1. The past participle of the verb "to be":
* Present perfect tense: This describes an action that started in the past and continues to the present. For example: "I have been to the store" means you went to the store before, and that trip has relevance to the present.
* Past perfect tense: This describes an action that happened before another action in the past. For example: "I had been to the store before I went to the library" means going to the store occurred before going to the library.
* Passive voice: This describes an action being done to something or someone. For example: "The cake has been eaten." This means someone ate the cake, but the focus is on the cake itself.
2. Used with "have" to create the present perfect tense:
* "I have been to the beach."
3. Used with "had" to create the past perfect tense:
* "I had been to the beach before the storm."
4. Used with "will have been" to create the future perfect tense:
* "By next week, I will have been living in this city for a year."
5. Used with "would have been" to create the conditional perfect tense:
* "I would have been happy to help if I had known about your situation."
Note: "Been" is not used as a past tense verb like "was" or "were".
Examples:
* Correct: "I have been to the movies."
* Incorrect: "I been to the movies."
* Correct: "The car has been washed."
* Incorrect: "The car has was washed."
Let me know if you have any more questions!