By Dr. Elham H.

Abdulkareem; College of Dentistry, 31 March 2020

Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary or helping verbs, are
verbs which help to form
tenses.
There are primary auxiliaries
be, have and do
• The verb "be"
The verb be can be used as an auxiliary and a full
verb.
Simple Present:
• I am, he/she/it is, we/you/they are

Simple Past:
• I/he/she/it was, we/you/they were

Past Participle:
• been
• Present: He is playing football.

• Past: He was playing football.

• Present Perfect: He has been playing

football.

• Past Perfect: He had been playing football.

The verb "do"
we use do in negative sentences and questions for
most verbs in simple present and simple past.

The auxiliary "do" in negative sentences

• Simple Present: He does not play football.
• Simple Past: He did not play football.

The auxiliary "do" in questions

• Simple Present: Does he play football?
• Simple Past: Did he play football?
• We use them instead of answering just YES or
NO. It sounds more polite and natural.

Examples:
• Do you speak German? No, I don’t.
• Are they at home? Yes, they are.
• Can we stay here? Yes, you can.
"Have" as an auxiliary verb used in:
Simple past: I had a new guitar.
Simple present: I have a new guitar.
She has a new guitar.
Present perfect: They have had a nice time.
He has had a nice time.
Past perfect: They had had a nice time.
have as auxiliary (have got)

Auxiliary
Auxiliary Subject Verb Rest Yes/No Subject
(+ n't)

Have you got a cat? Yes, I have.

Have you got a new car? No, we haven't.

your
Has got a bike? Yes, he has.
brother
• Q1 : Identify all auxiliary verbs in the following paragraph.
I have just heard that you didn’t attend the meeting yesterday. Did
you have a conflict with that time? I must ask that you explain the
reason.

• Q2: Which of the following sentences does not show any

auxiliary verbs?
• 1)I didn’t have any reason to go there.
• 2)Have we practiced this song enough?
• 3)Three seats have been reserved for us.
• 4)I am a professor in the economics department.

Answer the questions

1. I have just heard that you didn’t attend the meeting yesterday. Did you have
a conflict with that time? I must ask that you explain the reason.

2. Sentence 4 (the verb am is used as the main verb).