State verbs

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• MBO
• Studiejaar 1

What are state verbs?

'They love it' or 'They are loving it'?

When a verb describes a state and not an action we do not use the continuous tense. For example, 'play' is an action so we can say 'playing' whereas 'be' is a fixed state which does not change: 'To be, or not to be'.

Grammatically it is not correct to say "Im loving it" even though McDonald's have made this expression famous. 'Love' is a state verb and so we should say "I love it".

State verbs generally fall into 4 groups:

Emotion: love, hate, want, need

Possession: have, own, want, belong

Sense: see, hear, smell, seem

Thought: know, believe, remember

Here are some more examples of state verbs:

State Verbs

doubt dislike understand suspect

loathe own belong know

like need want seem

mean believe forget remember

prefer hate love see

examples

State Verbs

doubt dislike understand suspect

loathe own belong know

like need want seem

mean believe forget remember

prefer hate love see

Some verbs can be both 

Some words can be state verbs and action verbs. The meaning of these verbs is then different. Take a look at these:

'I have a car.' – state verb showing possession

'I am having a bath.' – action verb which, in this case, means 'taking'.

'I think you are cool.' – state verb meaning 'in my opinion'.

'I am thinking about buying a motorbike.' – action verb meaning 'considering'.

What should it be:

I am disliking garlic

I dislike garlic

What should it be:

I prefer winter to summer

I am preferring winter to summer

What should it be?

I am hating school.

I hate school.

1) My husband
(always/taste) the food while I'm cooking! It's very annoying

1. is always tasting
2. always tastes

What is correct?

1. She has a bath every evening.
2. She is having a bath every evening

Choose:

1. Luke is seeing (see) the doctor now.
2. Luke sees the doctor now.

Luke....

1. is having a pary next weekend
2. has a party next weekend

1. This coffee isn't tasting right.
2. This coffee doesn't taste (not/taste) right.

We ......

1. see John and Susie next month
2. We are seeing John and Susie next month.

What

1. do you think about the war?
2. are you thinking about the war?

She

1. has a headache
2. is having a headache

Some verbs can be both stative and dynamic:

be 

be is usually a stative verb, but when it is used in the continuous it

means ‘behaving’ or ‘acting’

you are stupid = it’s part of your personality

you are being stupid = only now, not usually

have

have (stative) = own

I have a car

have (dynamic) = part of an expression

I’m having a party / a picnic / a bath / a good time / a break 

to see

see (stative) = see with your eyes / understand

I see what you mean

I see her now, she’s just coming along the road

see (dynamic) = meet / have a relationship with

I’ve been seeing my boyfriend for three years

I’m seeing Robert tomorrow

to taste

taste (stative) = has a certain taste

This soup tastes great

taste (dynamic) = the action of tasting

The chef is tasting the soup 

to think

think (stative) = have an opinion

I think that coffee is great

think (dynamic) = consider, have in my head

what are you thinking about? I’m thinking about my next holiday