Does "born" always require the verb to be?
I went to the conjugation page and when I typed in "born" it showed me the conjugation for the verb "bear". It only looked for what I wanted when I typed "be born" although apparently there aren't any conjugations. I was wondering if "born" always requires the verb "to be" and if there are more verbs like this that cannot stand on their own. I know you can't say something like: I borned in X, even though I don't know why. Are there more verbs like this?
3 Answers
To be born. This is the passive of the verb "to bear" when it means give birth to.
Born is used as an adjective or a past participle, when used as a past participle it will be passive and so require to be, which is conjugated as one normally would in a passive construction.
My mother bore me many years ago, I was born many years ago.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bear
Usage notes[edit]
• The past participle of bear is usually borne:
• He could not have borne that load. • She had borne five children. • This is not to be borne!
• However, when bear means "to give birth to" (literally or figuratively), the passive past participle is born:
• She was born on May 3. • Born three years earlier, he was the eldest of his siblings. • "The idea to create [the Blue Ridge Parkway] was born in the travail of the Great Depression […] ." (Tim Pegram, The Blue Ridge Parkway by Foot: A Park Ranger's Memoir, ISBN 0786431407, 2007, page 1)
• Both spellings are used in the construction born(e) to someone (as a child):
• He was born(e) to Mr. Smith. • She was born(e) to the most powerful family in the city. • "[M]y father was borne to a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, both devout Lutherans." (David Ross, Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds, ISBN 1452450323, 2009)
She bore three children.
Bore/bear is falling out of favor in the context, almost everyone would use "give birth" that I know.
In some areas "to birth" may still be used: she birthed three children.
But everyone I know would say she gave birth to three children.
We have other users more conversant with English grammar than I, they may also want to comment.
Nacer is an intransitive verb that in English has to be translated by a "phrasal verb." "to be born"
There is no equivalent for it in English. Just as in Spanish there is no direct equivalent for the English verb "to like" We have to go around it by saying that something pleases me, as in "Me gusta la comida mexicana." Mexican food pleases me, where in English you can say simply I like Mexican food.
Here is how it is used:
Nací I was born.
Tü naciste You (familiar singular) were born.
El/ella/Usted nació He/she was born.--You (formal) were born.
Nosotros/as nacimos. We were born.
Vosotros/as Nacisteis You (Familiar plural ---in Spain only) were born.
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes nacieron. They (masc/fem.) you were born.
Nací en España I was born in Spain
I thought "bear" was a different verb altogether, I see now that I was confused.
"She had borne five children" > This sentence is so weird to me, I would have thought it was incorrect.
I think I know understand why the passive voice is used. I thought "to be born" was "nacer" but as you said, it's to "give birth to". So when one says: I was born in... it literally translates to: Fui parido en..., so the direct object is the subject.
Thanks for explaining, bosquederoble!
