Verbs — Definition, Types, and Examples

Written by

Daniel Bal

July 5, 2023

Edited by

Courtney Adamo

Fact-checked by

Paul Mazzola

What is a verb?

A verb is a part of speech that describes an action, state of being, or occurrence that happens externally or internally. They indicate the physical actions or feelings of the subject of the sentence. Every complete sentence needs at least one verb.

Verb tenses

The tense of a verb identifies when the action it describes takes place:

Past tense verbs indicate actions that have already taken place.

• Simple past: Details actions that have already happened.

• Past perfect: Specifies an action completed before a specific point in the past.

• Past progressive: Indicates a continuing action happening in the past.

• Past perfect progressive: Conveys the completion of an ongoing past event.

Present tense verbs describe actions that are currently taking place.

• Simple present: Indicates an action that takes place right now or regularly/continuously.

• Present perfect: Refers to an action that began in the past and finishes or continues in the present.

• Present progressive: Identifies an action that is in progress or repeating.

• Present perfect progressive: Indicates something started in the past and continues into the present.

Future tense verbs designate that an action will happen.

• Simple future: Details an action that has yet to happen.

• Future perfect: Indicates an action that is expected to be completed in the future.

• Future progressive: Identifies something that will happen in the future and continue for a length of time.

• Future perfect progressive: Refers to an action that will continue until a certain point.

Verb categories

Verbs fall into one of the following categories depending upon their use:

Transitive verbs incorporate the use of a direct object (person/thing that receives a sentence's action).

• Alicia played the piano at the concert.

Intransitive verbs do not include the use of a direct object.

• Stephanie worked all night.

Ditransitive verbs can use a subject (who/what performs the action), an indirect object, and a direct object; however, the direct object is not always required.

• Sam gave Paula the newspaper.

  • Direct Object: newspaper

  • Indirect Object: Paula

Ambitransitive verbs can be either transitive or intransitive depending upon their use.

• Intransitive: He already ate.

• Transitive: He already ate a cookie.

• Regular: Regular verbs are those whose past tense form ends in -ed, -d, and sometimes -t.

  • walked, pushed, slept

Irregular verbs do not end with -ed or -d in the past tense.

• become $\to$ became

• bring $\to$ brought

• go $\to$ went

Types of verbs

The following list outlines the different types of verbs:

• Action verbs, also known as dynamic verbs, describe an action.

  • John jumped into the lake and swam to the other side.

• Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, (conjugations of the infinitive verbs to be, to have, and to do) are coupled with a sentence's main verb to indicate its tense, mood, or voice.

  • Their new puppy is sleeping through the night.

• Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb that indicate concepts such as ability, necessity, or permission. As with helping verbs, modal verbs connect to the main verb.

  • You can go outside after you clean your room.

• Linking verbs join the subject of a sentence to a word or phrase that modifies it.

  • Beth felt horrible that she couldn't attend the party.

• Stative verbs describe a state or situation rather than an action or process.

  • agree, believe, dislike, remember

• Phrasal verbs combine a verb with another word, typically an adverb or preposition, to create a new verb phrase. The new phrase is usually idiomatic, meaning it cannot be defined based on each word; therefore, they are easier for native English speakers to understand.

  • back down, check on, drop off, give up, hang on

Verb examples

The following chart identifies some of the most common English verbs associated with each type:

Verb sentences

The following example sentences incorporate the use of each main type of verb:

• Action

  • Terry is too exhausted to play soccer today.

  • You can cook the vegetables while I grill the hamburgers.

  • It's difficult to sleep when you snore all night.

• Auxiliary/Modal

  • Ryan has followed the team for as long as he can remember.

  • Frank was baking when he heard a knock at the door.

  • Susan decided she would leave once the movie ended.

• Linking

  • My dad said he would give me his motorcycle after graduation.

  • Will was laughing so hard at his own jokes.

  • I was starting to become tired of working all day and night.

• Stative

  • Lisa wished she could stay at the beach all summer.

  • Ian and Uma preferred skiing over snowboarding.

  • I think an Alaskan cruise is a great idea.

• Phrasal

  • Try not to bring up Troy's birthday party.

  • Lucas came across some old pictures when cleaning the attic.

  • Marty wants to tag along on the road trip.

• Regular

  • Helen invited everyone she knew to her 16th birthday party.

  • I think Rita looked online to see if the dress was cheaper.

  • It looks like Tim and Wendy fixed their broken window.

• Irregular

  • Do you remember who bought the lottery ticket?

  • We thought the weather was perfect for sailing.

  • They saw two musicals when visiting New York.

• Transitive

  • Jan sent a postcard from Hawaii to her mom.

  • My dog ate the cookies I left on the counter.

  • Wendel hit the ball out of the park.