A dynamic, fientive or sometimes eventive verb is a
verb
A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...
that shows continued or progressive
action on the part of the
subject. This is the opposite of a
stative verb
In linguistics, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are static, or unchangin ...
.
Overview
Actions denoted by dynamic verbs have duration. They occur over a span of time. This time span may or may not have a defined
endpoint, and may or may not yet have occurred. These distinctions lead to various forms related to
tense and
aspect. For example, a dynamic verb may be said to have a durative
aspect if there is not a defined endpoint or a punctual aspect if there is a defined endpoint.
Examples of dynamic verbs in
English are 'to run', 'to hit', 'to intervene', 'to savour' and 'to go'.
A striking feature of modern English is its limited use of the
simple present
The simple present, present simple or present indefinite is one of the verb forms associated with the present tense in modern English. It is commonly referred to as a tense, although it also encodes certain information about aspect in addit ...
tense of dynamic verbs. Generally, the
tense is required to express an action taking place in the present (I am going). The simple present usually refers to a habitual action (I go every day), a general rule (water runs downhill), a future action in some subordinate clauses (if I go) or the
historical present
In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present or historic present, also called dramatic present or narrative present, is the employment of the present tense instead of past tenses when narrating past events. It is typically thought to heig ...
(President signs bill). In other Germanic languages a progressive aspect of a dynamic verb is often not marked; for example, English 'I am going home' in
German is simply ''Ich gehe nach Hause'', using the present
indicative
A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentence
Dec ...
.
A dynamic verb expresses a wide range of actions that may be physical (to run), mental (to ponder), or perceptual (to see), as opposed to a stative verb, which purely expresses a state in which there is no obvious action (to stand, believe, suppose etc.).
Examples
Mayrinax Atayal
Dynamic verbs of the Austronesian language
Mayrinax Atayal, spoken in Taiwan, are marked morphologically by specific affixes. Stative verbs in Mayrinax Atayal are marked by the prefixes /ma-/ and /∅-/, whereas the dynamic verbs are marked by the affixes /m-/ and /-um-/, as well as /ma-/ and /∅-/.
[Huang, L. F. (2000). Verb Classification in Mayrinax Atayal. ''Oceanic Linguistics'', Vol. 39 (No. 2), pp. 364-390]
Dynamic verbs
:/m-astatail/ (jump)
:/l-um-aŋuy/ (swim)
:/ma-βahuq/ (wash)
:/∅-palatuʔ/ (swing)
Passive verbs
:/m-atɣaɣaaɣ/ (lie)
:/k-um-antatali/ (kneel)
:/ma-ʔoway/ (be tired)
:/∅-maskaiyuŋ/ (be hungry)
References
Verb types
Syntax–semantics interface
{{Syntax-stub