'I have go' instead of 'I have been', or they incorrectly substitute a simple past form like 'was' or 'were' in perfect constructions.
For Japanese speakers Japanese marks existence and location with non-aspectual verbs 'iru' (いる) and 'aru' (ある); this leads to the omission of 'been' in present perfect structures or the substitution of past simple 'went' for 'have been to' contexts.