STATIVE VERBS

VERBS WITH DIFFERENT MEANING WHEN THEY GO IN A SIMPLE OR CONTINUOUS TENSE

HAVE

• POSSESS “ I have a new book” (*** “I´m having second thoughts about the journey”)
• TOMAR, ETC “ We were having lunch when you rang”

FEEL

• THINK, OPINION  “ I feel we shouldn’t do it”
• FEEL- TOUCH “ I am feeling sick today” “ I feel my pockets every morning before leaving my house”

THINK

• OPINION “What do you think of abortion?”
• MENTAL PROCESS “What are you thinking about?” “ Do you still think about him?”

TASTE

• GIVE OUT FLAVOUR “ The soup tastes delicious”
• TASTE “I’m tasting my wine” “ He always tastes the food before serving it”

SMELL

• GIVE OUT SMELL “The meat smells bad” “Why do you smell? Haven´t you had a shower?”
• SMELL “ Why are you smelling the fish?”

WEIGHT

• TO TELL HOW MUCH YOU WEIGHT “ I weight 70 Kgr”
• TO WEIGHT SOMETHING “I am weighting the sugar for the cake” “ He never weights the ingredients.”

LOOK

• TO SEE “I am looking through the window” “ You can look at that magazine”
• PARECER “ You look nice with that hat”

LOVE

• AMAR “ I love you”
• ENJOY “ I am loving this sense of freedom”

MEAN

• QUERER DECIR “ What do you mean’”
• TENER LA INTENCION “ I have been meaning to tell you for a long time that I have failed my maths exam”

IMAGINE

• OPINION “ I imagine that he must be tired after such a long journey”
• MENTAL PROCESS “ You have been imagining things lately”

CONSIDER

• BELIEVE “ Mike considers this course a waste of time”
• VALORAR “ I am seriously considering his offer”

APPEAR

• PARECER “ He appears to be tired”
• APARECER “ He will be appearing in the latest James Bond film”

EXPECT

• ASSUME “ I expect that you are tired”
• WAIT “ Are you expecting visitors this evening?”
• “WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ARE EXPECTING”

SEE

• SEE , CAN SEE “ I can see the sea from here”
• UNDERSTAND, “Ummm, I don´t see what you mean”
• MEET  (Future) “ I’m seeing Paul tomorrow”

 (Present) “I’m seeing a lot of him these days”

Non-continuous Verbs

Non-continuous verbs are verbs that we do not normally use with continuous tenses. These "stative" verbs are about state, not action, and they cannot express the continuous or progressive aspect. Here are some of the most common non-continuous verbs:

• feeling: hate, like, love, prefer, want, wish
• senses: appear, feel, hear, see, seem, smell, sound, taste
• communication: agree, deny, disagree, mean, promise, satisfy, surprise
• thinking: believe, imagine, know, mean, realize, recognize, remember, understand
• other states: be, belong, concern, depend, involve, matter, need, owe, own, possess, mind