auxiliary verb

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noun

a word used in construction with and preceding certain forms of other verbs, as infinitives or participles, to express distinctions of tense, aspect, mood, etc., as did in Did you go?, am in I am listening, have in We have spoken, or can in They can see.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Also called helping verb.

Origin of auxiliary verb

First recorded in 1755–65

Words nearby auxiliary verb

auxiliary note, auxiliary power unit, auxiliary rafter, auxiliary rotor, auxiliary tone, auxiliary verb, auxilytic, auxin, Auxo, auxocardia, auxochrome

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use auxiliary verb in a sentence

From the difficulty of retaining a right discrimination of tense seems to have proceeded the active auxiliary verb.
View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 (of 3)|Henry Hallam
Cpi is a sort of auxiliary verb; incepi is emphatic; hence cpi has an infinitive, incipere a substantive, for its object.
Dderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes|Ludwig Dderlein
Sudah is classed as an adverb, but its most common use is to serve as a kind of auxiliary verb in forming the past tenses.
A Manual of the Malay language|William Edward Maxwell
A pluperfect is similarly formed with the past tense of the auxiliary verb.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7|Various

When two co-ordinate verbs are of the same tense and mood the auxiliary verb should apply to both.
Milton's Comus|John Milton

British Dictionary definitions for auxiliary verb

auxiliary verb

noun

a verb used to indicate the tense, voice, mood, etc, of another verb where this is not indicated by inflection, such as English will in he will go, was in he was eating and he was eaten, do in I do like you, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for auxiliary verb

auxiliary verb

A “helping” verb that modifies the main verb, as in “Gail can win,” “Gail did win,” “Gail could have won.” A question often begins with an auxiliary verb: “Did Gail win?” “Could Gail lose?” The various forms of the verbs can, have, is, and does frequently act as auxiliaries.