The verb is the king of the English language. Even the shortest sentence always contains a verb. Conversely, a verb can be used to form a one-word sentence, for example “ Stop!” (“Stop!”).
Verbs are sometimes called "action words." This is partly true. Many verbs convey the idea of action, of “doing” something—for example, “ run” (run), “ fight” (fight), “ do" (do), " work" (work).
But some verbs mean not action, but existence, not “doing,” but “being.” These are verbs like “ be" (be), " exist" (exist), " seem” (seem) “ belong”(belong).
A subject is attached to a verb as a predicate. So, in the sentence “ Mary speaks English” (“Mary speaks English”) Mary is the subject and the verb speaks - predicate.
Thus, we can say that verbs are words that explain what the subject does ( does) or what/what is ( is), and describe:
- action (" John plays football” - “John plays football”);
- state (" Ashley seems kind” - “Ashley seems kind”).
Verbs in English have one peculiarity. Most words in other parts of speech - , etc. - do not change (although nouns have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change according to grammatical forms. For example, the verb “ to work” (“work”) five forms:
- to work, work, works, worked, working
Note, however, that this is not much compared to languages in which one verb can have 30 or more forms (for example, Hungarian) - if you have started learning verbs in , you can breathe a sigh of relief.
100 main verbs in English
Below is a list of 100 basic English verbs. It will be useful to first learn these most popular verbs in the English language. The verbs in the table are given in descending order of frequency of use:
|
Basic verb form |
Verb in past tense |
Past participle |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
have (to have) |
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do (to do) |
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say (speak) |
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get (receive) |
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make (to do) |
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know (know) |
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think (think) |
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take (take) |
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see (to see) |
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come (to come) |
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want (want) |
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use (use) |
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find (find) |
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give (give) |
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tell (tell) |
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work (work) |
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call (call; call) |
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try (try) |
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ask (ask; ask) |
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need (need) |
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feel |
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become (become) |
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leave (leave) |
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put (put; put) |
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mean (mean) |
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keep (keep) |
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let (allow) |
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begin (start) |
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seem (seem) |
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help (help) |
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show (show) |
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hear (hear) |
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play (play) |
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run (run) |
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move (move) |
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believe (believe) |
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bring (bring) |
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happen (happen) |
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write (write) |
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sit (sit) |
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stand (stand) |
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lose (lose) |
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pay (pay) |
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meet (meet) |
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include (include) |
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continue (continue) |
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set (set) |
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learn (learn) |
learned/learned |
learned/learned |
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change |
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lead (lead) |
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understand |
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watch (watch) |
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follow |
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stop (stop) |
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create |
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speak (speak) |
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spend (spend) |
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grow (grow) |
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open (open) |
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win (to win) |
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teach (teach) |
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offer (offer) |
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remember (remember) |
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appear (appear) |
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buy (buy) |
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serve (serve) |
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die (to die) |
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send (send) |
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build (build) |
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stay (stay) |
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fall (fall) |
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cut (to cut) |
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reach (reach) |
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kill (kill) |
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raise (raise) |
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pass (pass) |
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|
sell (sell) |
Basic English is worth loving if only for the fact that to study it you only need to learn 850 words. Oddly enough, this amount is quite enough to communicate easily and naturally with a resident of any English-speaking country. Of course, if you need English to become a translator or read Wilkie Collins in the original, then welcome to the philology department or very serious courses. However, if your goal is simply to speak an international language, then welcome to this article!
For greater simplicity, the 850 words are divided into main groups:
1) objects and phenomena (600 words, of which 400 are general, and 200 are designations of objects);
2) action or movement (100 words);
3) expression of quality (150 words, of which 100 are general and 50 with the opposite meaning).
Particularly pleasing is the fact that out of 850 basic words, 514 have only one syllable! This is not a conservationalist or anything worse. Are you already rubbing your palms in anticipation of the Basic dictionary? Please.
1. OBJECTS AND PHENOMENA
If you follow the “from simple to complex” method, then the minimum vocabulary can be learned from picture words. There are 200 of them. You can put stickers all over the apartment (if the household doesn’t go crazy taking an apple with an “apple” piece of paper from the refrigerator). Or cut out pictures from books. Or download the images on the Internet and print them with captions (by the way, you can flip through them in queues or traffic jams). And here is a ready-made list with pictures on Wikipedia.
1.1. 200 picture words:
It is most convenient and quick to divide these basic words into 6 groups according to their meaning: body parts, food, animals, transport, objects, etc. If you study at least 2 groups every day, then in three days you can master the basic vocabulary. The main thing is not to lose your knowledge and consolidate it in practice. Any acquaintance who agrees to become an angry examiner or pretends to be a know-nothing who is interested in everything is suitable for this.
U:
umbrella - umbrella
1.2. 400 common words:
To make it easier to learn this sequence, let's not reinvent the wheel. You can, of course, suffer and divide all the words into semantic groups, but there will be so many of them that some will only fit one or two terms. It's easier to learn in alphabet. For each letter there are about a dozen words. If you bend over a piece of paper for 10 minutes at least three times a day, you can learn at least 3 letters a day. The maximum depends on your goals and desires.
| page - page pain - pain, cause pain paint - paint, draw, paint paper - paper part - part, separate, divide paste - stick, paste payment - payment peace - peace person - person place - place, place, take place, place plant - plant, plant, graft, sow |
play - play pleasure - pleasure point - point, point, indicate poison - poison, poison polish - polish porter - porter, porter position - place, position powder - powder power - strength, power price - price print - print |
process - process, process produce - product, produce profit - profit, make a profit property - properties prose - prose protest - object, protest pull - tension, pull punishment - punishment purpose - intend, purpose push - push, push |
| quality - quality, quality | question - question |
| salt - salt, salt sand - sand scale - measure, scale science - science sea - sea seat - seat, seat, place secretary - secretary selection - choice self - yourself sense - feeling, meaning, sense, feel servant - servant sex - sex, gender shade - tint, shadow, shade shake - shake, shake, tremble, shake shame - disgrace, dishonor shock - shock, shock side - side, adjoin sign - sign, sign, sign silk - silk silver - silver |
sister - sister size - size sky - sky sleep - sleep slip - miss, blank, slip, slide slope - tilt, bow smash - blow, break smell - smell, smell smile - smile, smile smoke - smoke, smoke sneeze - sneeze, sneeze snow - snow soap - soap, soap society - society son - son song - song sort - view, sort sound - sound soup - soup space - space, space |
stage - stage, scene, organize start - to begin statement - statement steam - steam, steam, move steel - steel step - step, walk stitch - stitch, stitch stone - stone stop - stop, stop story - history stretch - segments, stretch, extend structure - structure substance - substance, essence sugar - sugar suggestion - suggestion, guess summer - summer support - support, support surprise - surprise swim - swimming, swimming system - system |
Y:
year - year
2. ACTIONS AND MOVEMENT (100 words)
This list miraculously included words that, it would seem, do not fit the concept of “action” at all: pronouns, polite phrases. Well, what did you want? Try asking someone to make a move without "please let him go northeast for the asterisk."
You can learn in alphabetical order. And it can be divided into parts of speech: verbs, pronouns, prepositions, etc. Prepositions are easy to remember if you use a diagram. Draw a square on a piece of paper in the very center and use dots or arrows to indicate movement. For example, the preposition in is translated as “in” - put a dot in the square and sign it in. And, for example, out is translated as “from” - put an arrow from the square.
| come - to come, to arrive get - receive, force give - give go - walk, go keep - continue, keep, leave, prevent let - allow make - do/make, force put - place seem - seem, introduce yourself take - take/take be - to be do - do have - to have, eat, know say - talk see - to see send - send may - be able will - want to be about - about across - through after - after against - against among - among at - in before - before between - between by - to, in accordance with, for, on down - down from - from in - in off - away, from on - on over - by through - through |
to - to, before, in under - under up - up with - with as - since, as for - for of - from, oh, from till - bye, until than - than a - any, one, each, some the all - everything, all any - anyone, no one every - everyone no - no, no other - different some - some, a little such - such, in this way that - what this - this, this i - I he - he you - you, you who - who and - and because - because but - ah, but or - or if - if though - although while - while how - how when - when where - where, where, from where |
why - why again - again ever - ever, never far - the farthest forward - send, forward here - here, here near - nearby, about now - now, now out - outside, outside still - still then - then there - there, there together - together well - good, much almost - almost enough - enough even - yet, even little - small much - a lot not - not only - only quite - quite so - so very - very tomorrow - tomorrow yesterday - yesterday north - north south - south east - east west - west please - please yes - yes |
3. EXPRESSION OF QUALITY (150 WORDS)
3.1. General (100 words)
This is probably the most enjoyable part of the vocabulary. Without adjectives, the language would be too bland and formal. You can learn in alphabetical order. Or you can find images of objects or photographs of people and write on the back what you think about them. Don't be shy in your expressions. The more adjectives you use from the list, the faster you will learn.
| important - important |
3.2. Opposites (50 words)
The easiest way to quickly master words is to find antonyms. Have you already said everything about the different people in the photographs? Change your perspective and use opposite adjectives. Or simply write down first the quality designation from paragraph 3.1., and after a hyphen - the opposite meaning from paragraph 3.2.
That's all. Congratulations! You have a basic vocabulary. And it will be quite enough for communication. All that remains is to learn how to put these most necessary words into sentences. Welcome to Grammar!
