Rihan has no verb for "to be." It instead uses prefixes and suffixes to express what in English would be expressed by "to be."

"To be" is used in two ways in English. One way is in forming passive verbs. Rihan has a special suffix, -(a)hr, for constructing passive verbs. See the Verb section.

The second way English uses "to be" is as an appositive. An appositive is when two words, either two nouns or a noun and an adjective, equal each other and are separated by a form of the verb "to be," e.g. Bill is the leader. The dog is tired. "Bill" and "leader" refer to the same thing, as does "dog" and "tired", so they equal each other. Bill = leader. Dog = tired.

Ahr'

Rihan expresses appositives in the first and third person with the prefix Ahr'. Ahr' is prefixed to either the adjective or the second noun.

Ahr' has a plural counterpart: Ahrir'.

ihir-

The verb prefix ihir- can be used in many of the same situations as ahr'. Adding ihir- to a noun indicates a state of being as that noun, e.g. ihirkiitha, "to be a diplomat," from kiitha, "diplomat." Note that the noun becomes part of the verb itself, thus it does not decline per case or number, but it does conjugate like a normal verb.

Ihir- can be used with the interrogative suffix -difv to ask what someone does/is:

Hwiiy

For appositives in the second person, Rihan uses the pronoun hwiiy to express the concept of "you are x."

It too has a plural form: hwiiyir

Aihr'

The word Aihr' is used to express "this is x." It is prefixed to the adjective or noun.

Its plural is Aihrir', meaning "these are."