What is the shortest complete sentence in the English language?

The shortest phrase is : I am

I do.

The shortest sentence in the English language is "To be." A sentence must have a subject and a predicate in order to be considered a complete sentence.

[ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortest_English_sentence link no longer exists ]

How about 'Go' ?

Okay, I'll change my answer to:

Contrary to what you may have found doing an Internet search, the shortest English language sentence is not “I am.” Follow along now—it does get technical.

“I am,” first of all, is not a sentence. An English sentence must have a subject / predicate relationship, and the key element in that relationship is the type of verb that creates the predicate. Verbs either show action or they do not. Verbs without action, such as “am,” when used as a predicate, must have something to complete the meaning—a complement. So you “am” “something.” “I am happy” is a sentence since “happy” is fulfilling the complement role. Therefore, “I am” is not a sentence.

The shortest English sentence is probably “Go.” “Go” is an action verb and can be used in imperative mood, which means that it can be used with good, old “You Understood.” So “Go” actually means “You go.” On the other hand, if that interpretation doesn’t strike your fancy, let’s say that understood meanings are disallowed, then “I go” is the shortest sentence. “Go” doesn’t require a complement since it is an action verb nor does it require a direct object. With a total of three letters—the same number as the illegal “I am” contender—“I go” should reign as the champion, unless someone out there knows of a single letter verb. (No fair pulling in Old English and foreign languages.)

---Submitted for Your Approval
---By Your Humble Servant
---Bob “I Can Parse” Harrison


southwest.cc.nc.us no longer exists

Sorry, but 'Go' is not the same as 'You go'. 'Go' by itself is an imperative and doesn't need a pronoun. The subject is implicit in the verb, just as 'Ethelbert Crum' is implicit in 'I am' as the answer to 'Are you Ethelbert Crum?' 'Go' carries the implication that the speaker expects the person addressed ('you') to do something, but that is in the meaning NOT in the words used, and the word used 'Go' (Usually with an exclamation mark) is by itself the imperative of 'to go'. 'You go' carries a different implication, and may be stressed on the 'you' to indicate that the person addressed is to go rather than the speaker or a third person previously referred to. 'Go!' is not referrential to any other possibility of who is to go. I will admit that there is an implication in 'I am.' The implication is that I am whatever the previous speaker has stated me to be, or queried if I am. 'I go' also carries an implication and a reference to other things, as does 'Go!'. 'To go' is an intransitive verb, but there must be a place to go to, or a way of going as implicit in the statement as what it is that I am. DOn't forget that the verb 'to be' doesn't really take an object, as both sides have to balance. 'I am happy' is as illegal (to use the term from Bob Harrison - whoever he may be) ad 'I am'. 'I am happy' in that way of looking at things really should be 'I am a happy person' (or elephant or whatever the speaker happens to be). But that's not the way English works. There's still too much use of Latin-type grammar, a lot (two words) of which is inapplicable to a language as mixed in origin as English.

Although "I am" is often given as a response, there is some disagreement as to whether or not it works as a sentence. But even if it did "Go", which has an implied subject (you), is shorter.

https://riddlesbrainteasers.com/shortest-sentence-world/

Go
The typical answer to this is "I am," but some argue that it's not a complete sentence. However, if someone asked a man named Rupert if he was Rupert, he could reply, "I am" and it would make a complete sentence in my book.
But that's not the whole answer. There is an even shorter sentence using an imperative with an implied subject (how's that for an English terminology-filled sentence?) With "Go," the "you" is implied. For example, if your wife wanted you to go with her to pick up some donuts and you were busy, she might say, "I really want to get some donuts, I'm starving!" and you might reply, "Go!"

http://puzzle.queryhome.com/9229/the-shortest-complete-sentence-the-english-language-what-am?show=18495#a18495