Definition of Copulative Verbs

Verbs are a class of words that make up the core of a sentence. This particularity is unique among the different types of words, since a single verb form provides a complete meaning, something that does not happen with the rest of the words. Thus, if I say it rains, I go or come, I am communicating something with full meaning.

Verbs can be analyze from various approaches: depending on their conjugation, their modes, their verb tenses or their typology. In this post we are going to address the copulative verbs, a particular case in the set of verbs of the Spanish language.

What are copulative verbs

In general, verbs communicate diverse actions (walking, laughing, to run, think...). However, some verbs do not communicate actions and are therefore a exception. We are talking about copulative verbs, whose fundamental characteristic consists in associating the subject with the predicate. There are two strictly copulative verbs, the verb to be and to be (in some classifications the verb to seem is also considered as copulative). If the main verb of a sentence is copulative, the predicate is not a verbal but a nominal predicate. They are called copulative verbs because they serve as a union (or copula) between a subject and a

While in a sentence with a non-copulative verb there is a certain action (for example, in the sentence "the friends swam in the pool"), when using a copulative verb there is no action in the sentence (for example, in the sentence "my friends are good sprinters", no action is taking place, because the protagonists of the sentence do not really do anything but are something).

Semicopulative verbs

Certain verbs may resemble copulatives in the training of some sentences. For example, the verbs meet, result, stay, stay, or turn. These types of verbs express the state of something and can have a predicative use (not copulative) or a semicopulative use. They would have a predicative meaning in sentences like "that child turned his back" or "the lecturer kept his arguments". Instead, these types of verbs are considered semicopulative in sentences such as the following: "that woman went crazy" or "the child was very calm."

The difficulty of the copulative verbs ser and estar for foreigners who study Spanish

The distinction between ser and estar exists in very few languages ​​and Spanish is one of them. This particularity is not an inconvenience for a speaker whose language Spanish is proper but it is a problem for foreigners. Thus, simple phrases such as "How is" or "How is" that have a different meaning can easily be confused if it is not distinguished with clarity what it means to be and to be.

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