Hay cuatro tipos de verbos compuestos en inglés:
- Prepositional verb
- Phrasal verb
- Auxiliary verb
- Compound single word verb
- His wife believes in him (prepositional verb).
- His boss always looked down on him (phrasal verb).
- I will travel to Sidney next Friday (auxiliary verb).
- My jacket is rain-proof (compound single word verb).
Prepositional verb
Cuando una preposición (una palabra que indica ubicación o tiempo, por ejemplo, in, at, on, for) se combina con un verbo para agregarle detalles. Suele llevar un complemento directo (en general, es lo que lo diferencia del phrasal verb.
Example: ride in, sit on, at seven,
- He wasn’t fit to climb up the mountain.
- He believes in praying every night.
- Could you look after my son
Phrasal verb
Cuando un verbo se combina con un adverbio preposicional (una palabra que describe la ubicación o dirección de un verbo) se obtiene el phrasal verb. Este puede ir sin complemento, "If they had loved each other they would never break out".
Example: break out, put off, brake out
- The convict broke out of jail three times.
- You always put me off with your remarks
- He was a soldier before the war broke out
Auxiliary verb
Combinación del verbo con un verbo auxiliar. Estos se usan a menudo cuando se habla de distintos tiempos. Los verbos auxiliares comunes incluyen diversas formas to be y to have
Example: was driving, will talk, are speaking
- John was driving a blue car.
- He will talk to him later.
- They were speaking in the middle of the park.
Compound single-word verb
Los verbos compuestos pueden formar un solo verbo hecho de distintas palabras. Ambas palabras pueden ser verbos o uno puede ser un adjetivo o sustantivo. Pueden estar unidas con o sin guiones.
Vea también los verbos en la lengua inglesa | Verbs in English language
Example: test-drive, shortchange, water-proof
- would you like to test-drive that sports car.
- The cashier shortchanged me 75 cents.
- The garment was water-proofed