What is a verb phrase?

A verb phrase is the main verb of a clause plus any auxiliary verbs that go with it. It can be one word (she sings) or several (she might have been singing). The main verb gives the meaning, and the auxiliaries add tense, aspect, voice, and modality.

What is the order of auxiliary verbs in English?

Modal, then have (perfect), then be (continuous), then be (passive), then the main verb. Any slot can be empty, but the order never changes: It might have been being repaired fills every slot. In practice, phrases with three auxiliaries (will have been sold, should have been doing) are the longest you will meet often.

Is do part of the verb phrase?

Yes, when it appears. Do, does, and did are auxiliaries that English inserts in the present and past simple to form questions and negatives, because those tenses have no auxiliary of their own: Do you smoke? She did not call. When another auxiliary is present, do is not used: Have you eaten? not Do you have eaten?

What is the difference between a finite and a non-finite verb phrase?

A finite verb phrase shows tense and agrees with its subject (she works, they were talking); a non-finite one does not (to work, working, worked as a participle). Every complete sentence needs a finite verb phrase. Non-finite phrases attach to it: She wants to work from home, where wants is finite and to work is not.

Why does only the first auxiliary change in questions and negatives?

Because the first auxiliary is the operator: it is the only word in the phrase that carries tense, and English builds questions and negatives around tense. So Has she been waiting? moves has and leaves been waiting untouched, and She has not been waiting puts not straight after has. If the phrase has no auxiliary, do is supplied to play that role.

English grammar · Intermediate

Verb Phrases in English: Main Verbs, Auxiliaries, and Their Order

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

A verb phrase is the main verb of a clause together with any auxiliary verbs in front of it: works, is working, has been working, might have been working. The main verb carries the meaning; the auxiliaries add tense, aspect, voice, and modality, and they always appear in a fixed order. Seeing the verb phrase as one unit explains why questions, negatives, and adverbs behave the way they do in English.

The report should have been finished by now.

a four-word verb phrase: modal, perfect have, passive be, main verb

What it is

Every clause has a verb phrase, and it can be one word or as many as five. At its centre is the main verb, the word with the meaning: eat, decide, sleep. Around it English builds up grammar with auxiliaries: a modal (can, will, should) for possibility and obligation, have for the perfect, be for the continuous, and a second be for the passive. These helpers slot in ahead of the main verb in a fixed order that never varies, and each one dictates the form of the word that follows it. Once you know the order, any verb phrase in English, however long, becomes readable.

She works. She is working. She has been working. She might have been working. (One main verb, and one, two, or three auxiliaries added in front of it.)

How to spot it

Find the main verb, then look left. Every word between the subject and the main verb that is a form of be, have, do, or a modal belongs to the verb phrase. Adverbs like always or probably can interrupt it (has always been), but they are not part of it.

The kids are sleeping. (are + sleeping: one auxiliary)
We have been waiting for an hour. (have + been + waiting: two auxiliaries)
It will have been repaired by Friday. (will + have + been + repaired: three auxiliaries)
Do you know her? (do is an auxiliary added for the question)

Not every be or have is an auxiliary. In She is a doctor and We have two cars, be and have are the main verbs and the whole verb phrase is that one word.

Verb Phrases Quick Reference

The auxiliary slots, in the only order English allows

Slot	Auxiliary	What it adds	Form of the next word	Example
1	modal (can, will, must, should...)	possibility, obligation, future	bare infinitive	She must leave.
2	have	perfect aspect	past participle	She has left. She must have left.
3	be	continuous aspect	-ing form	She is leaving. She has been leaving.
4	be	passive voice	past participle	It is taken. It has been taken.
5	main verb	the meaning	none: it is the last word	She may have been working.
1 (alternative)	do (present and past simple only)	questions, negatives, emphasis	bare infinitive	Does she know? She did not leave.

Common Verb Phrases Examples in English

Verb phrases grouped by what the auxiliaries are doing, from a single word to a full stack:

One Word: The Simple Tenses

Birds sing.: main verb only, present simple
She left at six.: main verb only, past simple
Does he sing? He doesn't sing.: do appears only when a question or negative needs an auxiliary

In the simple tenses the main verb carries the tense itself (sing, sings, sang). Do steps in when there is nothing else to invert or negate.

Aspect: Have and Be

I have finished.: have + past participle: perfect
I am finishing.: be + -ing: continuous
I have been finishing the last chapter.: have + been + -ing: perfect continuous
They had been arguing for hours.: the same pattern in the past

When have and be both appear, have comes first, and be takes the participle form been because have demands a past participle.

Modals at the Front

You should rest.: modal + bare infinitive
You should have rested.: modal + have + past participle
You should be resting.: modal + be + -ing
You should have been resting.: modal + have + been + -ing

A modal is always first and never changes form: she should, never she shoulds. Only one modal is allowed per verb phrase.

Passive Be

The house was built in 1900.: be + past participle: passive
The house is being renovated.: continuous be + passive be + participle
The house has been sold.: perfect have + passive been + participle
The house will have been sold by June.: modal + have + been + participle

Passive be is always the last auxiliary, directly in front of the main verb.

How Verb Phrases Work

Five principles explain the shape of every verb phrase and most of English sentence grammar with it.

The Main Verb Is the Head

The last word of the verb phrase is the main verb, and it decides what the clause is about and what can follow it: an object (eat a sandwich), a complement (become a teacher), a preposition (rely on), or nothing (sleep). Everything before it is grammatical machinery.

They might have been discussing the merger.

discussing is the head; it takes the object the merger

Last verb = main verb = meaning.

Auxiliaries Come in a Fixed Order

Modal, then perfect have, then continuous be, then passive be. You can leave any slot empty, but you can never swap two of them: has been working is English, is had working is not. The order is the same in every tense and every register.

It could have been being used. (rare but correctly ordered)

modal, have, be, be, main verb: all four slots filled

Modal, have, be, be, verb.

Each Auxiliary Dictates the Next Form

A modal is followed by a bare infinitive (must go). Have is followed by a past participle (has gone). Continuous be is followed by an -ing form (is going). Passive be is followed by a past participle (is taken). So the form of every word after the first is predictable from the word before it.

will have been taken

will + bare have; have + participle been; been + participle taken

Look left to know the form.

Only the First Auxiliary Carries Tense

Tense and subject agreement show up once, on the first word of the verb phrase: has been working (present, third person), had been working (past). The rest of the phrase is frozen. This first word is the operator, and it is the word that does all the grammatical work in the next rule.

She has been waiting. They had been waiting.

has and had change; been waiting does not

One word carries the tense.

The Operator Makes Questions and Negatives

To ask a question, move the first auxiliary in front of the subject; to make a negative, put not straight after it. Nothing else in the phrase moves. If the phrase has no auxiliary (present and past simple), English inserts do as the operator, which is why do appears only in those two tenses.

Has she been waiting? She has not been waiting. Did she wait?

has and did do the work; been waiting and wait stay put

First auxiliary moves; add do if there is none.

Common Mistakes with Verb Phrases

Incorrect: She has been work here for years.

Correct: She has been working here for years.

Continuous be has to be followed by the -ing form. Each auxiliary fixes the form of the next word, and been (a form of be) demands working.

Incorrect: He must has finished by now.

Correct: He must have finished by now.

A modal is followed by the bare infinitive, so have never takes -s after must, might, could, or should. Only the first word of the phrase can carry agreement, and a modal never does.

Incorrect: Is been repaired the car?

Correct: Has the car been repaired?

Only the first auxiliary moves to make a question; the rest of the verb phrase stays together after the subject. Here the first auxiliary is has, not is.

Incorrect: I don't can swim.

Correct: I can't swim.

Do is only inserted when the phrase has no auxiliary. Can is already an auxiliary, so it takes not itself: cannot, can't. Two operators in one verb phrase is never possible.

The Verb Phrase Across the Tenses

The same main verb, work, in each active form. The first column shows how the auxiliaries stack up; the second and third show the operator at work.

Verb phrase, negative, and question by tense

Read down the first column to watch the auxiliaries accumulate. Read across to see that only the first word ever moves or takes not.

Pronoun	Affirmative	Negative	Question
present simple	she works	she does not work	Does she work?
present continuous	she is working	she is not working	Is she working?
present perfect	she has worked	she has not worked	Has she worked?
present perfect continuous	she has been working	she has not been working	Has she been working?
past simple	she worked	she did not work	Did she work?
past perfect	she had worked	she had not worked	Had she worked?
future with will	she will work	she will not work	Will she work?
modal perfect	she might have worked	she might not have worked	Might she have worked?

The passive adds one more be before the main verb in every row: it is done, it has been done, it will have been done.

Finite and Non-finite Verb Phrases

A verb phrase that carries tense can head a sentence on its own; one that does not has to attach to something else.

Finite verb phrases

A finite verb phrase is marked for tense (and, in the present, for the subject): works, worked, is working, has left. Every complete sentence needs at least one, and it is the phrase the subject agrees with.

She works nights.: present tense, third person -s
They were laughing.: were carries past tense and plural agreement
It has been raining since noon.: has carries tense; the rest is frozen

Modals count as finite even though they have no -s: she can, they can.

Non-finite verb phrases

A non-finite verb phrase has no tense of its own: a to-infinitive (to leave), a bare infinitive (leave), an -ing form (leaving), or a participle (left, having left). It borrows its time from the finite verb it depends on.

I want to leave early.: to leave has no tense; want supplies it
Leaving the office, she noticed the rain.: -ing clause attached to a finite one
Having finished, they went home.: perfect non-finite: earlier than went

A sentence made only of non-finite verbs is a fragment: To leave early. Having finished the report.

Non-finite phrases inside finite ones

Many verb phrases are really two: a finite verb followed by a non-finite one, each with its own main verb. The first verb decides which non-finite form the second takes.

She decided to stay.: decide takes a to-infinitive
She enjoys staying in.: enjoy takes an -ing form
She let him stay.: let takes a bare infinitive

Which verbs take which form has to be learned; there is no rule that predicts it from meaning alone.

Quick Check: Verb Phrases

Build the verb phrase from the words in brackets, keeping the auxiliaries in the right order and form.

1. By tomorrow the results ___ (will / have / publish, passive).

Answer: will have been published

modal, then have, then passive been, then participle

2. She ___ (might / work) late tonight.

Answer: might work (or might be working)

modal + bare infinitive; be working adds the continuous

3. They ___ (have / be / argue) since breakfast.

Answer: have been arguing

have first, then be as been, then -ing

4. Turn into a question: The bridge is being repaired.

Answer: Is the bridge being repaired?

only the first auxiliary, is, moves

5. Turn into a negative: He could have known.

Answer: He could not have known.

not goes straight after the first auxiliary, the modal

6. Finite or non-finite? Hoping for the best, we waited.

Answer: hoping is non-finite; waited is finite

waited carries the tense that the -ing clause borrows

Verb Phrases FAQs

What is a verb phrase?: A verb phrase is the main verb of a clause plus any auxiliary verbs that go with it. It can be one word (she sings) or several (she might have been singing). The main verb gives the meaning, and the auxiliaries add tense, aspect, voice, and modality.
What is the order of auxiliary verbs in English?: Modal, then have (perfect), then be (continuous), then be (passive), then the main verb. Any slot can be empty, but the order never changes: It might have been being repaired fills every slot. In practice, phrases with three auxiliaries (will have been sold, should have been doing) are the longest you will meet often.
Is do part of the verb phrase?: Yes, when it appears. Do, does, and did are auxiliaries that English inserts in the present and past simple to form questions and negatives, because those tenses have no auxiliary of their own: Do you smoke? She did not call. When another auxiliary is present, do is not used: Have you eaten? not Do you have eaten?
What is the difference between a finite and a non-finite verb phrase?: A finite verb phrase shows tense and agrees with its subject (she works, they were talking); a non-finite one does not (to work, working, worked as a participle). Every complete sentence needs a finite verb phrase. Non-finite phrases attach to it: She wants to work from home, where wants is finite and to work is not.
Why does only the first auxiliary change in questions and negatives?: Because the first auxiliary is the operator: it is the only word in the phrase that carries tense, and English builds questions and negatives around tense. So Has she been waiting? moves has and leaves been waiting untouched, and She has not been waiting puts not straight after has. If the phrase has no auxiliary, do is supplied to play that role.