Transitive and Intransitive Verbs  

English verbs are split into two major categories depending on how they function in a sentence: transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs take one or more objects in a sentence, while intransitive verbs take no objects in a sentence.

Put simply, a transitive verb describes an action that is happening to something or someone, which is known as the verb’s direct object. For instance, in the sentence “I am reading a book,” book is the direct object, which the action reading is happening to.

To put it another way, the verb is transitive if a word or words in the sentence answer the question “Who or what did the action of the verb happen to?”

An intransitive verb, on the other hand, describes an action that does not happen to something or someone. For example, in the sentence “I arrived late,” arrived is describing an action, but there is nothing and no one for that action to happen to—the action is complete on its own. The verb is intransitive if we cannot answer the question “Who or what did the action of the verb happen to?”

When intransitive verbs are modified by prepositional phrases, they can often look like they are transitive because the preposition has its own object; however, this is not the case. Take, for example, the following sentences:

It may seem like home, dust and our room are all objects of the verbs in these sentences, but they’re actually objects of the prepositions, which together form prepositional phrases that modify the verbs. The verbs remain intransitive, regardless of the objects in prepositional phrases.

One way to remember the difference between the two is to think about their names:

Transitive verbs transition or transfer an action to a person or thing that receives it.

In- means not in this case, so intransitive verbs do not transition/transfer an action to a person or thing that receives it.

Some action verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on the context of the sentence or what information the speaker wishes to include. These are sometimes known as ambitransitive or ergative verbs.

For example:

Here are some other examples of verbs that function both transitively and intransitively.

As we’ve seen, a transitive verb is by definition a verb that takes an object. Most verbs are monotransitive, meaning they only take one object. However, some verbs, known as ditransitive verbs, can take two objects in a sentence, while others, known as tritransitive verbs, can take (or seem to take) three.

A verb that acts upon a single object in a sentence is referred to as monotransitive (mono meaning one). This single object is called its direct object. All of the examples we’ve seen so far have been monotransitive verbs; here’s a few more:

There are some verbs in English that take two objects: a direct object and an indirect object. These are known as ditransitive verbs. The direct object relates to the person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb, while the indirect object relates to the person or thing that indirectly receives or benefits from the action as a result.

The indirect object in a ditransitive verb can either come immediately before the direct object in a sentence, or it can form the object of a prepositional phrase using to or for that follows and modifies the direct object.

For example:

Here are some other examples:

Factitive verbs are or appear to be ditransitive as well. Instead of having a direct object that impacts on an indirect object, factitive verbs describe a status, category, quality, or result that the direct object is becoming due to the action of the verb. This secondary element can be either an object or object complement of the verb. For example:

See the section on factitive verbs to learn more.

An unofficial third type of transitive verb is what’s sometimes known as a tritransitive verb, meaning that it takes three objects. This third “object” is formed from a prepositional phrase or clause that appears to receive the action of the verb by way of the indirect object. For example:

There is some dispute among linguists, however, as to whether these kinds of verbs truly have three objects, or whether the third piece of information is merely considered an adjunct, as the sentence would be grammatically sound without it.