What are state verbs in English?

State verbs form a small group of verbs in English which don’t usually have continuous forms, but use only simple verb forms. They are sometimes called “stative verbs” or “non-progressive verbs”.

For example:

We say: “Annie likes frozen peas.” not “Annie is liking frozen peas.”

We say: “I saw a bird sitting on a branch.” not “I was seeing a bird sitting on a branch.”

We say: “Sue is nearly forty years old.” not “Sue is being nearly forty years old.”

State verbs are different from active verbs (also called “dynamic verbs”), which describe
deliberate physical actions, e.g. run, eat, put, etc. They fall into three main groups:

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State Verbs in English

Taken from the FREE book: Talk a Lot Intermediate Book 1

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