A copula verb connects the subject of a sentence with a modifier, often referred to as a linking verb. The verb “to be” is a common example. Adjectives, not adverbs, should be used to modify copula verbs, but this can cause confusion. Copula verbs tend to be irregular in Indo-European languages.
A copula is a special type of verb in English, although in other languages other parts of speech may serve in this role. The verb acts as a connector between the subject of the sentence and a kind of modifier. Because of this role, it is also often referred to as a linking verb in English. The prime example in English, and many other languages, is the verb to be, which most often serves to connect the subject of the sentence with the predicate, a part of the sentence that modifies the subject.
Some examples of this use of to be include the following:
Is anything ever enough?
The house is at the top of the hill.
Jets are fast.
In each of these sentences, the verb to be is not being used in the literal verbal sense, meaning “to exist,” but rather is taking the second part of the sentence – the predicate – and using it to modify the first part.
Conversely, in the sentence “I think, therefore I am,” the verb is not a copula, but rather a full verb that literally signifies existence. This duality that most linking verbs have can often cause confusion when people attempt to refine their speech to be more grammatically standard.
Most people learn early on that we have to use adverbs to modify verbs and adjectives to modify nouns. This is why, when someone uses the phrase “I ran here as fast as I can,” resident English teachers or grammar experts can correct the speaker, noting that the word they should be using is fast, since running is a verb and fast is an adjective.
The problem arises when people try to generalize this rule to copula verbs. The trick is that adverbs should be used to modify action verbs but this doesn’t include all verbs. The verb feel, for example, can be used as an action verb, but it can also be used as a copula verb. A common overcorrection is in response to the question “How are you feeling?” with the incorrect answer, “I feel bad.”
In this case, the speaker misuses the adverbial form rather than the adjectival form because he recognizes hear as a verb. In this context, however, feel is used as a copula verb, not an action verb, and so the adjectival form is correct. By misusing the modifier, it is implied that feel is being used as an action verb, with the meaning of the sentence rendered to something like “My tactile senses work pretty badly.” What is meant, of course, is to modify the self with the linking verb, saying something like, “Bad is an apt way to describe the state I’m in.”
An interesting aspect of copula verbs in Indo-European languages is that they tend to be much more irregular than any other verb in the language. The verb to be, for example, has eight distinct forms, in contrast to the four or five forms that other verbs typically have. Added to the eight forms – to be, be, been, is, are, be, was and was – historically there were four other forms – best, art, wast and wert – which give the verb more than double the forms of regular verbs.
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