Transitive and intransitive verbs

Now we'll listen to a few sentences that do not really work. They are missing something. Leon puts on the table. Lina gets Michael likes. Kim describes.

What is it that is missing? What - or who - is it that Leon puts, Lina gets, Michael likes, and Kim describes? There's a sort of gap here, where there should be a person or a thing: the receiver of the verb's action. That's better! When a verb affects, or deals with someone or something, we call that person or thing the object.

Let's look at some more sentences, and compare. Leon sleeps. Lina is sitting. Michael is running. Kim sneezes.

Try asking that same question here: What - or who - is it that Leon is sleeping, Lina is sitting, Michael is running or Kim is sneezing? These questions don't have proper answers. Because these verbs take care of themselves. No object is the recipient of their action. So, it seems we have two categories of verb.

These describe an action that affects someone or something else. We call these transitive verbs. The verbs on the right however, do not describe an action that affects someone or something in particular. In most cases, they can't have an object, so they are not transitive. They are intransitive.

A verb is transitive if it can have an object. But some transitive verbs can get by without an object. These for example: Selma is painting. Tommy is eating. Two verbs, no objects.

But still, we might ask: What is Selma painting? Selma is painting a landscape. What is Tommy eating? Tommy is eating a double cheeseburger with extra jalapeño. This shows that these verbs can have an object with no problem.

So, they are transitive. Another property that transitive verbs have, in addition to exposing people and things to their actions, is that they can be passive What, passive? Aren't verbs the words that do things, actively? No, not always. Look here: three sentences with transitive verbs, first in the active voice, then in the passive voice.

Lina picks up the bike. The bike is picked up by Lina. Maria is watching the baby. The baby is being watched by Maria. Tommy eats the cheeseburger.

The cheeseburger is being eaten by Tommy. Try to do this trick with intransitive verbs and you'll see what happens. Leon sleeps at night. What is being slept by Leon? The night?

Naaah. That makes no sense. Lina is sitting. Is someone being sat by Lina? No.

Kim sneezes. Is Kim sneezing anyone? Not really. Clauses with intransitive verbs can almost never be rephrased in the passive voice. Because, making a clause passive means: letting the object from the active clause become the subject in the passive clause.

And if there is no object, this can't be done! Transitive verbs are those that can have an object and that can form the passive voice. Intransitive verbs normally can not do that.