To be tan vs To be tanned

Both "to be tan" and "to be tanned" are correct, but they are used in different contexts. "To be tan" is used to describe the state of having a tan skin color, while "to be tanned" is used to describe the action of getting a tan.

Last updated: March 22, 2024 • 1431 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used to describe the state of having a tan skin color.

"To be tan"

This phrase is used to describe someone's skin color when it has been darkened by the sun or artificial means.

Examples:

She loves to be tan all year round.
He looks great when he's tan.
I want to be tan for the beach vacation.
Being tan makes her feel more confident.
I prefer to be tan rather than pale.

Show examples from the web [+]

You don't need to be tan.
Their dream was to one day open a discount tanning salon for poor people who still wanted to be tan.
This happens to be a tropical tan.
Lisa... if you want to be a half-tan sheep in a full-tan flock, go for it.
They act like I'm not tan enough to be going there.
Organized crime tells us that Mimi Tan's rumored to be linked to human trafficking.
Come on down to Major Tan where we're proud to be a family business.
On 30 December, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued an official communication regarding measures to be taken to prevent any disruption of the congress by protestors.
And to be like the G. Ham, I need the tan, man.
Aren't people from Arizona supposed to be, like, really tan?
I mean, I had always hoped to be sucked out of an airlock or gunned down by some demented tan.
For instance, Jack taught me not to wear tan slacks with a tan turtleneck.
and their wives. I'd look at those long tan legs and knew I had to be a lawyer.
Master Tan, I'm here to report to you.
Be sure to come back from Miami with a tan.
After graduation, Kacey and Brad moved to New York and got jobs at Planet Tan in Chelsea.
You want Tan to get jealous?
Needless to say, I'm tan line free.
So he has to harvest and tan the hides very quickly.
Get ready to adjust your image for tan raincoat.

Alternatives:

to have a tan
to have tan skin
to have a suntan
to have bronzed skin
to have a golden tan

This phrase is correct and commonly used to describe the action of getting a tan.

"To be tanned"

This phrase is used to describe the process of darkening one's skin by exposure to the sun or artificial means.

Examples:

She spends hours in the sun to be tanned.
He got tanned during his beach vacation.
I want to be tanned before the summer starts.
Being tanned gives her a healthy glow.
I prefer to be tanned rather than pale.

Show examples from the web [+]

Don't you want to be tanned like an antelope, and not striped like a zebra?
"While the spray-tanned starlet claims to be six weeks sober... sources down under say she has been barhopping like a coked-up kangaroo."
My wife is engaged to that tanned idiot.
Thanks to all the sunlight my skin is tanned and peeling.
Thanks to all the sunlight my skin is tanned and peeling.
Tanned complexion was considered unattractive until 1920, when Coco Chanel went to the South of France and returned with a tan.
It's so sunny here. I don't want to get tanned.
Bleaching or dyeing, in addition to cutting and assembly of non-assembled tanned or dressed furskins
I haven't seen you all in a while, but what better way to reconnect than by you all kissing my perfectly tanned,
That baseball thrown for the last out of game five, manufactured in '62 by Spalding of Chicopee, Massachusetts, was aerodynamically flawed due to the horsehide being improperly tanned because the tanner's wife left him for a Puerto Rican golf pro...
Bleaching or dyeing, in addition to cutting and assembly of non-assembled tanned or dressed furskins
Throughout the nomenclature, references to 'furskins', other than to raw furskins of heading 4301, apply to hides or skins of all animals which have been tanned or dressed with the hair or wool on.
Throughout the combined nomenclature, references to 'furskins', other than raw furskins of heading 4301, apply to hides and skins of all animals which have been tanned or dressed with the wool on.
Throughout the nomenclature, references to "furskins", other than raw furskins of heading 4301, apply to hides and skins of all animals which have been tanned or dressed with the wool on.
For some of these products, such as Omega 3 capsules or tanned skins or seal furs, it is difficult, if not impossible for consumers to distinguish them from similar products which do not come from seals.
I'm never getting spray-tanned again at a Vietnamese doughnut shop.
Tanned the leather, even sewed every stitch by hand.
We're getting spray-tanned before the Lakers game.
We were having a moment tanned and he went up.
All you get is tanned vampires with bad breath.

Alternatives:

to get a tan
to become tanned
to have a tan
to develop a tan
to acquire a tan

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To be tan vs To be tanned

"To be tan"

"To be tanned"

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