Helping Verb - A Complete Guide

A helping verb in English is a type of verb that is used with a main verb to help it express tense, mood and voice. Helping verbs are also known as auxiliary verbs. The most common helping verbs include all the forms of "to be," "to do" and "to have." The main function of helping verbs is to help main verbs to express mood, tense and voice. Learning helping verbs is so important that you can't speak or write in English without them. They are found in almost each and every sentence that we use.

Continue to read the entire article to master helping verb definition, meaning, types, rules and example sentences with clear explanation.

This article covers:

• Helping verb - meaning and definition
• Examples of helping verbs
• Helping verbs in sentences
• Types of helping verbs
• Rules governing helping verbs
• FAQs - Helping Verb

Before you head towards the definition of helping verb, you need to understand the following three essential features that you will see in the definition.

1. Mood in Grammar: Mood in grammar tells us about the intention of a writer or speaker. Some types of mood in grammar are indicative mood, imperative mood, optative mood, subjunctive mood, etc. This type of mood in grammar is expressed with the help of a helping verb.

2. Tense in Grammar: Tense in grammar informs us of the time of occurrence of something or some event. It tells us about when an action takes place, took place or will take place. The three types of tense in English include present, past and future.  

3. Voice in Grammar: Voice in grammar shows whether the grammatical subject performs the action or receives it. The main two types of voice are active voice and passive voice. The active voice is the one which shows that the grammatical subject performs the action as in "John eats a mango.", whereas the passive voice shows that the grammatical subject receives the action as in "a mango is eaten by John."

Helping Verb - Definition and Meaning

What does a helping verb mean? A helping verb, as the name suggests, means a verb that helps a main verb. Helping verbs are also known as auxiliaries or auxiliary verbs in English. By definition, a helping verb is a type of verb whose main function is to help a main verb to express tense, mood and voice. 

Look at the following definition of helping verb:

Merriam-Webster defines helping verb as "An auxiliary verb, also called a helping verb, is a verb that is used with another verb (or two other verbs) in a verb phrase."

Therefore, a helping verb has the following features:

1. A helping verb is a type of verb.

2. A helping verb is the one that is used with a main verb.

3. A helping verb is the one that helps a main verb to express mood, tense and voice.

4. A helping verb used with a main verb forms part of a verb phrase.

5. A helping verb is also known as an auxiliary verb.

6. A modal verb is also a type of helping verb.

7. A helping verb can't express meaning on its own.

8. A helping verb can be used to make statements and form questions.

9. A helping verb is used in both active voice and passive voice.

 

Helping Verbs Examples in Words

We can categorize helping verbs in the following four categories. Here are the most common helping verbs of all the four categories:

1. To be and its all forms: be, been, being, is, am, are, was, were. 

2. To do and its all forms: do, does, did

3. To have and its all forms: has, have, had

4. Modal verbs: can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must.

10 Examples of Helping Verbs in Sentences

1. He is going to the market.

2. John does not love ice cream.

3. He had done it before the deadline.

4. You can speak English if you practice.

5. I am not going anywhere.

6. Do you love me?

7. A deer was hunted by a hunter.

8. It is all done now.

9. You should not do it.

10. I was present in the class yesterday.

Linking and Helping Verbs - A Comparative Study

Some of the helping verbs such as "is," "am," "are," "was," "were," etc. can act as both helping and linking verbs; therefore, the confusion "which one is a helping verb and which one is a linking verb?" arises most often. That said, you need to understand the difference between a linking verb and helping verb.

The main difference between a linking verb and a helping verb is that a linking verb connects the subject of a sentence to the predicate, whereas a helping verb helps a main verb to express mood, tense and voice.

Examples of Linking Verb:

a. I am a student.

b. John is tall.

c. She is beautiful.

Examples of Helping Verb:

a. I am learning English.

b. John is teaching English.

c. She is working for a company.

Helping Verbs List - All Helping Verbs

Here is a complete list of helping verbs in English:

• do
• does
• is
• am
• are
• was
• were
• has
• had
• have
• have been
• has been
• had been
• will
• shall
• will be
• shall be
• will have been
• shall have been
• can
• could
• should
• would
• may
• might
• must

Helping Verbs Quizzes and Exercises

Question 1: Identify the helping verbs used in the following examples:

a. John is handsome.

b. He is learning English.

c. Why does it happen?

d. Do you like ice cream?

e. Can you lend me your pen?

Question 2: Use the suitable helping verbs in the below-given examples.

a. John and his father....... going (is/are/am)

b. I, John and Ram.........not love ice cream. (does/do/is)

c. Why......we go to gym? (is/are/do/does)

d. ......he swim? (can/is/had/has)

e. I ..........about to tell you. (were/was/had)

FAQs - Helping Verb

What are helping verbs? 

Helping verbs are the verbs that help main verbs to express mood, tense and voice. The most common helping verbs include: Is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being, has, have, had, do, does, did, can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might and must. 

10 Helping verbs example sentences 

1. He is going to the market.

2. John does not love ice cream.

3. He had done it before the deadline.

4. You can speak English if you practice.

5. I am not going anywhere.

6. Do you love me?

7. A deer was hunted by a hunter.

8. It is all done now.

9. You should not do it.

10. I was present in the class yesterday.

How many helping verbs are there?

There are mainly 23 helping verbs in English grammar. If you want to count the variations of those 23 helping verbs, there can be more than 23 helping verbs.

23 helping verbs

Is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being, has, have, had, do, does, did, can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might and must.