Intransitive Verbs
- A transitive verb takes a direct object. He hit the ball. Ball receives the action. Now let's look at the opposite, intransitive verbs. An intransitive verb does not take a direct object. Nothing receives the action, and that's perfectly fine.
Let's see how these verbs work. She arrived early. She is the subject and arrived is the verb. But what about early? Early is an adverb. It describes how she arrived, and a direct object has to be a noun.
An adverb doesn't count, so there's no direct object here. Arrived is intransitive. Here's a good test. Can you put a noun after the verb? She arrived the train station. No, that doesn't work in English.
But be careful. You can say, "She arrived at the train station." That little word at changes everything. At the train station is a prepositional phrase. It tells us where, but no noun receives the action. Adverbs and prepositional phrases can follow an intransitive verb; a direct object cannot.
Two more examples. The man fell. Man is the subject, fell is the verb, and that's the whole sentence. What fell? The man. The action happens to the subject itself.
Same with the bomb exploded. What exploded? The bomb. No direct object anywhere. An intransitive verb stands on its own. Now here's something important. Many verbs can go both ways.
Think about eat. She ate the hot dog. Hot dog is a direct object, so ate is transitive here. But you can also say she already ate. Ate what? We don't know and the sentence doesn't care. It's still complete. Same verb, both ways.
So don't memorize a verb as one or the other. Test the sentence it's in. A few verbs though are almost always in transitive. Arrive, fall, happen, sleep, go. Time to practice. Here are three sentences.
Pause the video and decide. Is each verb transitive or intransitive? Ready? Let's check. The baby cried. Is there a noun after cried? No. Nothing receives the action. Intransitive.
He kicked the ball. What did he kick? The ball. That's a direct object. Transitive. They laughed loudly. Loudly is an adverb, not a noun. No direct object. Intransitive.
Let's put it all together. A transitive verb takes a direct object. He hit the ball. An intransitive verb does not. She arrived early. The man fell. The bomb exploded.
When you're not sure, ask one question. Is there a noun receiving the action? If not, the verb is in transitive. You just use that question on every sentence in this lesson and it works on any sentence you'll meet on test day.
Read full transcriptLet's see how these verbs work. She arrived early. She is the subject and arrived is the verb. But what about early? Early is an adverb. It describes how she arrived, and a direct object has to be a noun.
An adverb doesn't count, so there's no direct object here. Arrived is intransitive. Here's a good test. Can you put a noun after the verb? She arrived the train station. No, that doesn't work in English.
But be careful. You can say, "She arrived at the train station." That little word at changes everything. At the train station is a prepositional phrase. It tells us where, but no noun receives the action. Adverbs and prepositional phrases can follow an intransitive verb; a direct object cannot.
Two more examples. The man fell. Man is the subject, fell is the verb, and that's the whole sentence. What fell? The man. The action happens to the subject itself.
Same with the bomb exploded. What exploded? The bomb. No direct object anywhere. An intransitive verb stands on its own. Now here's something important. Many verbs can go both ways.
Think about eat. She ate the hot dog. Hot dog is a direct object, so ate is transitive here. But you can also say she already ate. Ate what? We don't know and the sentence doesn't care. It's still complete. Same verb, both ways.
So don't memorize a verb as one or the other. Test the sentence it's in. A few verbs though are almost always in transitive. Arrive, fall, happen, sleep, go. Time to practice. Here are three sentences.
Pause the video and decide. Is each verb transitive or intransitive? Ready? Let's check. The baby cried. Is there a noun after cried? No. Nothing receives the action. Intransitive.
He kicked the ball. What did he kick? The ball. That's a direct object. Transitive. They laughed loudly. Loudly is an adverb, not a noun. No direct object. Intransitive.
Let's put it all together. A transitive verb takes a direct object. He hit the ball. An intransitive verb does not. She arrived early. The man fell. The bomb exploded.
When you're not sure, ask one question. Is there a noun receiving the action? If not, the verb is in transitive. You just use that question on every sentence in this lesson and it works on any sentence you'll meet on test day.