Discover how to know if a verb is TRANSITIVE or INTRANSITIVE

On many occasions you have heard of the different types of verbs, especially transitives and intransitives. In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to show you how to know if a verb is transitive or not. In the first place, it will be necessary to carry out a theoretical approach to understand the particularities of this type of verbs and what is their nature in order to understand how they work and how we can distinguish them from intransitive. Here are the definitive tests that will help you identify them within a sentence.

Index

1. What are transitive verbs
2. How are intransitive verbs
3. How can we distinguish a transitive verb from an intransitive one
4. Can it be the same transitive and intransitive verb?

Before telling you how to know if a verb is transitive or not, it is important that we understand well what these two verbs are like. Within the verbs we find different types according to their syntactic behavior. If we look at this classification we can verify that there are

Likewise, transitive verbs also they need a subject that performs the action of the verb. Therefore, the transitive verb, in general, is always accompanied by a subject and a direct object in order to have the full meaning. On the other hand, another of its peculiarities is that they can be easily transformed into passive voice.

Therefore, if we pay attention to this classification and apply its particularities, we can point out that the vast majority of the verbs that we use to communicate are transitive. Therefore, some transitive verbs are: hug, take, eat, give, get, promise, ask, clean, hide... etc.

As we have already pointed out, most verbs are transitive, so if you want to learn to distinguish them better, you need to understand what the intransitives are and the differences that exist between the two.

Thus, we can point out that the intransitives are those that don't need a direct complement to have a full meaning. These verbs they go alone and they only need one subject in the sentence. Let's see some examples of intransitive verbs: dance, cry, be born, swim, die... etc.

You already know what are the characteristics of transitive and intransitive verbs. Derived from them we can understand what their differences are and learn to distinguish them in a simple way, in this way, we will learn how to know if a verb is transitive or not.

In order to do so, we just have to look at the definition of each one of them. When we carry out the analysis of a sentence we must ask the verb so that it clearly indicates who what is the direct object in the sentence that we have in front of us. For this, we are going to put an example sentence:

Carmen has bought some books.

Let's look at the verb. In the present case, the verb is to buy. As we have said before, to discover whether or not this verb has a direct object we have to ask the following question: What have you bought?

The answer is clear: some books. Therefore we already know what the direct object of the example sentence is. Likewise, we can point out that as we have indicated in the characteristics of transitive verbs, they also have a subject. To know it, again we must resort to asking the verb: Who has bought?

The subject of the sentence is Carmen. Now, we could say that the sentence has a subject and a direct object, so it would almost certainly follow that to buy is a transitive verb. However, we are going to carry out another check to know if we are really dealing with a verb with that nature.

As you already know, transitive verbs need the direct object to have a complete meaning, therefore, if this disappears, the phrase would not be understood and it would remain incomplete. Let's see what happens if we remove the direct object:

Carmen has bought.

In this case we know who the subject is, but lacking a direct object, the sentence remains unfinished and meaningless. For this to have meaning, it is necessary to add a direct object that accompanies the verb.

If you still have doubts, we will carry out the last test. If you remember, we have previously pointed out that transitive verbs can be expressed in the passive voice. Prayer Carmen has bought some books is in active voice, but what if we turn it into passive?

Some books have been bought by Carmen.

Now we are going to ask the verb again and see how much the subject and the direct object remain the same and the structure of the sentence has not changed.

Now you have the answer to how to know if a verb is transitive or not!

It is possible that throughout the lesson some doubts have arisen, such as whether the same verb can be transitive and intransitive. The truth is that yes, the same verb can perform different functions within the sentence depending on the meaning that she wants to give herself. That is, the verb may be transitive or intransitive, taking into account whether the phrase before us necessarily needs a direct object to have meaning or not. Let's see an example to understand it better:

My mother reads a lot of crime novels.

Taking into account the checks carried out previously, we see that detective novels is he direct object of the sentence and the subject it is my mother. So we could point out that read it is a transitive verb. But, let's see what happens if we remove the direct object:

My mother reads.

In this case, although we do not have the information about what type of content the subject reads, we can affirm that the sentence makes complete sense and therefore, in this case, the verb readworks as intransitive.

We hope we have clarified your doubts about how to know if a verb is transitive or not and we encourage you to enjoy our sections of Spanish language in which you will find more lessons like this.

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