100 Essential English Verbs

Level: A1. Verbs are the engine of every sentence, so a small set of them unlocks most of what you want to say. This page gives you 100 essential English verbs, grouped by meaning so related words stick together, each with a plain definition and a short example you can copy.

By the end of this page you can…

…recognise and use the 100 most common English verbs, say them in simple sentences, and know which high-use verbs are irregular in the past tense.

How this list was chosen

Every verb here comes from the English frequency list (hermitdave/FrequencyWords), which ranks words by how often they appear in a large collection of everyday subtitles. From the top of that list we kept the genuine verbs an A1 learner needs first and grouped them by meaning rather than by rank, so you learn go/come/get together instead of in scattered order. The Rank column is the word’s real position in the frequency list — lower means more common.

Being, having and doing

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
22	have	own or possess	I have two sisters.
24	do	perform an action	Do your homework now.
29	be	exist or describe a state	I am a teacher. She is happy.
395	happen	take place	What happened yesterday?
530	become	start to be	It became cold at night.
626	seem	appear to be	You seem tired today.
2106	appear	come into sight; seem	A man appeared at the door.

Thinking, knowing and deciding

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
33	know	have information	I know the answer.
67	think	have an idea or opinion	I think it is a good plan.
125	mean	show a meaning; intend	What does this word mean?
205	believe	feel sure something is true	I believe you.
235	understand	know the meaning	I understand the lesson.
237	remember	keep in your mind	Remember to lock the door.
346	hope	want something to happen	I hope you feel better.
691	learn	get new knowledge or skill	I want to learn English.
1152	decide	choose after thinking	We decided to stay home.
1367	consider	think about carefully	Please consider my idea.

Wanting and feeling

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
43	like	enjoy something	I like music.
66	want	wish to have or do	I want a cup of tea.
107	need	must have	You need a visa to travel.
123	love	like very much	They love their children.
192	feel	sense an emotion or touch	I feel happy today.

Saying and communicating

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
97	tell	give information to someone	Tell me the truth.
101	say	speak words	She said hello.
161	call	phone or name someone	I will call you tonight.
164	talk	speak with someone	Let us talk later.
238	ask	put a question; request	Can I ask a question?
241	show	let someone see	Show me the photo.
472	speak	use language	Do you speak English?
517	answer	reply	Please answer the phone.
909	offer	say you will give or do	She offered to help.

Seeing, hearing and reading

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
69	see	notice with your eyes	I can see the sea.
84	look	turn your eyes to something	Look at the board.
145	find	discover something	I found my keys.
236	hear	notice a sound	I hear music next door.
365	watch	look at for a time	We watched a film.
462	read	understand written words	I read the news.
645	write	put words on paper	Write your name here.

Moving and travelling

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
45	get	obtain; arrive; become	I get home at six.
47	go	move to a place	I go to school by bus.
58	come	move toward the speaker	Come here, please.
184	leave	go away from a place	The train leaves at nine.
219	stay	remain in a place	Stay here with me.
278	move	change position	Move the chair, please.
322	run	move fast on foot	The dog ran away.
352	turn	change direction	Turn left at the shop.
489	walk	move on foot	We walked to the park.
637	follow	go after someone	Follow me to the exit.
673	fall	drop down	Leaves fall in autumn.
741	pass	go by; give; succeed	I passed the exam.
1087	reach	arrive at; stretch to	We reached the top.

Everyday actions

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
75	let	allow	Let me help you.
90	take	carry; accept; use	Take an umbrella.
114	make	create or build	She made a cake.
128	give	hand to someone	Give me the book.
140	help	make things easier	Can you help me?
151	work	do a job	She works in a bank.
159	wait	stay until something happens	Wait for me, please.
160	stop	end movement or action	Stop the car.
170	put	move to a place	Put it on the table.
181	keep	continue to have	Keep the change.
309	start	begin	The film starts at eight.
310	use	do a job with something	I use a pen.
319	bring	carry to the speaker	Bring your passport.
334	play	do a game or music	The kids play outside.
343	open	make not closed	Open the window.
388	pay	give money for something	I paid the bill.
393	change	make different	I changed my plan.
439	set	put in place; fix	Set the alarm for seven.
511	buy	get by paying	I bought some bread.
521	send	make something go	I sent an email.
761	sell	give for money	They sell fruit here.
830	spend	use money or time	We spent a week there.
1039	continue	keep going	Continue to the next page.
1193	begin	start	Let us begin the lesson.

Food, body and daily life

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
295	hold	have in your hands	Hold my bag a moment.
318	meet	come together	Let us meet at noon.
372	sit	rest on a seat	Please sit down.
373	eat	put food in your mouth	We eat at seven.
398	drink	take liquid into your body	I drink water.
425	sleep	rest with eyes closed	I sleep eight hours.
461	stand	be on your feet	Stand by the door.
464	cut	divide with a knife	Cut the bread, please.
486	break	make into pieces	I broke a glass.
612	drive	control a car	She drives to work.
636	catch	take hold of; not miss	Catch the ball.
789	wear	have clothes on	She wears a red coat.
1122	grow	get bigger	Plants grow in spring.
1150	choose	pick one	Choose a colour.
1264	build	make a structure	They built a house.
1391	cook	make food with heat	I cook dinner every night.

Life, work and change

Rank	Verb	Meaning	Example
281	live	have your home; be alive	I live in London.
358	die	stop living	The old tree died.
557	lose	not win; not find	Do not lose your ticket.
607	win	come first	Our team won the game.
838	lead	guide; be first	She leads the team.
1322	raise	lift up; bring up	Raise your hand.
1532	serve	give food or help	They serve dinner at eight.
1578	remain	stay the same	Few seats remain.
1654	create	make something new	Artists create beautiful work.

Example sentences

Play each line, then say it aloud. These use the most common verbs in natural, everyday patterns.

I am a student and she is a nurse.

'Be' describes who or what someone is.
We have a small house in the city.

'Have' shows possession.
Do you know the answer?

'Do' builds a present-simple question.
I go to work by train every day.

'Go' for regular movement to a place.
Please come here and look at this.

'Come' moves toward the speaker; 'look' directs the eyes.
He took my pen and gave me his.

Irregular pasts: take/took, give/gave.
She said she would help us.

'Say' reports words; say/said is irregular.
Tell me what you want, please.

'Tell' needs a person: tell me, tell him.
I made a cake and we ate it together.

Irregular pasts: make/made, eat/ate.
They are building a new school near us.

'Be' + -ing makes the present continuous.
We saw a film and then walked home.

Irregular see/saw next to regular walk/walked.
Can you help me carry these bags?

After 'can', use the base verb: help, carry.
I have finished my homework.

'Have' + past participle makes the perfect.
Keep the money and buy some bread.

Everyday actions: keep, buy.
She works in a bank and drives to the office.

Present simple third person adds -s: works, drives.
Wait for me; I need to find my keys.

Common sequence: wait, need, find.
We decided to stay and watch the game.

decide + to + base; stay and watch.
Open the window, it is hot in here.

Imperative uses the base verb: open.

Recap cheat-sheet

A few patterns to remember before the quiz.

Cheat sheet: English verb patterns, helpers, third-person -s and irregular pasts

Quick recap before the quiz.

Pattern	Example
be / have / do as helpers	I am working; I have eaten; Do you know?
after to / modal, use base	want to go; can swim; will help
present simple he/she/it + -s	he goes; she works; it rains
common irregular pasts	go-went, take-took, see-saw, give-gave

Practice

Essential verbs practice

Try each one, then press Check. No sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere — it all runs in your browser.

1 Match each verb to its meaning.

buy Match for buy
keep Match for keep
leave Match for leave
choose Match for choose

Show answer

buy → get by paying
keep → continue to have
leave → go away from a place
choose → pick one

Linking a verb to its meaning helps you recall it faster.

2 Complete with the past of 'go': Yesterday I ____ to the market.

Hint: go is irregular

Show answer

went — The past of 'go' is 'went', not 'goed'.

3 Complete with the base verb: She can ____ three languages.

Hint: after a modal use the base

Show answer

speak — After 'can' use the plain base verb: can speak.

4 Which sentence is correct? He go to school. He goes to school. He going to school. He gone to school.

Show answer

He goes to school. — Present simple third person adds -s: he goes.

5 Pick the correct past form. I taked the bus. I tooked the bus. I took the bus. I taken the bus.

Show answer

I took the bus. — take is irregular: take/took.

6 Put the words in order.

Show answer

I want to go home — want + to + base verb: I want to go home.

Quiz

Next set: Common English Adjectives
Previous set: English Words 2001-3000 (Frequency)
Grammar for verbs: Present simple (affirmative), The verb to be, Past simple: irregular verbs
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100 Essential English Verbs

By the end of this page you can…

How this list was chosen

Being, having and doing

Thinking, knowing and deciding

Wanting and feeling

Saying and communicating

Seeing, hearing and reading

Moving and travelling

Everyday actions

Food, body and daily life

Life, work and change

Example sentences

Recap cheat-sheet

Practice

Essential verbs practice

Quiz

Essential verbs quiz

Next

All English vocabulary topics

Vocabulary