According to some
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a
dynamic verb
A dynamic or fientive verb is a verb that shows continued or progressive action on the part of the subject. This is the opposite of a stative verb.
Overview
Actions denoted by dynamic verbs have duration. They occur over a span of time. This ti ...
, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are static or unchanging throughout their entire duration, whereas dynamic verbs describe processes that entail change over time.
Many languages distinguish between these two types in terms of how they can be used grammatically.
Contrast to dynamic
Some languages use the same verbs for dynamic and stative situations, and others use different (but often related) verbs with some kind of qualifiers to distinguish between them. Some verbs may act as either stative or dynamic. A phrase like "he plays the piano" may be either stative or dynamic, according to the context. When, in a given context, the verb "play" relates to a state (an interest or a profession), he could be an amateur who enjoys music or a professional pianist. The dynamic interpretation emerges from a specific context in the case "play" describes an action, "what does he do on Friday evening? He plays the piano".
The distinction between stative and dynamic verbs can be correlated with:
* the distinction between intransitive and transitive
* the grammatical case used with a prepositional phrase associated with the verb
* the possibility of using the progressive aspect with the verb
* morphological markers
Grammatical case
Some languages make distinctions between stative and dynamic verbs in sentences. In German, for instance, several prepositions (''Wechselpräpositionen'' – "changing prepositions") take different
noun cases when they accompany stative and dynamic verbs. For stative verbs, the corresponding preposition takes the
dative
In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
case, whereas for dynamic verbs, the preposition takes the
accusative
The accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘ ...
case. For example:
* ''Ich'' lege ''den Stift auf den Tisch.'' (I lay the pen on(to) the table.) – ''Den'' here is the masculine definite article in accusative case.
'lege'' – infinitive: ''legen'':BUT
* ''Der Stift'' liegt ''auf dem Tisch.'' (The pen lies on the table.) – ''Dem'' here is masculine definite article in dative case.
'liegt'' – infinitive: ''liegen''
The same scheme also applies with stative and dynamic verbs in general, i.e. when the verb is stative (albeit the dynamic counterpart is non-existent), the preposition will always take dative, and vice versa.
* ''Ich'' bin ''in der Schule.'' (I am at school. – literally ''I am in the school.'') – ''Der'' here is the feminine definite article in dative case, since the verb ''bin'' (infinitive: ''sein'' – to be) is a stative verb.
* ''Ich'' gehe ''in die Schule.'' (I go to school. – literally ''I go in the school.'') – ''Die'' here is the feminine definite article in accusative case, since the verb ''gehe'' (infinitive: ''gehen'' – to go) is a dynamic verb.
:BUT
:''Ich'' gehe ''zur Schule.''
'zur'' = ''zu'' + der(I go to school. – literally ''I go to the school.'') – ''Der'' here is the feminine definite article in dative case. Note that ''zu'' is not a ''Wechselpräposition'' and always takes dative case.
* ' bist ''du?'' – ''Im Kino.''
'im'' = ''in'' + dem(Where are you? – In the cinema.) – ''Dem'' here is the neuter definite article in dative case.
'bist'' – infinitive: ''sein''* ' gehst ''du?'' – ''Ins Kino.''
'ins'' = ''in'' + das(Where are you going? – To the cinema.) – ''Das'' here is the neuter definite article in accusative case.
'gehst'' – infinitive: ''gehen''
Progressive aspect
In English and many other languages, stative and dynamic verbs differ in whether or not they can use the
progressive aspect
The continuous and progressive aspects (abbreviated and ) are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action ("to do") or state ("to be") in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects.
In the grammars of many ...
. Dynamic verbs such as "go" can be used in the progressive (''I am going to school'') whereas stative verbs such as "know" cannot (*''I am knowing the answer''). A verb that has both dynamic and stative uses cannot normally be used in the progressive when a stative meaning is intended: e.g. one cannot normally say, idiomatically, "Every morning, I am going to school". In other languages, statives can be used in the progressive as well: in Korean, for example, the sentence 미나가 인호를 사랑하고 있다 (''Mina is loving Inho'') is perfectly valid.
Morphological markers
In some languages, stative and dynamic verbs will use entirely different morphological markers on the verbs themselves. For example, in the Mantauran dialect of
Rukai, an indigenous language of Taiwan, the two types of verbs take different prefixes in their finite forms, with dynamic verbs taking ''o-'' and stative verbs taking ''ma-''. Thus, the dynamic verb "jump" is ''o-coroko'' in the active voice, while the stative verb "love" is ''ma-ðalamə''. This sort of marking is characteristic of other
Formosan languages
The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwa ...
as well.
Difference from inchoative
In English, a verb that expresses a state can also express the entrance into a state. This is called
inchoative aspect. The
simple past
The simple past, past simple or past indefinite, sometimes called the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular English ...
is sometimes inchoative. For example, the present-tense verb in the sentence "He understands his friend" is stative, while the past-tense verb in the sentence "Suddenly he understood what she said" is inchoative, because it means "He understood henceforth". On the other hand, the past-tense verb in "At one time, he understood her" is stative.
The only way the difference between stative and inchoative can be expressed in English is through the use of modifiers, as in the above examples ("suddenly" and "at one time").
Likewise, in
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
, a verb that expresses a state (e.g., ''ebasíleuon'' "I was king") may use the
aorist
Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by th ...
to express entrance into the state (e.g., ''ebasíleusa'' "I became king"). But the aorist can also simply express the state as a whole, with no focus on the beginning of the state (''eíkosi étē ebasíleusa'' "I ruled for twenty years").
Formal definitions
In some theories of formal
semantics
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comp ...
, including
David Dowty
David Roach Dowty (born 1945) is a linguist known primarily for his work in semantic and syntactic theory, and especially in Montague grammar and Categorial grammar. Dowty is a professor emeritus of linguistics at the Ohio State University, and hi ...
's, stative verbs have a
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premi ...
al form that is the
lambda
Lambda (}, ''lám(b)da'') is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar lateral approximant . In the system of Greek numerals, lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is derived from the Phoenician Lamed . Lambda gave ris ...
expression
: