Phrase guide

auxiliary verb

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ɔːɡˈzɪljəɹi ˈvɜː(ɹ)b/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A verb that accompanies the main verb in a clause in order to make distinctions in tense, mood, voice or aspect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: auxiliary, helper verb, helping verb

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a verb that combines with another verb in a verb phrase to help form tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it combines with

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: verb

Narrower terms: modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary, modal verb, modal

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

76 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: օժանդակ բայ (ōžandak bay) — a helping verb
  • Belarusian: дапамо́жны дзеясло́ў (dapamóžny dzjejaslów) — a helping verb
  • Breton: verb-skoazell — a helping verb
  • Bulgarian: спомагателен глагол (spomagatelen glagol) — a helping verb
  • Catalan: verb auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Catalan: auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Chinese Mandarin: 助動詞 /助动词 (zhùdòngcí) — a helping verb
  • Czech: pomocné sloveso — a helping verb
  • Danish: hjælpeudsagnsord — a helping verb
  • Danish: hjælpeverbum — a helping verb
  • Dutch: hulpwerkwoord — a helping verb
  • Esperanto: helpverbo — a helping verb
  • Faroese: hjálparsagnorð — a helping verb
  • Finnish: apuverbi — a helping verb
  • French: verbe auxiliaire — a helping verb
  • French: verbe servile — a helping verb
  • French: auxiliaire — a helping verb
  • French: servile — a helping verb
  • Galician: verbo auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Georgian: დამხმარე ზმნა (damxmare zmna) — a helping verb
  • Georgian: მეშველი ზმნა (mešveli zmna) — a helping verb
  • German: Auxiliar — a helping verb
  • German: Auxiliare — a helping verb
  • German: Auxiliarverb — a helping verb
  • German: Hilfsverb — a helping verb
  • German: Hilfsverbum — a helping verb
  • German: Hilfswort — a helping verb
  • German: Hilfszeitwort — a helping verb
  • Greek: βοηθητικό ρήμα (voïthitikó ríma) — a helping verb
  • Hungarian: segédige — a helping verb
  • Icelandic: hjálparsögn — a helping verb
  • Ido: helpoverbo — a helping verb
  • Indonesian: kata kerja bantu — a helping verb
  • Indonesian: verba bantu — a helping verb
  • Irish: briathar cúnta — a helping verb
  • Italian: verbo ausiliare — a helping verb
  • Italian: ausiliare — a helping verb
  • Japanese: 助動詞 (jodōshi) — a helping verb
  • Japanese: 補助動詞 (hojo dōshi) — a helping verb
  • Kazakh: көмекші етістік (kömekşı etıstık) — a helping verb
  • Korean: 조동사 (jodongsa) — a helping verb
  • Latin: verbum auxiliare — a helping verb
  • Latvian: palīga darbības vārds — a helping verb
  • Lithuanian: pagalbinis veiksmažodis — a helping verb
  • Luxembourgish: Hëllefsverb — a helping verb
  • Malay: kata kerja bantu — a helping verb
  • Malayalam: സഹായകക്രിയ (sahāyakakriya) — a helping verb
  • Norman: vèrbe auxiliaithe — a helping verb
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hjelpeverb — a helping verb
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hjelpeverb — a helping verb
  • Persian: فعل کمکی — a helping verb
  • Persian: فعل معین — a helping verb
  • Polish: czasownik posiłkowy — a helping verb
  • Portuguese: verbo auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Punjabi: ਸਹਾਇਕ ਕਿਰਿਆ (sahāika kiriā) — a helping verb
  • Romanian: verb auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Romanian: verb ajutător — a helping verb
  • Russian: вспомога́тельный глаго́л (vspomogátelʹnyj glagól) — a helping verb
  • Scottish Gaelic: gnìomhair taiceil — a helping verb
  • Serbo-Croatian: помоћни глагол — a helping verb
  • Serbo-Croatian: pomoćni glagol — a helping verb
  • Slovak: pomocné sloveso — a helping verb
  • Slovene: pomožni glagol — a helping verb
  • Spanish: verbo auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Spanish: auxiliar — a helping verb
  • Swedish: hjälpverb — a helping verb
  • Tamil: துணைவினை (tuṇaiviṉai) — a helping verb
  • Thai: กริยานุเคราะห์ (grì-yaa-nú-krɔ́) — a helping verb
  • Thai: กริยาช่วย (grì-yaa-chûai) — a helping verb
  • Turkish: yardımcı fiil — a helping verb
  • Turkish: yardımcı eylem — a helping verb
  • Ukrainian: допомі́жне́ дієсло́во (dopomížné dijeslóvo) — a helping verb
  • Vietnamese: trợ động từ — a helping verb
  • Welsh: berf gynorthwyol — a helping verb
  • Yiddish: הילפֿסווערב (hilfsverb) — a helping verb
  • Zazaki: fiilo peştiger — a helping verb