Verb Basics
Verbs are the heart of every sentence — they express actions, states, and occurrences. Understanding how verbs work is the single most important step in learning English grammar.
What is a verb?
A verb is a word that describes an action, a state, or an occurrence. Every sentence must contain a verb — without one, a group of words cannot be a complete sentence.
She runs every morning. (action)
He is a doctor. (state)
It happened suddenly. (occurrence)
Main categories of verbs
| Category | What it expresses | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Action verbs | Physical or mental actions | run, eat, think, write, build, decide |
| Stative (state) verbs | States, feelings, senses, possession | be, have, know, love, believe, seem |
| Linking verbs | Connect subject to a complement | be, seem, look, feel, become, appear |
| Auxiliary (helping) verbs | Help form tenses, questions, negatives | be, have, do, can, will, should, must |
| Modal verbs | Express possibility, necessity, permission | can, could, may, might, must, should, would |
| Phrasal verbs | Verb + particle with new meaning | give up, look after, turn on, get along |
Verb forms
Every verb has five basic forms. Regular verbs follow a predictable pattern; irregular verbs must be memorised.
| Form | Regular example | Irregular example |
|---|---|---|
| Base form (infinitive) | walk | go |
| Third person singular present | walks | goes |
| Past simple | walked | went |
| Past participle | walked | gone |
| Present participle (-ing) | walking | going |
Subject-verb agreement
The verb must agree with its subject in person and number. The most important rule: add -s or -es to the base form for third person singular present (he/she/it).
I walk. / You walk. / We walk. / They walk.
He walks. / She walks. / It works.
The dog barks. / Dogs bark.
Transitive and intransitive verbs
- Transitive verbs require a direct object: She wrote a letter. He kicked the ball.
- Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object: She laughed. He arrived. The rain fell.
- Many verbs can be both: She reads (intransitive). She reads the news (transitive).
Tip: To find the verb in a sentence, look for the word that changes when you change the time: She walks / She walked / She will walk. The word that changes (walks → walked → will walk) is the verb.