By the end of this page, you should ...
- Know what a stative verb is
- Know how to use stative verbs correctly in English
- Recognise the most common stative verbs in English
What is a stative verb?
A stative verb is normally related to possession, measurement, emotion, sense, thought and opinion or mental state. It describes a state as opposed to a physical action. Some verbs can be both active and stative depending on the context.
What is special about stative verbs?
Stative verbs are generally not used in continuous forms, but be aware that they can be used in the present participle as an adjective or noun. When being used as a tense, they must use the closest simple form.
E.g. We cannot say “I’m liking chocolate”, we need to say “I like chocolate”.
What are the most common stative verbs?
Adore
Agree
Appear
Appreciate
Astonish
Believe
Belong (to)
Care (for)
Concern
Consist (of)
Contain
Cost
Depend (on)
Deserve
Desire
Despise
Detest
Disagree
Dislike
Doubt
Enjoy
Equal
Fit
Forget
Guess
Hate
Hear
Hope
Imagine
Impress
Include
Involve
Know
Like
Loathe
Long
Look
Love
Matter
Mean
Mind
Need
Owe
Own
Please
Possess
Prefer
Promise
Realise
Recognise
Remember
Resemble
Satisfy
Seem
Sound
Suppose
Surprise
Suspect
Understand
Value
Want
Wish
What are the exceptions?
There are a few verbs which are used as both stative and active verbs, depending on the context.
Be
Deny
Feel
Have
Lack
Measure
See
Sense
Smell
Taste
Think
Touch
Weigh
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