Verbs are one of the most important parts of the English language. They tell us what someone or something does, what happens, or what something is.
Whether you are learning English for school, work, travel or everyday conversation, understanding verbs will help you build clear and correct sentences.
What is a verb?
A verb is a word that expresses an action, occurrence or state.
Examples include:
- run
- eat
- write
- read
- speak
- work
- learn
- sleep
- understand
- become
- seem
- be
Action verbs
Action verbs describe something that a person or thing does.
Examples:
- walk
- run
- cook
- drive
- write
- read
- sing
- play
- study
- work
Examples:
Sarah reads every evening.
The children are playing outside.
David drives to work.
Verbs of state
Some verbs describe a state rather than a physical action.
Examples include:
- be
- know
- believe
- understand
- like
- love
- want
- need
- remember
Example:
I understand the question.
Main forms of English verbs
Many English verbs have several forms.
For example:
work – works – worked – working
play – plays – played – playing
write – writes – wrote – writing
go – goes – went – going
Learning the different forms is important when using English tenses.
Regular and irregular verbs
Regular verbs usually form the past tense by adding -ed.
- work → worked
- play → played
- clean → cleaned
- open → opened
Irregular verbs follow different patterns.
- go → went
- eat → ate
- see → saw
- take → took
- write → wrote
Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs help form tenses, questions and negative sentences.
Common auxiliary verbs include:
- be
- do
- have
Examples:
She is working.
Do you speak English?
They have finished.
Modal verbs
Modal verbs express possibility, ability, permission, obligation or advice.
Common examples include:
- can
- could
- may
- might
- must
- shall
- should
- will
- would
Examples:
I can swim.
You should study regularly.
We must leave now.
Verb tenses
English uses different verb forms to express time.
Present
I work in Nairobi.
Past
I worked yesterday.
Future
I will work tomorrow.
Present continuous
I am studying English.
Present perfect
I have finished my work.
Common verb mistakes
Incorrect: She go to school every day.
Correct: She goes to school every day.
Incorrect: I did not went.
Correct: I did not go.
Incorrect: He can speaks English.
Correct: He can speak English.