Love is a tricky thing.
One minute it is showering you with happiness and warmth,
and the next moment, it has taken your joy away.
Oh yes, love has much to offer,
and it does so much for us,
But it doesn’t give us much unless we love ourselves first.
Do you like my poem? Be honest. It’s okay if not, because that poem, in addition to making the reader swell with emotion, illustrates the versatility of primary verbs.
Primary Verbs: be, have, and do
Be, have, and do are the three primary verbs in the English language, which means that they can function as either main verbs or auxiliary verbs (more on that below). In addition to being the only primary verbs, be, have, and do are the most commonly used verbs in the English language—they exist everywhere. In fact, I have already used eleven primary verbs in this guide. Their popularity stems not only from the fact that being, having, and doing express some of the most basic and universal human actions, but from the fact that as primary verbs, they can switch hit, as a main verb or as an auxiliary verb.
When functioning as a main verb, also known as a lexical verb, the primary verbs being, having, or doing express the subject’s central action: I am happy. She already had dinner.
When functioning as an auxiliary verb, also known as a helping verb, being, having, and doing set up other verbs to express the subject’s main action: I am becoming happy. She had eaten dinner. Auxiliary verbs allow writers to change the main verb’s tense to the progressive or perfect form.
Primary verbs have irregular conjugations
Each of these verbs conjugates in an irregular way, no matter if it’s in auxiliary or primary form. Irregular means that when it changes tense, it sometimes undergoes unconventional changes. Depending on if you use the primary verb as part of a subject or object’s action, and depending on the verb’s tense, to be, to do, and to have can take on a wide variety of forms.
For those new to these conjugations, it sometimes takes a bit of practice to get used to the irregular conjugations. Check out the quick run-through below, and visit the Verb Tenses guide, or the guide for your specific verb tense, for more information.
Irregular Conjugations for Primary Verbs (Both Main and Auxiliary Form)
| Irregular Verb | Past | Present | Future |
| To be | I was She/he was You, we, they were |
I am She/he is You, we, they are |
I will be She/he will be You, we, they will be |
| To do | I was She/he was You, we, they were |
I do She/he does You, we, they do |
I will do She/he will do You, we, they will do |
| To have | I had She/he had You, we, they had |
I have She/he has You, we, they have |
I will have She/he will have You, we, they will have |
Primary Verbs as Auxiliary Verbs
In their auxiliary form, be, have, and do help other verbs act as the main verb. When auxiliary, be, have, and do provide information about the action’s tense, the action’s existence or lack thereof, and the degree of accomplishment of the primary action.
When using primary verbs in their auxiliary form, you must always conjugate the sentence’s auxiliary verb, and usually its main verb as well.
Auxiliary verbs are critical for negative tense
Making a verb tense negative always requires an auxiliary verb. In fact, the auxiliary verb is the one that adopts a negative form, transforming the main verb without the main verb itself changing structure.
- Affirmative: I run every day.
- Negative: I do not run every day.
- Regular: We play our game tonight.
- Negative: We aren’t playing tonight.
- Regular: She gave me the necklace.
- Negative: She has not given me the necklace.
As shown above, when using the negative form with auxiliary verbs, insert the word not between the auxiliary verb and the main verb.
- Correct: Sandra has not been to our house yet.
- Incorrect: Sandra has been not to our house yet.
If a sentence has multiple auxiliary verbs, insert the not right after the auxiliary verb closest to the subject.
- Correct: My grandma has not been walking very much lately.
- Incorrect: My grandma has been not walking very much lately.
1. to be as auxiliary verb
The auxiliary form of to be plays a crucial role in framing the main verb’s tense, especially critical in the progressive and perfect progressive forms, where actions are in the process of taking place.
- Present progressive: I am running out of time.
- Past progressive: She was running out of time.
- Future perfect progressive: They will have been running out of time.
Depending on its affirmative or regular form, the auxiliary to be also indicates if an action is or is not happening.
- Affirmative future progressive: We will be running in that marathon.
- Negative future progressive: We won’t be running in that marathon.
Note that in the progressive tenses, the auxiliary verb conjugates differently depending on the tense, while the main verb stays in the -ing form.
2. to do as auxiliary verb
The auxiliary form of to do usually indicates if something occurred, and the negative-auxiliary form of to do indicates that a primary action did not occur.
- Affirmative present: I do wash my hair, I promise!
- Negative present: They don’t play well as a team.
- Affirmative past: We did take the dog for a walk.
- Negative past: Sally didn’t audition for the play.
Both the negative and affirmative forms of to do frequently serve to ask questions in the interrogative form, seeking to verify whether or not something happened.
- Affirmative interrogative (present): Does he play on the football team?
- Negative interrogative (present): Don’t we think it’s time to stop?
- Affirmative interrogative (past): Did you really say that to the teacher?
- Negative interrogative (past): Didn’t they order pizza for us?
In the interrogative form, to do conjugates based on tense and negative/positive, while the main verb stays in its base form.
3. to have as auxiliary verb
In its auxiliary form, to have forms the base of the perfect tense and perfect progressive tense (working with to be), indicating that something has occurred or has been occurring, respectively. In these tenses, the auxiliary to have indicates that an action had previously begun, been achieved, or completed, when the main action took place.
- Present perfect: I have told you so many times not to enter my room!
- Past perfect: She had gotten good grades up until this semester.
- Future perfect progressive: By that time, she will have been acting as CEO for ten years.
In the negative or interrogative/question form, the auxiliary to have still indicates or questions something having or having not begun, completed, or been accomplished.
- Negative question future perfect: Will you not have eaten by dinner time?
- Negative past perfect: I hadn’t played any football before two weeks ago.
- Interrogative present: Have they gotten dressed yet?
Primary Verbs as Main Verbs
Main verbs express the subject’s primary action in a sentence. The primary verbs to be, to have, and to do can each act as main verbs, and when they do, they conjugate the same as in their auxiliary forms.
- I do.
- She had.
- We were.
- Grandma is.
However, main verbs can take on a few different functions.
Transitive and Intransitive Main Verbs
When a verb is transitive, it takes a direct object. Conversely, intransitive verbs do not take an object. While any verb can be transitive or intransitive, this example will focus on the primary verbs (to be, to have, and to do).
Transitive verbs:
- We had a great time.
- She does many things for us.
- They were best friends.
- My sister is a volleyball player.
- I do the laundry.
Intransitive verbs:
- She already is.
- We have, even though you said not to.
- I do, often without asking first.
- They did earlier today.
- You always do.
Primary verbs often take an intransitive role when the action was already declared in a previous sentence.
- “Are you coming to dinner?” “Yes, I am.”
- She wanted to know if I walked the dog yet. I told her that I had.
- We couldn’t decide what movie to watch for a long time. Eventually, we did.
While intransitive verbs frequently end a sentence as the final word, sometimes adverbs or prepositional phrases follow after intransitive verbs.
- I did, reluctantly.
- She was, just like every other day.
- My mom thought my grandma hadn’t watered the plants. My grandma had, in a sneaky way.
The primary verb to be as a linking verb
The verb to be often expresses a state of existence or being, rather than an action. In this case, the to be verb takes a passive role, but still acts as a main verb. When it connects the subject to its state of being, the primary verb to be is considered a linking verb, sort of like an equals sign.
- I have been hungry all afternoon.
- You are beautiful.
- She was the star on the team.
- Our class is not very well behaved.
- They will be much improved after the program.
Wrapping up
Primary verbs sneak their way into many sentences, paragraphs, and passages. They function as auxiliary verbs sometimes and main verbs other times, keeping you on your toes with their conjugations and their varying roles in verb tenses. As you practice more with primary verbs, their conventions will become increasingly habitual; and until that point, you have this guide to help you. As always, reading actively, and writing as much as possible, helps internalize grammar rules. Keep writing, and enjoy the process.
