What are the Verb?

What Are Verbs?

A verb is a "doing" word. A verb can express:

• A physical action (e.g., to swim, to write, to climb).
• A mental action (e.g., to think, to guess, to consider).
• A state of being (e.g., to be, to exist, to appear).

The verbs that express a state of being take a little practice to spot, but, actually, they are the most common. The most common verb is the verb to be. Below is the verb to be in the different tenses:

Subject	Verb to be in the past tense	Verb to be in the present tense	Verb to be in the future tense
I	was	am	will be
You	were	are	will be
He / She / It	was	is	will be
We	were	are	will be
You	were	are	will be
They	were	are	will be

If you're a native English speaker who's new to studying grammar, you probably know this table without even knowing you know it.

Lots of Verbs Express Physical Actions

Here are some sentences with the verbs highlighted. (These verbs express physical actions.)

• She sells pegs and lucky heather.
(In this example, the word sells is a verb. It expresses the physical activity to sell.)

• The doctor wrote the prescription.
(In this example, the word wrote is a verb. It expresses the physical activity to write.)

• Alison bought a ticket.
(The word bought is a verb. It expresses the physical activity to buy.)

Verbs Express Mental Actions Too

Verbs do not necessarily express physical actions like the ones above. They can express mental actions too:

Example:

• She considers the job done.
(The word considers is a verb. It expresses the mental activity to consider.)

• Peter guessed the right number.
(The word guessed is a verb. It expresses the mental activity to guess.)

• I thought the same thing.
(The word thought is a verb. It expresses the mental activity to think.)

Verbs Express a State of Being

A small but extremely important group of verbs do not express any activity at all. The most important verb in this group – arguably of all – is the verb to be. As shown in the table above, this is seen in forms like is, are, were, was, will be, etc. 

Here are some real examples with the verb to be:

• Edwina is the largest elephant in this area.
(The word is is a verb from the verb to be.)

• It was a joke.
(The word was is a verb from the verb to be.)

• I am.
(The word am is a verb from the verb to be.)
(Point of interest: I am is the shortest sentence in English.)

The Types of Verbs

As we've covered, a verb can be categorized as a physical verb (e.g., to run), a mental verb (e.g., to think), or a state-of-being verb (e.g., to be). However, a verb will often be further categorized as one of the following:

Action Verb

An action verb expresses an activity that a person or thing can do. For example:

• Lee eats cake.
(Eating is something Lee can do.)
• The bear chased the salmon in the shallow rapids.
(Chasing is something the bear can do.)

Compare those verbs with these:

• Lee likes cake.
(Liking is not an activity. It's a state.)
• The bear is hungry.
(Being is not an activity. It's a state.)

Stative Verb

A stative verb expresses a state rather than an action. A stative verb typically relates to a state of being, a thought, or an emotion. For example:

• I am at home.
• She believes in fairies.
• He feels elated.

Transitive Verb

A transitive verb is one that acts on something (i.e., it has a direct object). For example:

• I saw the dog.
(the dog - direct object)
• Lee ate the pie.
(the pie - direct object)
• The postman will give Sarah the letter.
(the letter - direct object)

Note: The direct object of a transitive verb can be found by finding the verb and asking "what?" For example, "saw what?" (answer: the dog); "ate what?" (answer: the pie); "will give what?" (answer: the letter).

Read more about transitive verbs.

Intransitive Verb

An intransitive verb is one that does not act on something (i.e. there is no direct object). For example:

• The rain fell.
• My throat hurts.
• The cat sneezed.

Read more about intransitive verbs.

Auxiliary Verb

An auxiliary verb (or helping verb) accompanies a main verb to help express tense, voice or mood. The most common auxiliary verbs are be, do, and have (in their various forms). Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs:

• Lee has eaten all the pies.
(Here, the auxiliary verb has helps to express tense.)
• The table has been prepared.
(Here, the auxiliary verbs has been help to express voice (in this case, the passive voice).)
• If he were to arrive in the next 10 minutes, we would be on schedule.
(Here, the auxiliary verbs were and would help to express mood (in this case, the subjunctive mood).)

Read more about auxiliary verbs.

Modal Verb

A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb used to express ideas such as ability, possibility, permission, and obligation. The modal auxiliary verbs are can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would. For example:

• Lee can eat a lot of pies.
(Here, the modal verb can helps to express the idea of ability.)
• Lee might eat that pie before he gets home.
(Here, the modal verb might helps to express the idea of possibility.)
• Lee may eat as many pies as he likes.
(Here, the modal verb may helps to express the idea of permission.)
• Lee should give you some of that pie given you bought it.
(Here, the modal verb should helps to express the idea of obligation.)

Read more about auxiliary modal verbs.

Phrasal Verb

A phrasal verb is a verb made up of more than one word (usually two words). A phrasal verb has a main verb and another word (either a preposition or a particle). The phrasal verb usually has a meaning different to the main verb. For example:

• A burglar will often break a window to break in.
(Here, the phrasal verb break in means to enter illegally, which is different to break.)
• If you drop the baton the team will drop back to last place.
(Here, the phrasal verb drop back means to fall behind, which is different to drop.)

Read more about phrasal verbs.

Regular and Irregular Verbs

A regular verb is one that forms its simple past tense and its past participle by adding -ed or -d to the base form of the verb. (Note: There are spelling rules to consider too.) For example:

Regular Verb	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
love	loved	has loved
hate	hated	has hated
move	moved	has moved

An irregular verb is one that does not conform to this ruling. For example: 

Irregular Verb	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
tell	told	has told
bleed	bled	has bled

What Are Irregular Verbs? (with Examples)

An irregular verb is one that does not conform to the usual rule for forming its simple past tense and its past participle.

In English, the "usual" rule (more on this below) is to add -ed or -d to the base form of the verb to create the past forms.

This is how a regular verb forms its simple past tense and past participle. (Note: There are spelling rules to consider too.)

Read more about the spelling rules with regular verbs.

Irregular Verbs Can Be Strong or Weak Verbs

An irregular verb can be either a weak verb (when its past forms end –d or –t) or a strong verb. Here are some examples of strong and weak irregular verbs:

Base Form	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle	comment
grow	grew	has grown	irregular verb (strong)
freeze	froze	has frozen	irregular verb (strong)
tell	told	has told	irregular verb (weak)
shoot	shot	has shot	irregular verb (weak)

A number of sources state that the terms irregular verb and strong verb are synonyms (i.e., they mean the same). Likewise, they claim that the terms regular verb and weak verb are synonyms.

It would be easier for us all if this were the only story. Unfortunately, here at Grammar Monster, we don’t get to decide how to classify verbs. Still, here is a Venn diagram which explains the complicated version of how they are classified:



Read more about weak verbs.

Irregular Verbs Are Very Common

It is somewhat ironic that the most regularly used verbs in English are irregular. They are:

Base Form	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
be	was/were	has been
come	came	has come
get	got	has got () gotten ()
go	went	has gone
know	knew	has known
make	made	has made
say	said	has said
see	saw	has seen
take	took	has taken
think	thought	has thought

With an irregular verb, the past form and past participle are often different (but not always). For example:

Irregular Verb	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
To begin	began	has begun
To break	broke	has broken
To buy	bought	has bought

Now, contrast those irregular forms with those of regular verbs, which just add -ed or -d:

Regular Verb	Past Form	Past Participle
To cook	cooked	has cooked
To play	played	has played
To dance	danced	has danced

The Most Common Irregular Verbs in English

Listed below are the most common irregular verbs in English:

Irregular Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
be	was/were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
bend	bent	bent
begin	began	begun
bet	bet	bet
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got () gotten ()
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spin	spun	spun
spread	spread	spread
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
strike	struck	struck
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
write	wrote	written

Verbs with Irregular and Regular Forms

The following verbs can be regular or irregular:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
burn	burned OR burnt	burned OR burnt
dream	dreamed OR dreamt	dreamed OR dreamt
learn	learned OR learnt	learned OR learnt
hang	hung also hanged	hung also hanged
smell	smelled OR smelt	smelled OR smelt
spell	spelled OR spelt	spelled OR spelt

The second form (e.g. learnt, dreamt) is more common in British English.

Irregular Verbs That Don't Change

Verbs that have the same form in Present, Past and Past Participle form:

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
bet	bet	bet
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
cut	cut	cut
hit	hit	hit
hurt	hurt	hurt
let	let	let
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
set	set	set
shut	shut	shut
spread	spread	spread

(Reference)http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/irregular_verbs.htm

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