what are state verbs?

'They love it' or 'They are loving it'?

When a verb describes a state and not an action  we do not use the continuous tense. For example, ‘play’ is an action so we can say ‘playing’ whereas ‘be’ is a fixed state which does not change: ‘To be, or not to be’.

Grammatically it is not correct to say ‘I’m loving it’ even though McDonalds 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:

Emotion: love, hate, want, need

Possession: have, own, want, belong

Senses: see, hear, smell, seem

Thought: know, believe, remember

Here are some more examples of state verbs:

 some verbs can be both state and action verbs

Some words can be state verbs and action verbs. The meaning of these verbs is then different. Take a look at these:

'I have a car.’ ­– state verb showing posession

'I am having a bath.’ ­– action verb which, in this case, means ‘taking’.

‘I think you are cool.’ – state verb meaning ‘in my opinion’.

‘I am  thinking about buying a motorbike.’ – action verb meaning ‘considering’

• I am disliking garlic.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• I prefer winter to summer.
  
  correct
  incorrect
  
  
• She is reading a good book.
  
  correct
  incorrect
  
  
• I thinking about work.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• Please don't forgetting me.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• He is knowing him for a long time.
  
  correct
  incorrect
  
  
• I am hate school.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• You seem tired.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• She own a cat.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• They belong to the music club.
  
  incorrect
  correct
  
  
• Do you believing me?
  
  correct
  incorrect
  
  
• They need you.
  
  incorrect
  correct