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
Hi VegitoBlue,
Simple forms are used even for situations happening at the moment of speaking.
Sometimes we can use stative verbs in the continuous form when we want to emphasise the temporary nature of a situation. This is most common with feel:
It is less common with other verbs, but does occur:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Tim,
There is often a correspondence between stative and intransitive, with pairs of transitive-dynamic and intransitive-stative verbs easy to find: lay/lie, seat/sit, raise/rise etc.
However, there are many stative transitive verbs. Verbs describing mental states are generally transitive:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Tim,
In English it's sometimes said that there are pairs of verbs in which one is transitive and dynamic and the other intransitive and stative, showing some correspondence - stative verbs tend to be intransitive. It's not a particularly useful way to think of the topic, to be honest, but I suspected it might be the source of your misunderstanding.
Stative verbs can be transitive. It's an error to think that they cannot. Similarly, dynamic verbs can be intransitive: I run every day.
In other words, while there is some tendency towards stative being intransitive, it is by no means a rule.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Tim,
A stative verb is one which requires one or more objects. There is no requirement for the verb to have a physical action.
The Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics 6th edition (Crystal, 2008) gives the following definition of transitivity:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team