5. THE VERB.

Verbs are words that indicate actions, existence (being / being), possession (having) or mood.

In English, we use the preposition "to" to form the infinitive, for example: "to talk", "to eat", "to change", etc.

Verbs are the most complicated part of the sentence. There are many types of verbs. The verb can indicate the main action (the main verb). An auxiliary verb adds detail to the action or helps the main verb (they are also called "complementary verbs"). Modal verbs add modality (possibility, capacity, permission, prohibition, obligation, etc.). Transitive verbs connect a subject with an object. Other verbs need only one subject (intransitive verbs). There are verbs that are composed of more than one word (prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs). Verbs can be active or passive. For now and at this level, we will concentrate on the uses of the main and auxiliary verbs.

In addition to the many types and uses of verbs, we need to conjugate verbs. The conjugation of verbs depends on the subject and time. In the following lessons and levels, there are explanations for the conjugations of time. At this level, we are only going to study the present tenses simple and present continuous of the verbs.

Some of the most common verbs in English:

 to be
 to have
 to make
 to take
 to get
 to go
 to eat
 to leave
 to know
 to like
 to want
 to feel
 to begin, start
 to end, finish
 to stay
 to change
 to wait
 to put
 to be able
 to think
 to believe
 to hope, wish
 to look
 to see
 to hear
 to call (US) / to ring (UK)
 to read
 to write
 to listen
 to eat
 to drink
 to learn
 to teach
Auxiliary Verbs
There are three important verbs in English that can be used as main verbs or auxiliary verbs: "to be", "to have" and "to do". Depending on the use, the meaning changes but the conjugation is always the same.

To be
As in Spanish, this verb is very important and we use it a lot. At the same time, it is an irregular verb at all times. In addition, the construction of negative and interrogative sentences is different from how we construct those of the other verbs, as we will see in the lesson of constructing sentences. Also, we use this verb to build the continuous present, as we will see later. Therefore, it is important to understand the conjugation of this verb well.

Present simple subject
Yo soy
you, we, they are
he, she, it is
To have
This verb means "to have" when we use it as a main verb and it means "to have" when it is used as an auxiliary verb. We will learn more about the use of the verb "to have" as an auxiliary in the lesson on present perfect. For now it is important to keep in mind that this verb can be used in both situations and is an irregular verb.

Present simple subject
I, you, we, they have
he, she, it has
All
This verb means "to do" when we use it as the main verb. There is no direct translation in Spanish for this verb when it is used as an auxiliary verb. This auxiliary verb is also necessary to construct the negative and interrogative sentences. It can also be used in affirmative phrases for emphasis.

Present simple subject
I, you, we, they do
he, she, it does.