What Are Verbs? » Pyinnyar Pankhin

What Are Verbs?

The Quick Answer

Verbs

A verb is a “doing” word. A verb can express:

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

Verbs Can Express Physical Actions

Here are some sentences with verbs that express physical actions. (In each example, the verb is in bold.)

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 Can Express Mental Actions

Verbs can also express mental actions. For 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 Can 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.

Here is the verb to be in the different tenses:

Subject	Verb to be
Subject	past tense	present tense	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

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 categorised 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 categorised 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.
(To like is not an activity. It’s a state.)
The bear is hungry.
(To be 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.
(Here, the direct object is the dog.)
Lee ate the pie.
(Here, the direct object is the pie.)
The postman will give Sarah the letter.
(Here, the direct object is the letter.)

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).

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

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