State verbs

What are state verbs?

When a verb describes a state and not an action we don't use the continuous tense. For instance, 'play' is an action so we can say 'playing' whereas 'be' is a fixed state which doesn't change: 'To be, or not to be'

It's gramatically incorrect to say 'I'm loving it' even though McDonald's have made this expression famous. 'Love' is a state verb and so we should say 'I love it'

State verbs generally fall into 4 groups:

Possession: own, belong, have, want

Emotion : want, need, love, hate

Thought : remember, believe, know

Sense : seem, smell, see, hear

Other state verbs : doubt, dislike, understand, suspectt, like, mean, forget, prefer, etc...

*  Some verbs can be both 'state' and 'action verbs'. However  the meaning of these verbs is different, for example : 

I think you are special - state verb meaning 'in my opinion'
I am thinking about buying a car  -  action verb meaning 'considering'
I am having a shower  -  action verb meaning 'taking'
I have a car  -  state verb showing possession