Stative verbs meaning and examples

Do you know how to use stative verbs like believe, enjoy, taste, and own? Enhance your knowledge with a lesson given below and the grammar explanation to guide you better.

Look at these examples to see how stative verbs are used.

• I believe this solution will work.

• I enjoy reading in my free time!

• This dish tastes amazing.

• Do you own a smartphone?

Grammar explanation - Stative verbs

Stative verbs describe a state rather than an action. They aren't usually used in the present continuous form.

• I don’t believe you. I’m not believing you.

• She really loves that movie. She’s really loving that movie.

• He seems tired today. He’s seeming tired today.

1. Stative verbs often relate to:

• thoughts and opinions: agree, believe, doubt, guess, imagine, know, mean, recognize, 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.

2. Verbs that are sometimes stative

A number of verbs can refer to states or actions, depending on the context.

• I know the answer.

• Wait a moment! I’m knowing the answer.

The first sentence expresses knowledge, which is a mental state, so we use the present simple. In the second example, the speaker is actively trying to learn something new, making it an action in progress, so we use present continuous.

3. Some other examples are:

Have

• I have a lovely garden. (state – possession)

• I’m having a quick chat. (action – having a chat is an activity)

See

• Do you see that building over there? (state – opinion)

• We’re seeing a play tonight. (action – we’re attending the play)

Be

• She’s so talented! (state – her permanent quality)

• She’s being very quiet today. (action – she is temporarily behaving this way)

Taste

• This dish tastes amazing. (state – our perception of the dish)

• Look! The chef is tasting the ingredients. (action – tasting the ingredients is an activity)

Other verbs like this include agree, appear, doubt, feel, guess, hear, imagine, look, measure, remember, smell, weigh, wish.

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