The copular verb "be" has multiple irregular forms in the present tense: "am" for first person singular (which together with the subject pronoun is often contracted to "I'm"), "is" for third person singular (often contracted to " 's"), and "are" for plural and second person (often contracted to " 're" chiefly after the pronouns "you", "we", "they"). It also has two past tense forms: "was" for first and third person singular, and "were" for plural and second person (also used as a past subjunctive with all persons; see English subjunctive). The past participle is "been", and the present participle and gerund is the regular "being". The base form "be" is used regularly as an infinitive, imperative and (present) subjunctive. For archaic forms, see the next section.