Stative & Dynamic Verbs

Post date: Feb 23, 2015 11:17:42 AM

Stative Verbs

They describe conditions or states that exist. No one actually does anything.

These verbs describe things in the world that 'are', i.e. permanent or semi-permanent characteristics of things. They also describe things in your head such as feelings, thoughts, sensations and ownership.

Dynamic verbs

They describe things that happen, i.e. events or actions or things people do.

In general, continuous can be used for dynamic verbs. But this is not an absolute rule, some stative verbs, in rare exceptions, can be used in the continuous form. (see Simple and Continuous verb forms)

Verbs with different meanings

Some verbs have different meanings, and those meanings might be either dynamic or stative.