1. What is a verb?
　
　　A verb indicates an action, a state of being, or an occurrence, as in English. 　 
 
1.1. Ordinary verbs 
　　Most Chinese verbs are ordinary ones, e.g. 
 
打(beat) 说(say) 有(have) 想(think)
爱(love) 来(come) 去(go) 让(let)
请(please) 希望(hope) 欢迎(welcome) 歌唱(sing)
是(be) 成为(become) 服务(serve) 游泳(swim) 
        
 
 
1.2. Auxiliary verbs
 
　　An auxiliary verb is usually used before a main verb or an adjective to express “maybe”, “should”, “must”, “wish” and other additional meanings, e.g.
 
　　 能够(can)　　可以(may)　　应该(should)　　必须(must)　　要(have to)　　愿意(be willing) 
 

2. What is noteworthy about Chinese verbs 
 
2.1. No changes in tense and person 
 
　　A Chinese verb does not change its form in terms of tense or person, e.g.
 
　　我学汉语。(I learn Chinese)
　　他学法语。(He learns French)
　　上星期我曾经出差去北京。(I left for Beijing last week)
　　下个月我将要出差去上海。(I will leave for Shanghai on business next week)
 
　　As exampled above, some nouns　indicating time like “上星期” and “下个月” and some adverb (see also section 2.7.1) like “曾经” and “将要” are used before the verb “去” to show its tense. But in most cases, word(s) indicating time is not essential in Chinese. If people can clearly understand the tense meaning from the environment or context, why we should add feet to a snake when drawing? Let's see: 上星期我出差去北京，下星期我出差去上海. Isn't it better to say that this way without any time adverb?
 
　　More examples:
　　今天是我的生日。(Today is my birthday)
　　昨天是你的生日。(Yesterday was your birthday)
　　明天是她的生日。(Tomorrow will be her birthday)
 
　　If we add “曾经” or ”将要” before every verb “是” in the last two sentences, I dare say nobody will believe they were from the mouth of a Chinese!  
 
2.2. The reduplicated forms of verbs: “AA”, “ABAB”, “A不A”, etc
 
　　Most of Chinese verbs may be reduplicated to be a bit more relaxed in mood, or used in “A不A”, “A没A”, “A不AB”, “A没AB”, “AB不AB” and “AB没AB” alternative question forms, e.g.
 
　　让我看看吧。(Let me have a look) --- AA (for monosyllabic verbs)
　　这事我们得商量商量。(We have to talk the matter over) --- ABAB (for disyllabic verbs)
　　你爱不爱她？(Do you love her?) --- A不A
　　你吃没吃？(Have you eaten yet?) --- A没A
　　你知[道]不知道？(Do you know?) --- A[B]不AB
　　你吃[饭]没吃饭？(Have you eaten your meal?) --- A[B]没AB 
 
2.3. Repetitive tendency
 
　　Chinese language shows a partiality for verbs, which are often iterated in a sentence and are seldom omitted, e.g.
 
　　他是你的朋友呢，还是你的老师？(Is he your friend or your teacher?)
　　我们谈到自己，谈到前途，谈到旅程，谈到天气，谈到彼此的情况――谈到一切。(We talked of ourselves, of our prospects, of the journey, of the weather, of each other ---- of everything)
 
　　It would be unnatural if we omit all repeated verbs as in the English versions.