Stative Verbs

What are Stative Verbs?

Stative Verbs indicate the state or condition 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).

Examples:

1. "I love listening to music."

2. "I feel like going home."

3. "We all agree to what the Principal said."

Stative Verbs can be in present, past, or future tense, but because they describe static conditions, they usually cannot progress through time and cannot be used in continuous or progressive verb tenses. For this reason, they are sometimes called Non-continuous Verbs or Non-progressive Verbs.

See these examples:

1. ✔ “I own 11 luxury bags.”

✖ “I am owning 11 luxury bags.” (incorrect — Stative Verb)

• The word own is a Stative Verb; therefore, it cannot be used for continuous tenses.
• This sentence is incorrect because it suggests the speaker is about to acquire 11 luxury bags, not that she already has them.
• To express planning to acquire, use an action verb like buy: ✔ “I am buying 11 luxury bags.”

2. ✔ “I see your point.”

✖ “I am seeing your point.” (incorrect — Stative Verb)

The verb see here is stative, making “am seeing” grammatically incorrect in this context. It would mean physically seeing, like dating or meeting someone.

Continuous tense does not work here because “point” refers to a mental concept, not a physical object.

Unlike example 1, changing “see” to an action verb is impossible because mental understanding cannot be “done” progressively.

Key Note: Stative verbs should be used in present, past, or future tenses but never in continuous tenses.

Why are Stative Verbs sometimes tricky?

Some verbs are naturally conceptual, like imagine, love, understand, hate, while others are confusing, like see, scare, study.

Common Natures of Stative Verbs:

1. Conceptual or Emotional: Stative verbs describe processes that happen mentally or emotionally. For example, hope happens in the mind; it is not visible but conceptual.
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: Opinions, perceptions, or concepts like guessing, observing, or clarifying.

Examples: "I guess I'm fine.", "Lindy observes very well.", "He studies Biology at NYU."

4. Indicate what the subject senses: Senses like seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, and smelling.

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

Note: These verbs may still confuse because when describing sensations, they express personal perceptions, which vary.

Stative Verbs invite conceptual or emotional responses

Besides stating the subject's condition, stative verbs like displease, terrify, scare, and irritate also cause conceptual or emotional reactions in their objects.

For example, to displease someone is an abstract concept. A person may cause displeasure by actions (cursing, ignoring), but the displeasure itself is mental or emotional.

Thus, some stative verbs require another verb (usually dynamic) to produce the intended emotional effect on the object.

Verbs that can be both Dynamic and Stative

Some verbs function as dynamic or stative depending on context.

Examples:

• Embrace
• 1) Hug physically (dynamic): "He embraced me tightly before sleeping."
• 2) Accept a belief or concept (stative): "Let us embrace this new normal."
• Fight
• 1) Physically fight (dynamic): "Ronald fought Denis at school."
• 2) Suppress feelings (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) End a feeling/thought (stative): "Reagan, kill your delusions."

Remember: Any verb that fits the conceptual, emotional, or sensory nature of stative verbs is one. When it describes the subject’s state or condition, it functions as a stative verb.