Look at these examples to see how stative verbs are used.
I think that's a good idea.
I love this song!
That coffee smells good.
Do you have a pen?
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Stative verbs describe a state rather than an action. They aren't usually used in the present continuous form.
I don't know the answer.
I'm not knowing the answer.
She really likes you.She's really liking you.
He seems happy at the moment.He's seeming happy at the moment.
Stative verbs often relate to:
- thoughts and opinions: agree, believe, doubt, guess, imagine, know, mean, recognise, remember, suspect, think, understand
- feelings and emotions: dislike, hate, like, love, prefer, want, wish
- senses and perceptions: appear, be, feel, hear, look, see, seem, smell, taste
- possession and measurement: belong, have, measure, own, possess, weigh.
Verbs that are sometimes stative
A number of verbs can refer to states or actions, depending on the context.
I think it's a good idea.
Wait a moment! I'm thinking.
The first sentence expresses an opinion. It is a mental state, so we use present simple. In the second example the speaker is actively processing thoughts about something. It is an action in progress, so we use present continuous.
Some other examples are:
have
I have an old car. (state – possession)
I'm having a quick break. (action – having a break is an activity)
see
Do you see any problems with that? (state – opinion)
We're seeing Tadanari tomorrow afternoon. (action – we're meeting him)
be
He's so interesting! (state – his permanent quality)
He's being very unhelpful. (action – he is temporarily behaving this way)
taste
This coffee tastes delicious. (state – our perception of the coffee)
Look! The chef is tasting the soup. (action – tasting the soup is an activity)
Other verbs like this include: agree, appear, doubt, feel, guess, hear, imagine, look, measure, remember, smell, weigh, wish.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello
I'm rather new at this. I have a question about the use of the verb 'to forget'. In some lists it is considered a 'stative verb', in other lists of stative verbs, it's not listed at all. So what kind of verb is 'to forget'? Or can it be used as dynamic and static? And can it thus be used in the continuous form?
Thanks for replying to this message.
Best regards.
Hello Filmfanaat4Ever,
Words describing mental cognitive functions are generally stative, including forget, remember, think (opinion) and understand, for example.
It is possible to construct a situation where you might see such verbs as processes but they would be very odd situations. I assume you are a film buff given your username, so let me give you an example from film. In the Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey's character experiences a slow deletion of his memories. They disappear one by one as he tries to hold on to them. In this situation, where he can see the process happening over a period of time, he might say 'I'm forgetting....' But this is not our normal experience, of course!
Lists of verbs like this are almost always selective and not comprehensive.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi there,
I have a question and hope to find the answer here finally.
Can we use stative verbs in reduced relative clauses in continuous form?
Examples:
Hello Nilufarabdi,
I'm afraid these sentences are not correct in standard British English.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello,
i have found dozens of websites showing the conjugation of verbs "to allow" and "to permit" in the Continuous and Perfect Continuous forms. But I haven't found any explanation proving these verbs are used in the Progressive. Honestly, I cannot imagine how can I start allowing or permitting in the past, focus on the process of allowing / permitting something at the moment of speaking / right now / about now and make others think my process has not finished yet, as it may continue in the future. I might not understand something. Are there exceptions? Please explain. Thank you in advance.
With regards,
Denys
Hello Denys,
It is indeed a little unusual to use the forms in this way, but here are a couple of sentences with these forms that are correct and natural:
Does seeing those help you make sense of it?
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Thank you very much, Kirk,
I think your exaples make it clear.
Do I understand correctly that verbs "to permit" / "to allow" are not normally used in the Present Continuous? Are they often used in the Present Simple?
Hello Denys,
I would say they are more commonly used in the present simple than in the present continuous. Similar to my second sentence, for example, I could say 'It's so frustrating! The computer's not allowing me to log in.' That is a perfectly normal sentence in the appropriate context.
By the way, this also applies to 'let', which we often use in informal situations to talk about permission ('The computer's not letting me log in').
I like to look up words in an online dictionary that has lots of example sentences to see how they are most commonly used. If you have a look at these entries (all linked) -- 'permit', 'allow', 'let' -- you'll see a lot of use of non-continuous tenses, as you suspected. Be sure to scroll well down the page, as there are lots of useful examples.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello Kirk,
Thank you very much for your explanations.
I often use both Oxford Learner's and Collins English online dictionaries. As I didn't find any examples with the mentioned verbs there, I googled. I forgot about the Longman. Thanks a lot for sharing the link.
Actually, I would love to talk to you and your collegues about English stative verbs. I can remind 90 verbs maximum, every of which has an exception. These are the verbs I would like to talk to you and your colleagues about with pleasure. Being a non-native English speaker (and the English language is constantly... erm... improving), it is a little difficult to understand / find the "line" between the meanings of many English stative verbs and their exceptions when the same verbs are used in Progressive forms.
Thanks a lot for your help once again.
With kind regards,
Denys
Hello. Could you please help me? In a discussion with some teachers of English about the use of "would" to talk about the past, some said that would in the following sentence is wrong. However the verb "play" is not a stative one. What is correct? Why?
- Maradona would play for Napoli.
Thank you.