Auxiliary Verbs

Auxiliary verbs are a small, special group of verbs that ‘help’ the main verb (the action or state word) in a sentence. They add extra information like tense (when something happens), questions, negatives, or possibilities.

There are two main types

#1. Primary auxiliaries (the basic helpers)

• be (am, is, are, was, were, being, been)

• have (have, has, had)

• do (do, does, did)

These help make…

• ongoing actions (progressive/continuous aspect): She is reading.

• completed actions (perfect aspect): He has finished.

• questions and negatives: → Has she finished? (instead of "She has finished?") → She does not like it. → Do you want tea? (do helps when there's no other auxiliary)

• Emphasis: I do love chocolate! (stronger feeling)

#2. Modal auxiliaries (they show attitude or possibility)

• can, could, will, would, shall, should, must, may, might

They express things like…

• Ability: I can swim. / She could run fast as a child.

• Possibility / probability: It might rain. / You may be right.

• Permission: Can I go? / You may leave now.

• Obligation / advice: You must try harder. / You should rest.

• Intention / future: I will call you.

• Past habits: When young, he would play all day.

#. Important note

Modals come first in the verb phrase, and they never change form (no -s, -ed, etc.).

#. Order rule

If there are multiple auxiliaries together, the order is always:

Modal + have (perfect) + be (progressive) + main verb

Example

“She must have been sleeping”. (must [modal] + have [perfect] + been [progressive])

There are also a few ‘semi-modals’ like have to (must), ought to (should), used to (past habit: I used to play football).

#. Remember

Auxiliaries always go before the main verb and help build the verb phrase.

In the next episode, we are going to look at prepositions.