Verbs: The Definitive Guide

Site source: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verbs/?

&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=13168627151&utm_targetid=dsa-
43245954176&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9O6HBhCrARIsADx5qCRtJnZUkVYK6vMf65Oy6lirMlIy6Yqup3Bsa3
4hKGkGx-ZfaGxgRugaAt7XEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Want to know where all the action is? Verbs! Verbs are words that represent
actions that are external (run, jump, work) and internal (love, think, consider).
Without verbs, you can’t do anything, you can’t feel anything—you can’t
even be anything.  

As the heart of sentences and clauses, verbs show what the subject is doing
or feeling, even if they’re just existing. Verbs are also the only type of word
that’s absolutely necessary to make a sentence. Not even nouns, which
represent things, need to be in every sentence. 
Your writing, at its best
Be the best writer in the office.
GET GRAMMARLY

Because verbs are so important, they have more rules than other types of
words. This can make verbs a little confusing in English, but read on for our
explanation of everything you need to know: the different types of verbs, the
different forms they take, how to conjugate them in every tense, and some
expert tips on how to use them when speaking or writing. 

Table of contents

What is a verb?

Types of verbs

Verb categories

Verb forms

How to conjugate verbs in English

3 expert tips for putting verbs into action

What is a verb? 

Let’s start with the basics: What is a verb? Verbs are words that describe
actions, whether physical or mental. Verbs also describe a “state of being,”
like the verbs be, become, or exist. 
Salah ran across the field, kicked the ball, and scored a goal. 

“I am the State.” —King Louis XIV

Some verbs also act as “helper verbs” to change the tense of another verb.
Likewise, these helper verbs can change a positive statement to a negative
one with words like “not.” 

She has been jogging for a month and already feels her stamina increasing. 

“I don’t feel so good.” —Spider-Man

Every sentence needs at least one verb. If there’s no verb, it’s an incomplete
sentence or a sentence fragment. Except for
imperative sentences (commands), a sentence also needs a subject, the thing
doing the action. 

Subjects are important for a verb because they change how it’s conjugated,
which we explain below. This is especially true for the most common
verb: be. 

Types of verbs

Dynamic (action) verbs

Most verbs describe a physical action or activity, something external that can
be seen or heard. These verbs are formally known as dynamic verbs, but can
also be called action or event verbs.  

Examples: walk, laugh, swim, play, eat, drink, sing, dance, talk, say
There are a lot of actions that take place in our minds and feelings, which
are not external. Verbs that describe mental or internal actions are still
dynamic verbs, but they’re not always so obvious. These include “process
verbs,” which describe actions of transition.  

Examples: consider, guess, change, grow, live, endure, succeed, fail

Stative (state-of-being) verbs

The opposite of dynamic verbs of action is stative verbs of being. Stative

verbs describe a subject’s state or feeling, including things they like and don’t
like. 

Examples: want, need, prefer, love, hate, like, dislike, seem, understand,
know, believe, involve, realize

One of the most important parts of stative verbs is that you can’t use them in
the continuous tenses. Stative verbs stick to the simple tenses, or
occasionally use the perfect. 

The trouble is that some verbs can be dynamic or stative, depending on the
specific meaning and how they’re used. This includes the most popular
verb be. Let’s take a deeper look at these.

Verbs that can be dynamic or stative

A lot of verbs have more than one meaning, so they can be used as dynamic
or stative. These include perception words: see, hear, taste, smell, feel. 
When perception verbs are used as an involuntary action, such as passive or
unintentional actions, they are stative. This applies when these verbs are used
in the general sense, a state of being that’s always happening. 

I can’t see without my glasses. 

Cake still tastes great even if it’s not your birthday.

When those same verbs are used for a voluntary action—specific, deliberate,

and/or temporary events—they are dynamic. Among other things, it means
they can be used in the continuous tenses. 

I haven’t been seeing well since I lost my glasses. 

We were tasting cakes for the wedding all afternoon. 

Likewise, some perception verbs have alternative meanings, especially if

they’re part of expressions or phrasal verbs. Often, this means they act as
dynamic verbs. 

Romeo and Juliet had been seeing each other for just five days when they
died. 

Other verbs, like think, have, and, above all be, follow the

same voluntary/involuntary rules as perception verbs. Depending on how
they’re used, they can be either dynamic or stative. 

I think toads are better than frogs. 

(stative: expresses an opinion or feeling always there; involuntary)

All morning I was thinking about how toads are better than frogs. 
(dynamic: expresses the temporary action of thinking; voluntary)

I have a ten-year-old dog. 

(stative: expresses permanent ownership; involuntary)

I am having a party for my dog’s eleventh birthday. 

(dynamic: used as part of phrase; voluntary)

He is nice to everyone. 

(stative: expresses an ongoing state or personality trait; involuntary)

He was just being nice to everyone to get a promotion. 

(dynamic: expresses a temporary/intentional state; voluntary)

Auxiliary (helping) verbs

Auxiliary verbs, or “helping verbs,” are used in English to change another

verb’s tense, voice, or mood. When auxiliary verbs are used, there’s always a
main verb that represents the main action. However, the auxiliary verb must
still be conjugated correctly. 

The main auxiliary verbs are be, have, and do. We explain how they’re used
specifically for conjugating below, but here are a few quick examples: 

I have eaten sushi many times before. (tense)

That piece of sushi was eaten by me. (voice)

Did you eat my sushi? (mood)

Modal auxiliary verbs

Some auxiliary verbs are added to another verb to show necessity, possibility,
or capability. Like other auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliary verbs are not the main
verb, but they do change its meaning slightly. Some common examples
are can, may, could, should, would, must, ought, and might.  

I could swim across the English Channel, but should I do it? 

She must be the strongest person on the team, and might be the strongest

person in the region. 

Phrasal verbs 

Phrasal verbs are phrases that act as individual verbs, often combining two or
more words and changing their meaning. The verb get, for example, becomes
many different phrasal verbs when combined with different prepositions. 

When the bus stops, passengers get out on the sidewalk. 

After losing his job, he’s getting by on savings. 

The important thing to remember about phrasal verbs is that they act as a
single verb, so you can still use them with other verbs and prepositions.
However, when you conjugate a phrasal verb, you only conjugate the part of
the phrase that’s actually a verb, like get. 

>>Read More: Master These 30 Common Phrasal Verbs in English

Verb categories

Aside from the different types, verbs also come in different categories.
Dynamic, stative, and auxiliary verbs all make up the categories below. 

Transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive

Transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive refer to how a verb acts with direct and
indirect objects. A direct object is the person or thing that the action happens
to, while an indirect object is the person or thing that receives the direct
object. 

Lindor threw the ball to deGram. 

In this example, the subject is Lindor and the verb is threw. The direct object
is the ball because that is what was thrown—Lindor did the action to the ball.
The indirect object is deGram because he received the direct object, the ball. 

Verbs that don’t use either a direct or indirect object are called intransitive.
These verbs are complete actions by themselves. 

Examples: go, walk, run, talk, sit, sleep, work

Verbs that use a direct object, but not an indirect object, are
called transitive. They don’t always need a direct object, but they have the
option. 

Examples: clean, like, love, dislike, hate, want, learn, deserve, say
Verbs that use both direct and indirect objects are called ditransitive. They
don’t always need an indirect object, but they have the option. 

Examples: throw, make, buy, sell, read, give, lend, bring

Just as a verb can be either dynamic or stative depending on the meaning, a

verb can sometimes act transitive while at other times act intransitive. These
are known as ambitransitive. For example, if you ask someone if they’re
hungry, they might respond:

No, I already ate. (intransitive)

No, I already ate a sandwich. (transitive)

Active vs. passive voice

In English, the standard format where the subject performs the action is
known as the active voice. However, you can switch around your words to
make the direct or indirect objects the subject of the sentence, known as
the passive voice. As explained in our guide to the passive voice, you can
make a verb passive by adding a conjugated form of be in front of its past
participle. 

Stricklen threw the ball to Williams. (active)

The ball was thrown to Williams by Stricklen. (passive)

Williams was thrown the ball by Stricklen. (passive)

Linking (copular) verbs

A linking verb is any verb, dynamic or stative, that directly connects or “links”
the sentence’s subject to other words in the sentence. For example:

Garfield is a cat.  

Here, “Garfield” and “a cat” are the same thing, so “is” acts as a linking verb. 

A linking verb—also known as a copula or copular verb in formal linguistics—

connects the subject not just to other nouns and adjectives, but also to
prepositional phrases and other verbs in the infinitive form. Although the
verb be is the most-used linking verb in English, other linking verbs
like seem and become are also common. 

Garfield is in the kitchen. 

Garfield became fat by eating lasagnas. 

Garfield seems to hate Mondays. 

Likewise, perception verbs are often linking verbs as well, but only when they
describe what is being perceived. 

The mild sauce also tastes spicy. 

Birds look happy when the sun comes out. 

The student felt pride when they used perfect grammar. 

Regular vs. irregular Verbs

Verbs have different forms to show different uses, such as an action that
happened in the past, or an action that happens continuously. Normally, these
forms follow the same patterns of conjugation, so that you can use the same
rules on all verbs. Verbs that use the normal forms are regular verbs. 

Unfortunately, some verbs don’t want to play by the rules. They have their
own unique forms with no patterns, specifically for the simple past tense and
past participle forms. These are the notorious irregular verbs, and there are
quite a few of them—including the most common verb be. 

To make matters worse, the only way to learn how to use irregular verbs is to
study them and all their forms. On the bright side, we explain the best ways to
memorize irregular verbs. But first, you’ll want to learn the standard verb
forms of the majority regular verbs below. 

Verb forms

Before we explain how to conjugate verbs in English, you need to understand

the different forms a verb takes. This helps immeasurably when you conjugate
on your own—you just need to use the right form at the right time. Keep in
mind that these forms work mostly for regular verbs; irregular verbs each have
their own special forms. 

If you want to learn more, we have a more detailed guide on verb forms here. 

ROOT 3RD PERSON SINGULAR SIMPLE PAST PRESENT PARTICIPLE PAST PARTICIPLE

Dance (regular) dances danced dancing danced

Sing (irregular) sings sang singing sung

 

Root 

The root form is the basic form of the verb with no changes. It’s also the
simple present tense for everything except the third-person singular. 

Third-person singular present

Used with subjects like he, she, the singular they, or it, the third-person

singular in the present tense just adds an -s to the end of the root form most
of the time. 

For verbs that end in a consonant and -y (try, carry), you remove the y and
add -ies (tries, carries). If the verb ends in a vowel and -y (say, buy), you just
add an -s like normal (says, buys). 

Verbs that end in -ch, -sh, -x, -z, or -s add -es to the end instead of just -s. For
example, watch becomes watches and kiss becomes kisses. 

Simple past 

The past tense shows an action that already happened. In most cases it’s
made by adding -ed to the end of the root form, or just -d if the root form
already ends in an E. However, be careful of irregular verbs—their rules for
the past don’t tend to be consistent. 

Present participle
The present participle is used for the continuous tenses to show ongoing or
current action, and in more advanced English can be used for participial
phrases. In most cases you simply add –ing to the end of the root form,
although sometimes you have to remove an E first. 

Past participle

The past participle is used for the perfect tenses. In regular verbs, it’s the
same as the simple past tense, so there’s nothing extra to learn. However,
irregular verbs often use unique past participles, so you may have to
memorize their forms. 

Infinitives and gerunds

Do you like to swim? Do you enjoy learning? If you want to use a verb as a

noun, you can turn it into an infinitive or gerund, the noun forms of verbs. 

An infinitive adds the preposition to in front of a verb’s root form. Although

technically two words, an infinitive acts as a single word, usually a noun, but
sometimes also an adjective or adverb. 

To forgive is divine. (noun)

Bring a snack to eat if you get hungry. (adjective describing “snack”)

Alternatively, you can turn the verb into a gerund by adding -ing, identical to
the present participle. A gerund is strictly used as a noun, and occasionally
you can use them to create gerund phrases, which act as a single unit to
modify the gerund.  

Running is too difficult. 

Studying the cosmos is not the same as understanding the cosmos. 

So what’s the difference between infinitives and gerunds? Often, they are
interchangeable—both infinitives and gerunds can act as subjects and direct
objects. 

Living with a dog changes your outlook on life. (correct)

To live with a dog changes your outlook on life. (also correct)

However, only gerunds can be the object of a preposition. 

When I’m not fishing, I’m thinking about fishing. 

Moreover, some transitive verbs only use infinitives as a direct object—

for example, want. 

I want to break free. (correct)

I want breaking free. (incorrect)

Although there are others, some common verbs use infinitives. They include
the following: choose, decide, hope, plan, prepare, promise, wish.

In general, use the infinitives for situations that are abstract, unreal, or haven’t
happened yet. Use gerunds for situations that are specific, real, or have
already happened. 
In the mornings, I really like to exercise. (abstract; infinitive)

This morning, I really liked exercising.  (specific; gerund)

How to conjugate verbs in English

Using verbs isn’t as easy as just tossing them in a sentence. They need to
represent the tense you want, as well as match the subject (subject-verb
agreement, explained below). This is called verb conjugation, or changing
the verb to fit the sentence. In English, there are four main tenses, each
divided into three time periods, totalling twelve tenses. Some other tenses
exist, but these are the most common ones. 

Main tenses:

 simple

 continuous

 perfect

 perfect continuous

Time periods: 

 present

 past

 future
Below, we explain how to conjugate each of the main tenses in the present,
past, and future. Keep in mind that irregular verbs may use different forms. 

Subject-verb agreement

No matter what tense you use, your verb has to match the number of the
subject. In other words, singular subjects conjugate verbs differently than
plural subjects. 

A lot of the time, you either add -s to the end of the verb or you don’t.
However, more advanced tenses with auxiliary verbs can get tricky—
both be and have are irregular verbs, so you have to pay close attention to
using their right forms even when they’re not the main verb.