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Verbs: What Are They and How Do You Use Them? | Grammarly Blog Verbs: The Definitive Guide Matt Ellis Updated on January 31, 2025 Parts of Speech 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. Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing shines? Grammarly can check your spelling and save you from grammar and punctuation mistakes. It even proofreads your text, so your work is extra polished wherever you write. Your writing, at its best Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with 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 phras