STATIVE VERBS in CONTINUOUS Tenses!? English is Broken!

- McDonald's

(McDonald's theme song playing)

used to have a song in their adverts that went like this.

♪ I'm lovin' it ♪

- And that sentence, "I'm lovin' it,"

reminds me that English,

just like McDonald's ice cream machines, is broken.

(gentle upbeat music)

Your English teacher

will definitely hate me for this lesson,

but don't worry.

I'm a 100% genuine English person

and 100% genuine English teacher, so I win.

You've learned in your classes

that there are action verbs and stative verbs.

For example, "I'm pooping."

To poop, that is an action verb

because there is movement.

To poop is an action verb.

"Ugh, it's gross."

It is gross.

By the way, gross means disgusting,

but the verb here is be.

To be, it describes the state of something.

So when it doesn't have an action and it's just a state,

we call that a stative verb.

"Yeah, I know."

To know also doesn't have an action.

So that is also a stative verb.

And notice the tense we use with stative verbs.

Simple tenses.

"Ugh, I'm walking away."

To walk, definitely an action verb, right?

There's movement, there's an action.

Everything is happening now.

But with the action verbs, we used continuous tenses.

And for the stative verbs, we used simple tenses.

Keep that in mind.

The types of stative verbs

are like your thoughts and opinions.

So when you say: I doubt,

I guess, I think, I imagine.

Feelings and emotion: I like, I love, I hate,

I adore this thing.

Also stative verbs.

Verbs of the senses:

I smell, see, hear.

And, of course, possession: have, own, belong.

In your classes, in your textbooks,

they say, "Don't use these," in continuous tenses.

Only simple, right?

- Lies.

- Sometimes, it's completely fine.

Sometimes, it makes you sound very natural,

like you've been speaking English all your life.

However, there is a risk.

If you use this wrong, you'll sound like a beginner.

So let me show you when exactly it's good to use it,

when isn't.

For example, some verbs have more than one meaning.

Have is a possession.

And no, we would never use this in a continuous tense.

"I'm having a dog."

No.

But we can use have in a different meaning, like...

In this case, have means to eat or drink.

So, "I'm having dinner,"

just replaces, "I'm eating dinner,"

and that is an action verb.

There's movement there.

So yes, that is okay to use in continuous.

When have means possession, that's a stative verb.

No continuous.

When have means eat or drink, that's an action verb.

Continuous is good.

So, yeah, if you said, "I'm having a dog,"

you mean you are eating a dog

and you don't want to say that.

Also, we are English.

You know that we love to be dramatic.

So when we want to be emphatic,

when we want to emphasize something,

like how I'm feeling right now.

For example,

this situation.

Finally, you decide, "Ah, okay, let's watch this movie."

But after 30 minutes,

(Instructor sighs)

"This is kind of boring, I'm not loving this."

Now, yes, love is a stative verb.

That sounds like a song title.

♪ Love is just a stative verb ♪

♪ Love is just a stative verb ♪

- Mm.

I said before that love and those feeling verbs:

like, hate, prefer, they are stative verbs.

And yes, usually,

when we talk about what we generally prefer,

what we usually like, we use simple tenses.

However, in this situation,

we want to emphasize the feeling right now.

So in this case,

it's totally fine to use a continuous tense.

Why?

Because you are comparing this feeling

with your usual feeling.

And when you do that, continuous tenses are fine.

"Usually, I like superhero movies, but I'm not loving this."

How else could you use this?

"Should we order pizza?

I'm really wanting a pizza right now."

Again, this is totally okay

because you want the person listening

to understand your feeling in that moment.

Again, maybe to compare it to other moments

where you didn't feel like that.

So two things.

One, this is totally acceptable.

We all use this sometimes.

But two, yes, your teacher will definitely hate this.

So definitely don't use this in a test,

right?

Well, here's the thing.

Tests are there to show how good your English is.

And sounding natural in English is a big part of that.

So if we use this in natural speech,

you can, too, right?

Yes, but you have to be completely correct

in how you use it.

If you use this wrong,

it makes you sound like an absolute beginner.

So you don't want that.

So to summarize.

Usually, we use stative verbs with simple tenses.

However, if you want to emphasize your feeling at the moment

or compare this moment to other moments

and how this moment is different

from the usual state of things,

then continuous tenses sound great and they sound natural.

But let me give you more examples.

"You're being stupid."

I already told you that the verb be is a stative verb

that shows the state of something or someone.

So never use that in continuous, right?

Well, just to remind you

that verbs can have more than one meaning.

And be can also mean act or behave.

So to say, "You're being stupid,"

can mean you are behaving, you are acting stupid.

And you are stupid.

You're stupid.

In this case, she's saying, "Usually, you are stupid,"

but she is saying, "Right now, you are acting stupid."

And another example, which you might want to use.

You are in class and your teacher

is talking about something confusing, boring.

And you are like, "Usually, I understand everything,

but I'm not understanding anything today.

Also, lately, I'm forgetting lots of things."

Again, only use this when you are 100% sure

that you are using it correctly.

But are you still not really sure

which verbs are okay to use in continuous

and which ones sound rubbish?

Well, don't worry, that takes practice,

and you'll find lots of practice on this lesson

and many, many others in my eBook.

You can get it on my website, papateachme.com,

or patreon.com/papateachme.

That will give you lots of practice on this

and many other lessons,

and hopefully clear up some confusion for you.

Give me your best examples in the comments.

I'll give little hearts to my favorite ones.

And if you use this in social media,

remember to tag me @papateachme,

and I'll see you in the next class.

Bye.

(gentle upbeat music)