STATIVE VERBS

·           Stative verbs are verbs that describe states. These include verb related to the senses (feel, hear, see, smell, sound, taste) and other verbs such as believe, cost, hate, hear, like, know, matter, prefer, realize, understand, want.

·           The following are further examples of stative verbs:

Be, appear, astonish, concern, consist, deny, doubt, disagree, deserve, dislike, fit, impress, include, involve, include, lack, mean, need, owe, own, please, promise, realize, recognize, remember, suppose, surprise, wish

·           Stative verbs are usually used in the simple, not the continuous form.

For example:

Sports cars cost a lot of money.

We don’t understand the question.

Did you hear me?

·           Some stative verbs have a different, active meaning that can be used in the simple or continuous form. These include feel, have, look, see, smell, taste, think, weigh.

VERB	STATIVE MEANING (simple only)	ACTIVE MEANING (simple or continuous)
Feel	This material feels soft. (sense)	Are you feeling ok? (emotion)
Have	They have two houses. (own)	Jo’s having a shower. (activity)
Imagine	I imagine it is cold in Oslo. (suppose)	I’m imagining what I’d do with a million pounds. (think about)
Look	You look lovely. (appearance)	I’m looking at some photos. (see)
See	Can you see anything? (sense)	You’re seeing Mr Day at 3.00. (have a meeting)
Smell	Your hair smells nice. (sense)	I’m smelling the milk to see if it is ok. (activity)
Taste	This soup tastes watery. (sense)	I’m tasting the soup to check if I need to add salt. (activity)
Think	I think this one is better. (opinion)	I’m thinking of dying my hair. (consider a plan)
weigh	How much do you weigh? (weight)	They’re weighing the package to see how much it will cost to send. (activity)