One verb (verb), according to the dictionary longman, is a word or a group of them that express action, experience or state. From this definition, we will find, in addition to the verb tenses (past - present - future), the different types of verbs (verbs), that is, whether they are main, auxiliary, transitive or intransitive.
Add to this the nominal form of the verbs (gerund, infinitive or past participle), which in English we call verbal or verbal structures, because such structures are not inflected to person, number or time|1|. We will cover all these aspects in the following topics, exemplifying each one of them. Let’s go!
Know more: Regular and irregular verbs: what are they?
Types of verbs
We will start the division of the verbal typology with your role in prayer. There are basically two types of verbs in English: o main it's the help.
In the first type, verbs can be classified as transitive or intransitive and can be followed by a gerund or an infinitive (+ to). The main characteristic of verbs of this type is that they have a semantic meaning. For the second type, the auxiliary verbs appear in reduced number and function in the sentence as "helpers"
|1|, being emptied of semantic meaning when they are alone. Note each verbal type below.Main verbs (main verbs)
The main verbs/main verbs possess in themselves the sensesemantic and occupy a position relevant to the full meaning of the sentence:
Diana went home early yesterday.
Diana went home early yesterday.
The main verb of the sentence is go (go), and, as can be seen, it has full meaning all by itself. In addition, we note that it is linked in the simple past. At the gift, would be:
Diana goes home.
Diana goes home.
In this last example, the main verb does not require an auxiliary to complete its meaning either. However, if it were in the future, we would need to use the helper from the future will, which has no semantic meaning, it only “helps” in identifying the clause that is inflected in the future:
Diana will go home.
Diana will go home.
- Main verbs: transitive and intransitive verbs
The main verbs can be further divided into transitive or intransitive, regarding whether they are accompanied by an object or not, as in Portuguese.
You intransitive verbsare not followed by object, but they can have a complement:
Something bad happened.
Something bad happened.
It has arrived early.
he arrived early (early is not an object, it is an adverbial adjunct).
On the other hand, the transitive verbs are accompanied by an object:
She isn’t watching TV.
She is not watching TV.
He drove his car.
He drove his car.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Auxiliary verbs (auxiliary verbs)
The auxiliary verbs/auxiliary verbs there are few in the English language. The main ones are: well, of, have. As pointed out, these verbs do not have a semantic sense when they occupy the position of auxiliary. We highlight this aspect, as they also occur, in English, in the main verb function:
- be - main verb - to be
I am happy.
I am happy.
- Of - main verb - do
She does her homework.
She does her homework.
- have - main verb - to have
They have a car.
They have a car.
However, these same verbs as auxiliaries have no proper meaning without the main verb. Note the following examples:
Laura was singing a beautiful song.
Laura was singing a beautiful song.
The verb to be in the past was, in this sentence, is the auxiliary verb of past continuous. It appears in the sentence just to signal that the sentence is in the continuous past and in the third person singular.
Do you spend a lot of time on the internet?
Do you spend a lot of time on the internet?
The verb I do appears at the beginning of the sentence to signal that we are facing an interrogative sentence, the simple present tense and the second person singular. Alone, it has no semantic meaning.
You didn’t finish your sentence.
You haven't finished your sentence.
In this example, the verb I do appears before the main verb (finish), in its contracted form did + not, indicating that it is a negative sentence.
He has already been to the USA.
He has already been to the United States.
Here we have the verb I have before the main verb to be, which presents itself in the form of the past participle been, showing us a sentence from the perfect giftin English. In addition, we note that the verb is inflected in the third person singular has. This time is formed by the assistant have + main verb in past participle.
Thus, we can see that the main difference between the main and auxiliary verbs is in the semantic sense that they present. Briefly, auxiliary verbs express the tense of a sentence, whether it is in its negative or interrogative form, for example.
See more: Modal verbs: know the function of these verbs
Verb tenses
When we learn the verb tenses (verbal tenses) in English, we immediately realize that there is an ease in relation to the conjugation of verbs. However, it is necessary to have an overview of each time, to be able to understand the proper use of each.
In general, we can evaluate them according to the aspect and the time, that is, by the temporality, duration and completeness of the action. In addition, we can classify them in past, present and future times, plus the aspects: simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. We will discuss, in the following table, the 12 possible combinations of verb tenses in English.
verb tense |
Examples |
use |
simple present |
I live in São Paulo. I live in Sao Paulo. I don’t live in São Paulo. I don't live in São Paulo. Do you live in São Paulo? You live in Sao Paulo? |
habits, routine and truths/facts. |
simple past |
I lived in São Paulo. I lived in São Paulo. I didn’t live in São Paulo. I didn't live in São Paulo. Did you live in São Paulo? Did you live in São Paulo? |
Actions ended at a specific point in the past. |
simple future |
I will live in São Paulo. I will live in São Paulo. I won’t live in São Paulo. I will not live in São Paulo. Will you live in São Paulo? Will you live in São Paulo? |
Future plans, predictions, spontaneous decisions. |
present continuous |
I am living in São Paulo. I am living in São Paulo. I am not living in São Paulo. I am not living in São Paulo. Are you living in São Paulo? Are you living in São Paulo? |
Something that happens in the same speech moment and temporary situations. |
Past continuous |
I was living in São Paulo. I was living in São Paulo. I wasn’t living in São Paulo. I wasn't living in São Paulo. Were you living in São Paulo? Were you living in São Paulo? |
Progressive/temporary actions in the past. |
Future continuous |
I will be living in São Paulo I will be living in São Paulo. I won’t be living in São Paulo I will not be living in São Paulo. Will you be living in São Paulo? Will you be living in São Paulo? |
Actions in progress in the future. |
present perfect |
I have lived in São Paulo. I lived in São Paulo. I havent lived in São Paulo. I didn't live in São Paulo. Have you lived in São Paulo? Did you live in São Paulo? |
To talk about past experiences or actions that have a connection with the present. |
Past perfect |
I had lived in São Paulo. I had lived in São Paulo. I hadn’t lived in São Paulo. I had not lived in São Paulo. Had you lived in São Paulo? Had you lived in São Paulo? |
An action in the past that happened before another at a specific time. |
future perfect |
I will have lived in São Paulo. I will have lived in São Paulo. I won’t have lived in São Paulo. I will not have lived in São Paulo. Will you have lived in São Paulo? Will you have lived in São Paulo? |
When will something have happened in the future. |
Present perfect continuous |
I have been living in São Paulo. I am living in São Paulo. I havent been living in São Paulo. I am not living in São Paulo. Have you been living in São Paulo? Are you living in São Paulo? |
Used to emphasize the duration of an action in progress until the moment of speech. |
Past perfect continuous |
I had been living in São Paulo. I was living in São Paulo. I hadn’t been living in São Paulo. I wasn't living in São Paulo. Had you been living in São Paulo? Were you living in São Paulo? |
Actions that were in progress in the past and were interrupted by another action in the past as well. |
Future perfect continuous |
I will have been living in São Paulo. I will be living in São Paulo. I won’t have been living in São Paulo. I will not be living in São Paulo. Will you have been living in São Paulo? Will you be living in São Paulo? |
Action that will have happened sometime in the future. |
Nominal forms of verbs
The three verb structures of English (or noun forms of the verb) are known as infinitive, present/past participle and gerund, because they do not indicate time (in the case of the gerund) and inflection of person and number. You verbal they need to be accompanied by some other verb in order to have a full meaning.
infinitive
Base form of the verb, accompanied by the preposition I'm:
to speak = speak
to draw = draw
not to speak = not to speak
participate
Participles are verbs formed by -ing or -ed (regular verbs)|2| and compose the continuous time and the perfect time, respectively, in a general way.
She is having the time of her life.
She is having the best time of her life.
He has decided to go there.
He decided to go there.
gerund
The gerund in English is formed by adding -ing to the verb. It differs from the present participle by the function it occupies grammatically in the clause, that is, as a noun.
Smoking is bad for your health.
Smoking is bad for your health.
See too: Phrasal verbs: expressions formed by verbs and prepositions
Exercises solved
question 1
Check the following sentences for the correct verb:
a) He is surfing/surfing the net now.
b) What will you/did you do tomorrow?
c) She had/hads had a lot of job opportunities before joining our group.
d) Reading/Reading is extremely important!
Resolution:
Oh yes is surfing the net now. (Continuous present, “now” time marker.)
b) What will you of tomorrow? (Future simple, “tomorrow” time marker.)
c) She had had a lot of job opportunities before joining our group. (The past perfect helper is never inflected by the subject.)
d) Reading is extremely important! (Gerund to make the verb the subject of the sentence.)
Grades
|1| DECAPUA, A.. grammar for teachers: a guide to American English for native and non-native speakers. Springer: New York, 2008.
|2| For irregular verbs, there are no spelling rules.
By Patricia Veronica
English teacher
