Verbs for Class 5: Examples, Exercises and Worksheets

1. State of Being (Being Verbs / Linking Verbs)

2. Physical Action (Action Verbs)

3. Mental Action (Action Verbs)

4. Possession (Having Verbs)

5. Undergoing an Action/Occurrence

The Main Verb is the most important verb in the sentence. It shows the primary action or state of being of the subject.

Examples: (Main verb is underlined)

• The bird is singing.
• He has finished his work.
• We will go to the zoo.
• She can dance beautifully.

If there is only one verb in a sentence, it is always a main verb (e.g., "She sings." or "He is tall.")

Helping Verbs (also called Auxiliary Verbs) help the main verb to express its meaning more fully. They come before the main verb.

Helping verbs can help to show:

• Tense: (e.g., "She is singing." - present continuous tense)
• Possibility: (e.g., "It might rain.")
• Ability: (e.g., "He can swim.")
• Permission: (e.g., "May I come in?")
• Questions: (e.g., "Do you like ice cream?")
• Negative sentences: (e.g., "I do not know.")

Examples: (Helping verb is bold, Main verb is underlined)

• The bird is singing.
• He has finished his work.
• We will go to the zoo.
• She can dance beautifully.
• You should study hard.

Here are some common helping verbs:

Helping Verb	Forms	Common Functions/Examples
Be	am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been	Forming continuous tenses (e.g., He is playing.) Forming passive voice (e.g., The letter was written.)
Have	has, have, had	Forming perfect tenses (e.g., She has eaten.)
Do	do, does, did	Forming questions (e.g., Do you like it?) Forming negatives (e.g., I do not understand.) Adding emphasis (e.g., I did tell you.)
Modal Verbs	can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must	Expressing ability (e.g., I can swim.) Expressing possibility (e.g., It might rain.) Expressing permission (e.g., May I go?) Expressing obligation (e.g., You must finish.) Expressing advice (e.g., You should rest.) Expressing future (e.g., We will visit.)

Note: The verbs 'be', 'have', and 'do' can also act as main verbs in a sentence. For example: "She is happy." (is = main verb), "I have a pen." (have = main verb), "He did his homework." (did = main verb).

A Transitive Verb is an action verb that needs an object to receive its action. The action "passes over" from the subject to the object.

To find out if a verb is transitive, ask "What?" or "Whom?" after the verb. If you get an answer, the verb is transitive, and the answer is the object.

Examples:

• The cat chased the mouse. (Chased what? The mouse. So, 'chased' is transitive.)
• She wrote a letter. (Wrote what? A letter. So, 'wrote' is transitive.)
• He loves his parents. (Loves whom? His parents. So, 'loves' is transitive.)
• We bought some books. (Bought what? Some books. So, 'bought' is transitive.)

An Intransitive Verb is an action verb that does not need an object to complete its meaning. It makes sense on its own.

If you ask "What?" or "Whom?" after an intransitive verb, you won't find a direct object in the sentence that receives the action.

Examples:

• The baby cried. (Cried what? No direct answer. 'Cried' is intransitive.)
• Birds fly. (Fly what? No direct answer. 'Fly' is intransitive.)
• He laughed loudly. ('Loudly' tells how he laughed, not what he laughed. 'Laughed' is intransitive.)
• The sun shines. ('Shines' is intransitive.)

Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used in a sentence.Example:

• The children sang. (Intransitive - no object)
• The children sang a song. (Transitive - object is 'a song')

This is the simplest form of the verb, without any endings like -s, -ed, or -ing. It's the form you find in a dictionary.

It is used for the simple present tense (with I, you, we, they, and plural nouns) and as the infinitive (e.g., to go, to eat).

Examples: go, eat, play, sing, walk, learn

• I play football.
• They learn English.

When used with he, she, it, and singular nouns in the simple present tense, we often add -s or -es (e.g., he plays, she learns).

This form shows that an action happened in the past. For regular verbs, it is usually formed by adding -d or -ed to the base form.

Examples: went, ate, played, sang, walked, learned

• I played football yesterday.
• She learned English last year.

This form is used with helping verbs (like has, have, had) to form perfect tenses (e.g., present perfect, past perfect). It is also used in the passive voice.

For regular verbs, the past participle is the same as the simple past tense form (ending in -d or -ed).

Examples: gone, eaten, played, sung, walked, learned

• I have played football many times.
• She has learned English.
• The song was sung by her. (Passive voice)

This form is made by adding -ing to the base form of the verb. It is used with helping verbs (like am, is, are, was, were) to form continuous tenses (e.g., present continuous, past continuous).

It can also be used as an adjective or a noun (gerund).

Examples: going, eating, playing, singing, walking, learning

• I am playing football now.
• She is learning English.
• Swimming is good exercise. (Used as a noun/gerund)
• The singing bird is beautiful. (Used as an adjective)

Regular Verbs form their past tense (V2) and past participle (V3) by adding -d or -ed to their base form (V1).

Examples:

Base Form (V1)	Past Tense (V2)	Past Participle (V3)
walk	walked	walked
play	played	played
talk	talked	talked
bake	baked	baked
help	helped	helped

Irregular Verbs do not form their past tense (V2) and past participle (V3) by adding -d or -ed. They change in different ways, and these forms need to be memorized.

Sometimes all three forms are different, sometimes two are the same, and sometimes all three are the same.

Examples:

Base Form (V1)	Past Tense (V2)	Past Participle (V3)
go	went	gone
eat	ate	eaten
sing	sang	sung
cut	cut	cut
come	came	come

Here is a list of common irregular verbs. It's good to learn these!