Transitive and intransitive verbs in English

English verbs can be classified according to various criteria: they are right (work — worked — worked) and irregular (speak — spoke — spoken), semantic (to read) and auxiliary (am reading), as well as transitive and intransitive. On this particular verbs today and we’ll talk.

Transitive verb (Transitive verbs) — verbs, after which must be addition (object), to get a full, meaningful sentence.

She loves animals. — She loves animals. (loves — transitive verb, animals — addition)

And the addition may be direct (direct object) and indirect (indirect object)!

He ate a sandwich. — He ate a sandwich. (ate — a transitive verb, a sandwich — direct object)

She bought him a drink. — She bought him a drink. (bought — transitive verb, him — indirect object, a drink — direct object)

We play tennis. — We play tennis. (play — transitive verb, tennis — direct object)

He reads his daughters stories. — He reads his daughters stories. (reads — transitive verb, his daughter — indirect, stories — direct object)

• For more information about add-ons in the English language can be found in the article of our teacher.

Intransitive verb (Intransitive verbs) — verbs that do not require additions behind for a full proposal.

The dog barked. — The dog barked. (barked — intransitive verb)

We run every day. — We run it every day. (run — intransitive verb)

After intransitive verbs can be followed by adjectives or adverbs, predicate complementary value — in the English language offers these members are called complements (complements).

The food smells good. — The food smells good. (smells — intransitive verb, good — complement)

Eagles fly high. — Eagles fly high. (fly — intransitive verb, high — complement)

And now I suggest you see a short but informative and interesting video about transitive and intransitive verbs from a native speaker, and then we will continue our introduction to the topic.

So, from the video, in addition to the above, we have learned some very important information, namely: some verbs can be transitive and intransitive simultaneously! You could even say that the majority of verbs in English are transitive and intransitive, depending on the meaning of the verb.

Example	Type the verb
They sing songs every Friday. They sing the song every Friday.	sing — transitive verb
She sings to her children every night. She sings her children every night.	I sing — intransitive verb
I study English. I learn English.	study — transitive verb
He studies hard. He studies hard	study — intransitive verb

Many dictionaries do not disregard this property verbs and provide us with information about their transitive or intransitive, such a lovely Dictionary Macmillan, which we have repeatedly advised our students and readers. In some dictionaries do not have such information. I offer you a table of the most common transitive and intransitive verbs.

Table 1. transitive verb

Verb	Example	Translation
bring	He brought a puppy.	He brought a puppy.
buy	Please, buy a cup of coffee for me.	Please buy me coffee.
cost	This car costs a lot of money.	This car is worth a lot of money.
get	I want to get a ticket.	I want to buy a ticket.
give	We give gifts at Christmas.	We give gifts at Christmas.
leave	She leaves work at 6:30 in the evening.	She leaves work at 6:30 pm.
lend	I lent him 10,000 dollars.	I lent him 10 thousand. Dollars.
make	Has he made ​​a report yet?	He had already prepared a report?
offer	She was offered a promotion.	She was offered a promotion.
owe	He owes me 10,000 dollars.	He owes me 10 thousand. Dollars.
pass	I will die if I do not pass this test.	I’ll die if do not pass the exam.
pay	We should pay the bills.	We need to pay the bills.
play	He often plays the guitar.	He often plays the guitar.
promise	I promised him to come to the party.	I promised him to come to the party.
read	She never reads glossy magazines.	They never read the glossy magazines.
refuse	They refused to stay at our house.	They refused to stay in our house.
send	We send text messages to each other.	We send text messages to each other.
show	Show me your garden, please.	Show me your garden, please.
sing	Jane sings songs at karaoke.	Jane sings songs in karaoke.
teach	She teaches French.	She teaches French.
tell	He told an interesting story.	He told an interesting story.
write	Jack writes e-mails every day.	Jack writes e-mails every day.

Table 2. intransitive verb

Verb	Example	Translation
appear	One day he appeared on my doorstep.	One day he appeared on my doorstep.
arrive	We will arrive on Sunday.	We’ll come on Sunday.
belong	The book belongs on the shelf.	The book should be on the shelf.
collapse	The roof of our house collapsed yesterday.	The roof of our house collapsed yesterday.
die	He died last night.	He died last night.
disappear	Suddenly, she disappeared.	Suddenly, she was gone.
exist	Dinosaurs do not exist.	Dinosaurs do not exist.
fall	Snow began to fall quietly.	Snow began to fall slowly.
go	Where did you go?	Where are you going?
happen	It happens to him all the time.	It happens to him all the time.
laugh	They laughed a lot.	They laughed a lot.
lie	The village lies in a valley.	The village is in a valley.
look	Do not look at me like that.	Do not look at me so.
last	The lesson lasts 60 minutes.	The lesson lasts 60 minutes.
occur	Such things have never occurred in this town.	Such things never happened in this town.
remain	You must remain in bed for 3 days.	You must stay in bed for 3 days.
rise	The aircraft rose fast in the air.	The plane took off quickly in the air.
sit	They were sitting in silence.	They sat in silence.
sleep	He never sleeps more than six hours.	He never slept more than 6 hours.
sneeze	She sneezed very loudly.	She sneezed loudly.
stand	The bus was full and we had to stand all the way.	The bus was full and we had to stand all the way.
stay	Stay right here, please.	Stay here, please.
vanish	Everything vanished in a second.	Everything disappeared in a second.
wait	Let’s wait until 11 o’clock.	Let’s wait up to 11 hours.

Let’s summarize:

• Transitive verbs require behind supplement that can be direct or indirect.
• Intransitive verb does not require the addition after itself, and the field they may be adjectives or adverbs that characterize them.

And finally, I suggest you pass a simple test to determine transitive and intransitive verbs!

 

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Grammar