Verbs: action, linking and helping verbs list

Eat, sleep, play, eat again. My favorite verbs, in that order. A verb is the word that shows what happens.

Here is what verbs are, with lists of action, linking and helping verbs and common irregular verbs.

Play Stop! Play Letter River

Action verbs

Action verbs show what someone or something does.

• run, jump, swim, climb, dance
• write, read, draw, build, cook
• eat, drink, sleep, laugh, play
• think, learn, remember, decide, imagine

Linking verbs

Linking verbs connect the subject to a description instead of showing action.

• Forms of be: am, is, are, was, were, be, been
• Others: seem, become, appear, remain, feel, look, smell, taste, sound
• Ex.: The panda is happy. The soup smells good. She became a teacher.

Helping verbs

Helping (auxiliary) verbs work with a main verb.

• Be: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been
• Have: have, has, had
• Do: do, does, did
• Modals: can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must

Regular and irregular verbs

• Regular (add -ed in the past): walk, walked; play, played; jump, jumped
• Irregular (change in other ways): go, went; eat, ate; see, saw; take, took; write, wrote; buy, bought

Practice by playing

In Stop!, the quick category game, add a "verb" category and see who thinks fastest: with C you get climb, cook, catch.

PolarzinhoFor C I wrote "chew". For D, "devour". For E, "eat". There is a theme.

And in Letter River, every answer is vocabulary practice.

PolarzinhoThe otter in Letter River swims, thinks and wins. Three verbs I admire.

FAQ

What is the difference between a linking verb and an action verb?

An action verb shows what someone does (she runs). A linking verb connects the subject to a description (she is fast).

How many helping verbs are there?

Usually 23 are listed: the forms of be, have and do, plus the nine modals.

What is the past tense of "go"?

Went.

Your turn

Find the verbs and name the type: "I was tired, but I could still play and win."

Play Stop! Play Letter River