Examples of Stative Verbs

Examples of Stative Verbs

Stative verbs describe the condition or state of the subject, such as thoughts or opinions (agree, recognize, doubt), possession (own, possess, belong, have), emotion (love, hate, like, fear, enjoy), or senses (seem, look, hear, taste, feel).

Important: Stative verbs are CONCEPTUAL and mostly used in simple tenses only. They are generally NOT used in continuous tenses.

Download List of Stative Verbs (PDF)

Common Examples of Stative Verbs

Category	Example Verbs	Sample Sentence
Thoughts/Opinions	agree, recognize, doubt	"We all agree on this decision."
Possession	own, possess, belong, have	"She owns three cars."
Emotion	love, hate, like, fear, enjoy	"I love classical music."
Senses	seem, look, hear, taste, feel	"This soup tastes delicious."

Why Stative Verbs may be tricky

Some verbs are naturally conceptual, such as imagine, love, understand, hate, while others can be confusing to classify, such as see, scare, study. Below are common characteristics to help identify stative verbs.

Common Natures of Stative Verbs

1. Conceptual or Emotional: Stative verbs describe processes that happen mentally or emotionally. For example, the verb hope happens in the mind. Although one can say “he hopes” or “he acts hopeful,” the concept itself is only mental and not visible.
2. Indicate what the subject feels: Emotions such as hatred, love, and adoration.

Examples: “I hate Dani.”, “She loves me.”

3. Indicate what the subject thinks or does mentally: This includes opinions, concepts, perceptions, or theories like guessing, observing, clarifying, studying, inferring, belittling.

Examples: “I guess I’m fine.”, “Lindy observes very well.”, “He studies Biology at NYU.”

4. Indicate what the subject senses: These involve what the eyes see, ears hear, skin feels, tongue tastes, or nose smells. The senses detected may be physical but how the person emotionally or mentally processes these is subjective.

Examples: “It tastes bad.”, “It smells good.”, “She noticed my pimple.”, “I see you.”, “Mark hears us.”

Note: Sometimes it can still be confusing whether a verb is truly stative because senses express personal perception, which can vary.

Stative Verbs invite conceptual or emotional responses

Stative verbs like displease, terrify, scare, irritate do not describe direct physical action but cause a mental or emotional reaction in their objects.

For example, to displease someone is an abstract concept. What displeases one may not displease another. A person might displease another by cursing, slapping, or ignoring. The direct physical action is separate from the mental displeasure caused.

Thus, some stative verbs require another verb—usually a dynamic verb—to have their full effect on the object.

Verbs that can be both Dynamic and Stative

Some verbs function as either dynamic or stative depending on context.

• Embrace
  • 1) Physical hug (dynamic): “He embraced me tightly before sleeping.”
  • 2) Accept a belief or concept (stative): “Let us embrace this new normal.”
• Fight
  • 1) Physical fight (dynamic): “Ronald fought Denis at school.”
  • 2) Suppress feelings or loneliness (stative): “You should fight your loneliness once in a while.”
• Kill
  • 1) End life (dynamic): “The suspect killed the victim by stabbing her multiple times.”
  • 2) Stop a feeling or thought (stative): “Reagan, kill your delusions.”

Remember: Any verb that matches the conceptual, emotional, or sensory nature of stative verbs is one. When used to indicate the subject’s conceptual or emotional condition, it functions as a stative verb and should be treated as such.