Auxiliary Verb

What Are the Auxiliary Verbs in English?

The “Big Three” auxiliary verbs are “be,” “have” and “do” in all their forms. That includes:

be
been
am
is
are
was
were
have
has
had
do
does
did

Negative Statements and Questions

In many languages, changing a statement to a question is as easy as changing your inflection or punctuation. In Spanish, for example, you can say, “Ella habla Inglés,” or you can ask, “¿Ella habla Inglés?” The word order does not change. In English, however, the statement is, “She speaks English,” whereas the question changes to, “Does she speak English?” English questions almost always use an auxiliary verb.

Negative statements in English also generally use an auxiliary verb. We can’t just say, “They liked the soup?” We have to rearrange a bit, adding in the past form of the auxiliary “do” to say, “Did they like the soup?”

Progressive Verbs

In present progressive sentences, the verb expresses action that is in progress as the speaker says it. “I am typing” is an example of present progressive. In it, the main verb is “type” while the auxiliary verb “be” is conjugated according to the subject, “I.”

We also use past and future progressives to explain what was or will be happening when some other event occurred or will occur.

He was watching TV when the phone rang. Here, “was” is the auxiliary that helps us understand when the main verb (watch) happened.
We’ll be driving to Virginia during your party. The future progressive actually uses two auxiliary verbs (will and be) to tell us that this action (drive) takes place in the future.

Passive Voice

If you can add the phrase, “by a purple monster” to the end of your verb phrase and still have a grammatically correct sentence, you’re probably using passive voice. Here are some examples:

The chair was moved (by a purple monster) to the other side of the room.
I was hit in the head (by a purple monster) and knocked unconscious (by a purple monster).
It has been decided (by a purple monster) that the play will be canceled (by a purple monster).

There’s nothing grammatically wrong with passive voice; it’s an excellent use of the verb “be.” It’s just not very exciting writing. It’s more interesting to say:

A purple monster moved the chair across the room.
A purple monster hit me in the head and knocked me out.
A purple monster has decided to cancel the play. Take it up with him.

Perfect Tenses

The perfect tenses in English explain the order of things. When we use present perfect, we are explaining what has happened up until now. Past perfect explains what had happened in the past before something else happened in the past. And future perfect tells us what will have happened up to a certain point in the future.

All the perfect tenses use at least one auxiliary verb, “have.”

I have visited Stockholm many times.
He had seen many cathedrals, but none so grand as that one.

The future perfect also uses “will.”

We will have traveled to every country in the world after this trip.

And the progressive perfect tenses also use “be.”

She has been living in Sweden for 10 years.
He had been touring Europe for 3 months.
We will have been flying for 31 hours by the time we get home.

Dummy Verbs and Tag Questions

A dummy verb is a verb we use in place of a main verb. Usually we use dummy verbs when we’ve already used the main verb once or twice, and we don’t want to repeat it. For example, if someone asks you, “Do you know the muffin man?” you don’t want to respond, “Yes, I know the muffin man.” It’s too long and unnecessary a response when you can simply say, “Yes I do.” In this case, “do” is the dummy verb replacing the main verb “know.”

Or perhaps your wife tells her friend, “My husband wants to help you move your heavy furniture.” You can respond with a simple “Do I?”

We also use auxiliary verbs in tag questions, which are short questions added to the end of a statement. If the statement is negative, the tag question is affirmative, and vice versa.

Sheila has been to Japan twice, hasn’t she?
You’re writing a book, aren’t you?
He can’t speak Mandarin, can he?
Bob doesn’t bake a lot, does he?
Bob bakes a lot, doesn’t he?

The auxiliary verbs used in the tag questions are the same as those used in the statement with one exception. In the last sentence, the statement doesn’t have an auxiliary verb, so the dummy verb “does” is used in the tag question.

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are a special class of auxiliary verb that is used to express conditionality, necessity, obligation, ability, and wishful desire. The modal verbs in English are:

Shall – “We shall overcome.”
Should – “You should be dancing.”
Will – “I will always love you.”
Would – “If I had a million dollars, I would buy you an exotic pet.”
May – “You may be right; I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for.”
Might – “She might be mine.”
Can – “I can see clearly now the rain is gone.”
Could – “If I could turn back time...”
Must – “You must love me.”

These little guys have the ability to make big changes in a sentence, so it’s important to know them and use them correctly.