Nonauxiliary

Nonauxiliary is a term used in linguistics to describe verbs that carry the core semantic content of a predicate and function as the main verb of a clause. It stands in contrast to auxiliary verbs, which help express grammatical information such as tense, aspect, mood, voice, or negation.

Nonauxiliary verbs are typically lexical or full verbs. They can appear with or without auxiliary support, and in many languages they bear tense or agreement marks themselves when finite. In English, examples include “sleep,” “run,” and “eat” as the primary verbs in sentences like “The cat slept,” “She runs daily,” and “They eat early.” In sentences with auxiliaries, such as “The cat has slept” or “They are eating,” the nonauxiliary verb still supplies the lexical meaning (“sleep” or “eat”), while the auxiliary conveys tense or aspect.

Some languages use serial verb constructions or lack explicit auxiliary verbs, in which case the distinction between main and auxiliary verbs may be less clear. In such cases, nonauxiliary verbs can carry more of the predicate’s grammatical load. The term is also used to differentiate from copular or modal forms when analyzing verb phrases; a copular be, for instance, can function as a main verb or as an auxiliary depending on the language and construction.

Note that certain verbs can serve as both main verbs and auxiliaries (for example do or be in English), and the classification as nonauxiliary depends on the syntactic role in a given construction.