Wikipedia takes you weird places. I went down a hole looking for information on spoken grammar and came out twenty minutes later on the other side of E-Prime, English without "to be." The rationale: without the "is" crutch, we choose more precise words, and in turn present more precise thoughts.
Hamlet in E-Prime:
To exist or not to exist,
I ask this question.
Arabic doesn't have "to be" verb and neither does Turkish. They both get along fine, as I understand.
I am Mary
Ben Mary (I subject + Mary)
I am happy
Mutluyum (Happy + I suffix)
i enjoy this.
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