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In this day and age, it seems that there is a lot of cases when a common sentence is not particularly 'correct' or grammatical.

"It do be vibing." There are many variations to sentences like these, but just out of curiosity, I was wondering if it is technically correct to use "do be" like this. Another example may be "He do be having fun."

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  • I've changed the title so that people with a similar question might have a chance to find it in a search; novel terms are usually unhelpful.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 14:01
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    A lot of idioms are not grammatically correct. They generally should be avoided in "formal" speech/writing, even though they are acceptable in ordinary conversation.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 14:02
  • Almost dupe: english.stackexchange.com/q/78549/191178
    – Laurel ♦
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 15:03

2 Answers 2

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This is AAVE — African-American Vernacular English.

No, it's not grammatical in standard English. AAVE has a different system of grammar (in particular with respect to verbs), and it is a common verb form in AAVE.

In AAVE, this is a habitual verb form. From Wikipedia::

[It is used] to mark habitual or extended actions ... [it] indicates that a subject repeatedly does an action or embodies a trait.

I can't say whether all people who don't speak AAVE use this "meme" only for habitual actions

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    Can it really be considered AAVE if it’s been adopted into use by people who don’t speak AAVE?
    – Laurel ♦
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 13:48
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    @Laruel: Can faux pas really be considered a French word if it's been adapted into English?
    – Peter Shor
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 13:49
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    @Laurel Can people who use it really be considered not to be speaking AAVE?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 13:49
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    @PeterShor -- Faux pas is the valley through which the fox packs run.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 14:01
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    @Laurel As usual, 'Is it proper English?' / 'Is it grammatical?' / 'Is it a standard usage?' are unanswerable unequivocally for quite a long period of time. How many 'people who don't speak AAVE' have to use it? To use it without virtual scare quotes?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 14:06
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"It do be vibing." is not proper English because "do" in the 3rd person singular tense is "does".

That said, "I do be vibing." or "It does be vibing." might pass as proper English in the right context. It is a bit of a stretch, but if you consider "be vibing" a phrase expressing an activity, then this could be considered proper English along the same vein as saying "I play go fish."

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