Verb facts for kids

A verb is a special kind of word. It tells you about an action (something happening) or a state (how something is). Every sentence needs a verb. In English, verbs are the only words that change to show if something happened in the past or is happening now (present tense).

Here are some examples of verbs in sentences:

• I 'jump' up and down. (action)
• That is John. (state)
• I beat my friend. (action)
• They are running . (action)
• Go there on Monday. (action/command)
• He said, "Hello!". (action)
• Can she play the piano? (action/ability)
• The sleeping baby looks beautiful. (state)
• She saw the girl who had been bitten by the dog. (actions)

Every language has verbs. But they don't always work the same way. For example, in some languages like Chinese or Indonesian, verbs don't change to show past or present tense. This means our definition works best for English verbs.

There are sixteen common verbs used in Basic English. They are: be, do, have, come, go, see, seem, give, take, keep, make, put, send, say, let, get.

What Does 'Verb' Mean?

The word verb comes from a very old word, *were-, which meant "a word." It came into English from Latin (verbum) and then Old French (verbe).

Verb Phrases

Sometimes, the verb in a sentence is just one word. For example: The cat sat on the mat. But often, the verb can be a group of words, called a phrase. For example: The cat will sit on the mat. These groups of words can sometimes be tricky to figure out. Like in "I'm afraid I will need to be going soon." This really just means "Sorry, I must go soon."

How Verbs Change (Forms)

In English, verbs change their shape depending on how they are used. This is called inflection. Most English verbs have six different forms. But the verb be has eight!

You might notice that some verb forms look the same. For example, the plain present and the plain form of walk look identical. The past form and the past participle of walk also look the same. However, for other verbs, these forms can be different. For instance, the plain present of be is often are, but its plain form is be. Also, the past of eat is ate, but the past participle is eaten. When you look up a verb in a dictionary, you usually look for its plain form.

Every main part of an English sentence (called a clause) must have at least one primary-form verb.

Types of Verbs

English verbs generally fall into two main groups:

• Normal verbs (also called lexical verbs)
• Auxiliary verbs (or helping verbs)

The main difference is where they can appear in a sentence. Some verbs can be in both groups. There are very few auxiliary verbs in English. Auxiliary verbs also have two types: modal verbs and non-modal verbs. The table below shows some examples.

Here are the main auxiliary verbs:

• To do (do, does, did)
• To be (am, is, are, was, were): Used to show something is happening now (progressive tense).
• To have (have, has, had): Used to show something is completed (perfect tense).

The following verbs are modal auxiliaries. They add meaning like possibility or necessity.

• Can
• Could
• May
• Might
• Must
• Should

Auxiliary verbs can also be made negative. This is usually done by adding not or n't.

• You shouldn't be here.
• He isn't at home.
• We haven't started yet.

Using the Helping Verb 'Do'

Sometimes the verb do is used with other verbs. It doesn't really change the meaning much. But it can make a statement stronger.

• I do talk (Present)
• I did go (Past)

It's also used when you make a sentence negative and there are no other helping verbs.

• I don't talk (Present)
• I didn't go (Past)

Sometimes do comes before the subject. This is called inversion. It usually means the sentence is a question.

• Do you talk? (Present)
• Did you go? (Past)

Many other languages don't use the verb do as a helping verb like this.

Tense, Aspect, and Mood

Verbs help us understand three main things: tense, aspect, and mood.

Tense

Tense mainly tells us when the verb's action happens. We can think of time as a line with the past tense, present tense, and future tense on it. Some languages have all three tenses. Some have only two. And some have none at all! English and Japanese, for example, only have two tenses: past and present. Chinese and Indonesian verbs don't show tense. Instead, they use other words in the sentence to show when something happened.

Aspect

Aspect shows us things like if an action is finished or not, or if it happens regularly. English has two aspects: progressive and perfect. In English, aspect is usually shown by using participle verb forms. Aspect can combine with present or past tense.

Progressive Aspect

English uses the gerund-participle (the "-ing" form), usually with the helping verb be (and its forms like am, is, are, was, and were). This shows the progressive aspect.

• I'm sleeping. (happening now)
• He was studying English last night. (was happening in the past)
• He will be going to the store tomorrow. (will be happening in the future)

Many other languages, like French, don't use progressive tenses.

Perfect Aspect

The perfect aspect uses the helping verb have (or has, had) with the past participle.

• I've seen him twice. (present perfect - finished action, result now)
• I had lived there for three years. (past perfect - finished before another past action)

The past perfect can also show a hope or wish that didn't come true.

• He had intended to bake a cake but ran out of flour.
• She had wanted to buy him a gift but he refused.

After words like If, wish, and would rather, the past perfect can talk about past events that never happened.

• If only I had been born standing up!
• I wish you had told me that before.
• I would rather you had gone somewhere else.

Mood

In English, mood is mostly shown by using modal verbs (like can, must, should). In the past, English had more ways to show mood, but they've mostly disappeared. The subjunctive mood now uses the plain form of the verb. There's also a special form of be (like were) used in conditional sentences to show something isn't true. For example: "If I were a bird, I would fly to California."

Parts of a Sentence with Verbs

Verbs work with other parts of a sentence. These parts usually come before or after the verb. The main parts are: subject, object, complement, and modifier.

Subjects

Almost all English sentences have a subject. The subject is usually the person or thing doing the action. It typically comes before the verb. But it can come after helping verbs in questions.

• We need you.
• The food was good.
• The small boy with red hair is sleeping.
• Can you see the car?
• Come here. (This is an order, called an imperative. The subject "you" is understood but not written.)

Objects

Many verbs can be followed by an object. These verbs are called transitive verbs. The object is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb. Some verbs *must* have an object (like take). Other verbs never take an object (like sleep). These are called intransitive verbs. Some verbs can even have two objects! They are called ditransitive verbs.

• I'm sleeping. (no object)
• I took the book from him.
• I gave him the book. (2 objects: "him" and "the book")
• I am happy. (no object)
• I became a teacher. (This is a complement, not an object.)
• I slept in my bed. (no object, "in my bed" is a modifier)

Complements

Some verbs can or must be followed by a complement. These verbs are called linking verbs. A complement describes or renames the subject.

• He is good. (good describes "He")
• He is a boy. (a boy renames "He")
• She became sick. (sick describes "She")
• She became a manager. (a manager renames "She")
• It looks nice. (nice describes "It")

Modifiers

Verbs can be changed or described by different modifiers, especially adverbs. Verbs don't always need modifiers; it's usually a choice to add more detail.

• The boy ran quickly. (quickly tells how he ran)
• The freely swinging rope hit him. (freely tells how the rope was swinging)

Verbs can also have other modifiers, like prepositions.

How Verbs Are Different from Other Words

Sometimes a verb and another word might look the same. You can usually tell the difference by looking at how they behave in a sentence.

Verbs vs. Adjectives

Sometimes a verb and an adjective can have the same shape. For example, the verb form interesting (as in "The book is interesting me") and the adjective interesting (as in "That book is interesting") look alike. Verbs are different from adjectives because you can't usually use words like very, more, or most with them. You can say "That is very interesting" (here, interesting is an adjective). But you cannot say "My teacher is very interesting me in math" because interesting is a verb here. Also, if you can change the 'be' verb to 'seem' or 'become', it's probably an adjective.

• He was isolated / He became isolated (isolated is an adjective)
• The door was opening / *The door became opening (opening is a verb, so "became opening" doesn't work)

Verbs vs. Nouns

The "-ing" form of a verb (called a gerund-participle) sometimes looks like a noun. This is especially true when it's used as the subject of a sentence.

• Running is good for you. (Here, running acts like a noun.)

The main differences between these verbs and nouns are:

Modifiers

Verbs usually aren't described by adjectives. Nouns usually aren't described by adverbs. So, in "Running regularly is good for you," running is a verb because it's modified by regularly, which is an adverb.

Number

Verbs don't change to show if they are singular or plural. If you can make the word plural, it's a noun, not a verb. For example, "this drawing is nice" can become "these drawings are nice" (so drawing is a noun). But "drawing trees is fun" cannot become "drawings trees is fun" (so drawing is a verb here).

Object/Complement

Many verbs can take objects or complements, but nouns cannot. So, in "parking the car is hard," parking is a verb because it takes the object the car. But if you say, "there's no parking," parking is likely a noun because it doesn't have an object.

Verbs vs. Prepositions

Some verbs have become prepositions. Again, these often share a shape with participles. Here are some examples:

• Given the problems, I do not think we should go.
• We have many helpers, including John.
• According to the map, we are here.
• He went to hospital following the fight.

The main difference is that verbs have a subject (even if it's not written, you can understand who or what is doing the action). Prepositions do not have a subject.

See also

In Spanish: Verbo para niños