Stative Verbs

Verbs like "understand", "want", "know" and "remember" are called stative verbs, they deal with states, as opposed to verbs like "listen", or "talk" that deal with actions. we don't usually use stative verbs in the present continuous.



Stative (or State) Verb List

like	know	belong
love	realise	fit
hate	suppose	contain
want	mean	consist
need	understand	seem
prefer	believe	depend
agree	remember	matter
mind	recognise	see
own	appear	look (=seem)
sound	taste	smell
hear	astonish	deny
disagree	please	impress
satisfy	promise	surprise
doubt	think (=have an opinion)	feel (=have an opinion)
wish	imagine	concern
dislike	be	have
deserve	involve	include
lack	measure (=have length etc)	possess
owe	weigh (=have weight)

A verb which isn’t stative is called a dynamic verb, and is usually an action.


You can group verbs that show a state in the following ways:-
Verbs that show thought - know, believe, undertand etc.
Verbs that show possession - have, own, want, contain etc.
Verbs that show senses - hear, see, smell etc.
Verbs that show emotion - love, hate, want, need etc.

Some practice:
Quiz from BBC