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

Stative or Dynamic Verbs?

A list with the main STATIVE VERBS!

  

As I mentioned the other day in class,  here  I have made a list with verbs that  might well fall under the category of "STATIVE" as they do represent a "state" so that you can decide on the right verb when dealing with USED TO or WOULD sentences for habits in the past.

STATIVE VERBS  fall into four groups:

Verbs Showing Thought or Opinions
know
believe
understand
recognize
Verbs Showing Possession 
have
own
belong
possess
Verbs Showing Senses
hear
smell
see
feel
Verbs Showing Emotion
love
hate
want
need

If you are unsure of whether a verb is an action verb or a stative verb ask yourself the following question:
Does this verb relate some sort of process or a state? If it relates a process, then the verb is an action verb. If it relates a state, the verb is a stative verb.