Auxiliary verb in English- the same reality as changing the ending in Russian. The mistake that everyone makes at first is to say sentences withoutauxiliary verbs.
Semantic andauxiliary verbs in English
Imagine an elegant gentleman in a tailcoat, with a cane, who wants to cross to the other side of the river where there is no bridge. On the other side, his bride is waiting for him. Of course, he can’t get it by swimming - he will get wet and lose his presentability. We need a boatman, a simple peasant who will take all the work on himself, will row, and a fresh gentleman will be delivered unchanged.
A young man in a tailcoat issemantic verb(main verb). His girlfriend, waiting on the other side of the river, is the listener to whom the meaning of the sentence needs to be conveyed.
Well, who is the boatman, you probably already guessed.
it auxiliary(auxiliary) verb - one that does not carry a special meaning (the girl / listener is not waiting for him), but can serve as an intermediary.
As the name suggests, auxiliary verbshelpother members of the proposal. If you look at any of the phrases where there isauxiliary verb, you will notice that he always stands in front of the semantic, approximately, like a bodyguard in front of an important person.
Idon't eat pork. I don't eat pork.
(Here in the first place auxiliarydo, then semanticeat).
Imight eat this. I might eat it.
Might (may)- auxiliary verb, and it works in tandem with the semantic verbeat (eat).
In what situations are these intermediaries needed?
A rare English sentence does without them. Auxiliary verbs give us information aboutmodalities, aspect and bail. Let's brush up on these concepts a bit, shall we?
- Modalityshows how reliable the speaker's statement seems to be.
It's just a guess, a fantasy about where to spend your vacation. There is an auxiliary verb heremay, which expresses the idea of possibility (with a certain percentage of doubt).
If replace may (can) on the must (must), it will have a completely different meaning:
Imust go to China. I have to go to China.
Wow, everything is more serious here, it seems that the speaker has signed an agreement with an employer in this country.
So, without changing the semantic "go”, with the help of modal auxiliary verbs, you can ensure that the sentence is understood differently.
- Aspectindicates whether the event has completed, whether it is currently ongoing, or whether it repeats regularly.
Completed event corresponds Perfect, as in Present Perfect, Past Perfect and so on.
Ihave eaten gluten-free pasta. I ate gluten free pasta.
Here haveshows the aspect of completeness: the pasta has already been eaten by the speaker, the gluten-free dinner is over.
For long events reserved Continuous, as in Present Continuous, Past Continuous, etc.
Iam eating a delicious meal right now. I'm eating delicious food right now.
If a the event happens regularly, then aspect will be usedSimplewhich means "simple". This happens in Present, Future and Past Simple. In this case, auxiliary verbs will be needed to ask a question or make a negation.
DoI know you? Do I know you?
No, you don't. No.
Do and don'tin these examples are helpers.
By the way, we have a very detailed article about the verbdo here .
- Voices, or pledges
From pledgedepends on whether the offer is passive or active.
Passive voice:
Iam followed by paparazzis. The paparazzi follow me.
Active Collateral:
Paparazzis follow me. The paparazzi are following me.
(We see the auxiliary verb -am- where the pledge is passive).
Passive Voice is always formed with a verbto be(in its various forms):
Youare loved. You are loved.
Sheis loved. She is loved.
Weare loved. We are loved.
Iwas loved. I was loved.
If you want to know more about the passive voice - read our material on this topic, .
Needinversion when auxiliary verbs will help you out
No need to explain how importantinversion, or reversal of word order in English. This is especially evident in interrogative sentences.
Usually, if the subject is after the verb, and not in its usual position, before all verbs, then we can conclude that this is a question.
There is only one point: not any verb can be put in the place of the subject.
In offers:
Do you need any help? Do you need help?
Are are you joking? Are you joking?
Do and areperform the functions of intermediary verbs. By themselves, they do not translate in any way, but along with them, as if by magic, an interrogative structure appears.
If we try to do without intermediaries, we get this:
need you any help? Do you need help?
Joking you? Are you kidding?
Here we tried to get by with only semantic verbs, but rather clumsy phrases came out, right? Never do this, always use auxiliary verbs.
The table below lists all formsbe, do and have.
Auxiliary verbs in English: table
How to recognize auxiliary verb?
Be, do and havemay sometimes take a day off from work as a boatman and be used in their own lexical meaning:
- Be - to be, to be
- Do - do
- Have - have
And so, you see such a verb in a sentence, but how can you understand whether it is now “working” as an assistant or not?
You just need to see if there are any other verbs nearby.
If there are several, and it looks something like this:
- Don't eat
- is fighting
- have jumped
- has been working
This means that those verbs that are at the beginning have discarded their personal meaning and are auxiliary.
Tanyais just a child. Tanya- just a child (is a child).
Here ismeans "to be". This is the only verb in the sentence, which means that it is semantic.
Tanyais crying loud. Tanya is crying loudly.
Here isstands before another, semantic verb(crying- crying), so he dropped his meaning of "to appear." In this caseto be(in the shape of is) helps to express the aspect of duration, because the girl is crying for a while.
So if you seedo, have or be, which are combined with other verbs - this is a sure sign that there are auxiliary verbs here, and they should not be tried to be translated according to the dictionary meaning.
Auxiliary verbs in English by tenses
All tenses with "Continuous" (or "Progressive") in their name use the verbto be.
Present continuous tense- Present Continuous
Use Present Continuousto show that something happens over a period of time.
Often used abbreviations:
I am reduced to I'm
She (he, it)- before he's, she's, it's
You are, they are decrease to you're, they're.
Iam standing in line and trying to get a drink. I'm standing in line, trying to order a drink.
Am- auxiliary,standing- "ing" form of the verbto standfor the present continuous.
Heis surfing the waves like a professional. He rides the waves like a pro.
Is- auxiliary,surfing- continuous semantic formto surf.
Past continuous tense. Past Continuous
This tense is used when talking about long-term actions in the past, and also when an action in the past is interrupted by another action.
Forming it is logical: auxiliarybeput in the past tense (wasfor the singular andwere- for plural). The ending-ing, characteristic of Continuous, remains.
Iwas eating my burger, when they brought coke. I was eating my burger when the cola arrived.
We see two verbs in a row:was (was) and eating. wasnot translated, it helps the verbeatset the right time.
Theywere telling about their marriage. They talked about their marriage.
Here the auxiliary verb iswereis the plural form.
Future Continuous Tense. Future Continuous Time
Is something going to happen in the future that you feel like it will take a long time, like a renovation? Use the Future Progressive tense to explain this.
Of the auxiliary verbs we find herewill and bein the infinitive (withoutto).
Verb denoting the future tense -will,you can often hear and see in an abbreviated form:
- She'll- She will be)
- I'll- I will)
- He'll- he will)
But this can only be done with pronouns. With proper names and nouns this is not possible. Type constructions"Ivan'll", "woman'll" does not happen, although sometimes in a stream of fast oral speech it sounds exactly like that.
I'll be doing my exercises to stay in shape. I will do exercises to stay in shape.
Annawill be working with Ivan. Anna will work with Ivan.
In tenses containing the word "Perfect", without auxiliary verbs, too, nowhere.
Any of the sentences in the perfect tense contains an auxiliary verbhave. It can take the following forms:have, has, had and having.
Present Perfect
The very word "Present" indicates that the Present Perfect is associated with the present moment. Of course, the action began in the past, but the main thing is thatnowwe have the result of this action.
Hasused for the third person singular, andhave- for all other persons and numbers.
Alexhas alreadyseen the apartment. Alex has already seen the apartment.
(Has- auxiliary,seen- past participle).
Ihave rented another apartment. I rented another apartment.
(Here the auxiliary verb ishave, and took away the semantic loadrented- third form of the verbto rent - take off).
And here the abbreviations are used:have turns into 've, a has- just in 's
It's made my day! This made my day!
past perfect
Ihad already seen the apartment, so I didn't want to go there one more time. I had already seen that apartment, so I didn't want to go there again.
When an event preceded another event in the past, the Elapsed Ended tense should be used.
Here is the auxiliary verb -had, since it is the past tense ofhave.
Future Perfect
Future Completed is needed when we want to say something that will be completed in the future. The template for it is:
Iwill have seen the apartment tomorrow by 3 p.m. I will see the apartment by three o'clock tomorrow.
Will, haveare auxiliary verbs.Seen- this is Past Participle (past participle) forsee (see).
Modal auxiliary verbs
This is a special group of auxiliaries. In addition to the fact that these words are intermediaries in various grammatical constructions and perform the function of auxiliary ones, they bring a lot of their modal meaning to the sentence. Take a look:
Sentence without modal verb
I have a cappuccino.
Can be translated as "I drink cappuccino" or "I have cappuccino".
Same but with the verbcan:
Can I have a cappuccino?
Has the meaning: "Can I have a cappuccino?" It could also mean“Can I have a cappuccino or am I not allowed?”.
In general, modal verbs color speech in different shades of desires, possibilities and impossibilities. At the same time, they can be used to ask a question, to turn an affirmative sentence into a negative one, to give a short answer to a question, etc.
Remember that usually when asking a question (or saying a negative sentence), we use the verbdo. So, modal verbs do not tolerate other auxiliary next to them and do just fine without"do".
Here is an interrogative sentence without a modal verb:
Does your dog read your mind? Does your dog read your mind?
(Requireddoesat the beginning of a sentence).
As soon as modality appears,cantakes over auxiliary functions,do not needed:
Can your dog read your mind? Can your dog read your mind?
The same goes for negatives. Regular suggestion:
Idon't have a cappuccino. I don't have a cappuccino.
We add a modal verb, and it displacesdo:
Ican't have a cappuccino. I can't have a cappuccino / I can't have a cappuccino.
Want to know more? Follow the links and read our materials on modal verbs.
About may, can and might -
Can and could-
About should and shall -
Auxiliary verbs are not so numerous, but a very important group of words in English. It is rare that a proposal can be made without their help. Not in all languages of the world auxiliaries play such a big role. So, in Russian we do fine without them. That is why it is highly desirable to take into account this difference and study English auxiliary verbs. We believe that you will definitely succeed!
Despite the fact that auxiliary verbs (auxiliary verbs) in English do not have their own meaning, they play a very important role. In combination with semantic (main) verbs, auxiliary verbs form almost.
From our article you will learn how to use auxiliary verbs in English tenses Perfect (perfect) and Continuous (long). We will also tell you what modal verbs and modal phrases are. And the comparative approach of this lesson will improve your understanding of verb tenses in general.
Let's see how exactly auxiliary verbs are involved in the formation of basic tenses.
Recent Past (Present Perfect)
Present Perfect (also known as present perfect or completed) in English describes an action that comes from the past and continues in the present, or happened in the recent past. Time is formed as follows: the form of the auxiliary verb have / has + III form of the main verb.
- my sister has come back from school. My sister has (already) returned from school.
- Tom has studied for 6 years. Tom has been studying for 6 years.
- Mother has cooked the whole day. Mom spent the whole day cooking.
- Jane has just finished doing her homework. Jane has just finished doing her homework.
- I have slept for six hours. — I slept for six hours.
- They have worked on this project for two last weeks. They have been working on this project for the last two weeks.
Long Past (Past Perfect)
(past perfect) describes an action in the past that began and ended at a specific time in the past. Past Perfect is formed as follows: auxiliary verb had + III form of the verb.
- We had left home when she arrived. By the time she arrived, we had already left the house.
- Jane had demonstrated no fright before the airplane took off. Before the plane took off, Jane showed no fear.
- Max finally repaired his car that he had bought two years ago. Max finally fixed his car, which he bought two years ago.
- The child had broken the toy before his mother paid for that. The child broke the toy (already) before his mother paid for it.
Continued action in the present (Present Continuous)
(present continuous or continuous) denotes an action that is happening at the moment, or that will happen in the near future.
It is formed as follows: auxiliary verb to be (am, is, are) + main verb + ending -ing.
- The family is having breakfast now. The family is having breakfast at the moment.
- Jane is preparing for an important exam. Jane is preparing for an important exam.
- I'm going to visit that museum soon. I am going to visit this museum in the near future.
- We are going to build a new house soon. We plan to build a new house in the near future.
Continued action in the past (Past Continuous)
Past Continuous (past long / long) denotes an action that continued at a certain point in time in the past. It is formed as follows: the forms of the auxiliary verb to be (was, were) + the main verb + the ending -ing.
- Tom was helping his brother with his homework the whole yesterday evening. Tom helped his brother with his homework all evening yesterday.
- Jane was swimming in the pool for two hours yesterday. Yesterday Jane swam in the pool for two hours.
- They were trying to mend the car for two hours this morning. This morning they tried to fix the car for two hours.
- We were having our dinner when the neighbor came. When the neighbor came in, we were having dinner.
Other Auxiliary Verbs (Modal Verbs)
If the verb can, will, shall, may, could, would, should, might or must appear first in the auxiliary verb + main verb construction, then they remain unchanged. In such cases, it is not necessary, as, for example, in Present Continuous or Past Continuous.
Let's look at examples:
- I must study hard to pass the exams successfully. — In order to pass the exam successfully, I have to study hard.
- We should be careful when crossing the street. We must be careful when crossing the street.
- You will go to the trip in summer. You are going on a trip this summer.
- He may work harder to earn more money. To earn more, he can work harder.
- She might win the prize. She could have won a prize.
- They could stay in the mountains for two days more. “They could have stayed in the mountains for another two days.
Modal phrases
Such as could have, would have, must have attach the semantic verb in III form.
Let's look at them with examples:
- She must have prepared her evening dress in advance. She should have prepared the evening dress beforehand.
- We could have left for vacations unless the car breakage. — If it weren’t for the breakdown of the car, we could have gone on vacation by now.
- He would have reached the peak if he had started his climb two days earlier. If he had started climbing two days earlier, he would have reached the summit by now.
Modal phrases used to, have to, have got to, be able to, ought to, be supposed to form constructions with a semantic verb in I form.
Consider examples.
Welcome to the lesson in which we will talk about how to use auxiliary verbs in English (auxiliary verbs). Let us analyze in detail each of the auxiliary verbs, see in what tenses certain verbs are used and be sure to consider examples of their use in English sentences. Auxiliary verbs include the following verbs: do / does, did, am / are / is, was / were, have / has.
Auxiliary verbs are used with interrogative and negative sentences to correctly indicate the time when an action will occur. Auxiliary verbs are not always needed. Below we will consider everything in order.
When are auxiliary verbs not used in English?
If in a sentence you see the words will, can, be, then auxiliary verbs are not used when posing an interrogative sentence.
I will call you day after tomorrow. - I'll call you the day after tomorrow.
Will I call you day after tomorrow? - I'll call you the day after tomorrow?
The verb will already indicates that the action will take place in the future, so auxiliary verbs are not needed here.
I can help you. - I can help you.
Can I help you? - I can help you?
Here we are addressing in the present tense with the verb can, so the auxiliary verb is not needed.
Her address is not found. - Her address was not found.
What is her address? - What's her address?
We used the verb to be in the present tense, that is, the time is already determined, so in such cases the use of auxiliary verbs is not necessary.
Use of auxiliary verbs in English
The auxiliary verb do (for I, you, we, they) / does (for he, she, it) is used for Present Simple tense.
Do you like New York? - Do you like New York?
Does he like Moscow? - Does he like Moscow?
The auxiliary verb did is used for the Past Simple tense.
What did she say? - What she said?
Did you ask anything? - Did you ask something?
The auxiliary verb am (for I) / are (for they, you) / is (for he, she, it) is used for Present Continuos (Present Continuous).
Are you coming back to home? - Are you coming home?
Is he going to the movies? - Is he going to the movies?
The auxiliary verb was (for singular) / were (for plural) is used for Past Continuos (past continuous).
What was she doing? - What did she do?
What were we doing? - What did we do?
1. Translate into Russian.
1) TO BE1. Matter is constantly changing and is constantly moving.
2. The Curies had been working for four years before they discovered radium.
3. Energy is measured in the same units as work.
1. He told her what happened and left.
2. I will have read the story by 10 o'clock.
3. Have you ever been to Moscow?
1. Why did you not come by the 9 o'clock train?
2. Don't go away!
3. Does he help you? - Yes, he does.
1. I shall be tired after the lecture.
2. Shall he begin the experience?
3. You shall get all the necessary books tomorrow.
1. I said that I should return on Sunday.
2. If he should come, I shall speak to him about it.
3. You should have measured the difference in potential between the points X and Y.
1. We will help you if you wish.
2. All right, I will do it.
3. Will you let me have a look at that letter?
1. She said that they would have taken all the exams by the 21st of June.
2. He said that he would return soon.
3. He thought that we would be working all day.
2. Choose the right option.
1. I … waiting for Pete.a) am b) have c) do d) will
2. He ... finished his work by 7 o'clock.
a) is b) will c) should d) had
3. He … learn French.
a) hasn't b) wouldn't c) doesn't isn't
4. They … go there with pleasure.
a) have b) are c) will do
5. Mary and John … at home last Monday.
a) have b) do c) were will
6. He will … read the story by 10 o'clock.
a) does b) was c) should
7. … open the window.
a) haven't b) don't c) won't isn't
8. The train … arrive at 7.20.
a) has b) is c) will should
9. … have you ever been to the Caucasus?
a) are b) should c) have to do
10. The train … have left by the time they get to the station.
a) is b) does c) will has
3. Make up sentences.
1. seem, he, unfriendly, does, ?2. I, the typist, came, the letters, when, typing, was.
3. just, the agreement, has, by, the director, been, signed.
4. his mother, returns, he, be, will, working, when.
5. go, did, to, cinema, you, the, yesterday,?
6. my, he, I, finished, before, had, work, returned.
Right answers:
1. Translate into Russian.
1) TO BE1. Matter is constantly changing and constantly moving.
2. The Curies worked for four years before they discovered radium.
3. Energy is measured in the same units as work.
2) TO HAVE
1. He told her what happened and left.
2. I will have to read the story by 10 o'clock.
3. Have you ever been to Moscow?
3) TO DO
1. Why didn't you come by the 9 o'clock train?
2. Don't leave!
3. Does he help you? - Yes.
4) SHALL
1. I will be tired after the lecture.
2. Start him experience?
3. You must bring all the necessary books tomorrow.
5) SHOULD
1. I said that I would be back on Sunday.
2. If he comes, I will talk to him about it.
3. You should measure the potential difference between points X
and Y.
6) WILL
1. We will help you if you want.
2. Okay, I'll do it.
3. Please let me have a look at this letter.
7) WOULD
1. She said that they will pass all the exams by June 21st.
2. He said that he would be back soon.
3. He thought that we would work all day.
2. Choose the correct option.
1. a | 2. d | 3. c | 4. c | 5. c | 6. c | 7b | 8. c | 9. c | 10.c3. Make sentences.
1. Does he seem unfriendly?2. The typist was typing the letters when I came.
3. The agreement has just been signed by the director.
4. He will be working when his mother returns.
5. Did you go to the cinema yesterday?
6. I had finished my work before he returned.
