Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Stative Verbs
Stative Verbs
never or hardly
ever used in progressive tenses (Present Continuous, Past Continuous, Present Perfect
Continuous etc.). To put it simply, don’t use these verbs with -ing ending.
To learn state verbs, it might help if you look at the following categories:
BE
be
exist
POSSESSION
have
own
possess
belong
lack
consist
involve
include
contain
APPEARANCE, DESCRIPTIONS
seem
look (=seem)
sound
appear
suit
fit
believe
understand
doubt
suppose
recognise
forget
remember
imagine
mean
agree
disagree
deny
promise
SENSES
see
hear
feel
taste
smell
like
dislike
hate
adore
prefer
care for
mind
want
need
desire
wish
hope
appreciate
value
PHYSICAL SENSATIONS
hurt
ache
itch
MEASUREMENT
measure
weigh
cost
Note: Some of the above verbs have both progressive and non-progressive uses. For example:
This soup tastes nice. (non-progressive: the soup has its taste)
My husband has been tasting wines for an hour. (progressive: he has been actively doing this)
This rose smells nice. (non-progressive: the rose has its smell)
I was weighing myself when the scales broke. (progressive: I was actively doing it)
I’ve been thinking about Brad Pitt all day. (progressive: I’ve been actively doing this)