17 English lessons that use stative verbs

Most verbs express an action:

• drink
• laugh
• allow

Verbs like these are called "dynamic" verbs. However, there are some verbs which don't express an action. They express a state which is not changing. These are known as "stative verbs". Some examples of stative verbs are:

• be
• seem
• have
• want
• smell

For the most part, we don't use stative verbs in their continuous form ("is seeming", "are wanting", etc.) However, there are exceptions to this rule, and some verbs can be used in either stative or dynamic. These are OK:

I'm having some trouble with it.

You're being annoying.

What are you thinking about?

Each of the lessons below contain a stative verb.