How do transitive and intransitive verbs differ? Examples of transitive and intransitive verbs

I think the above rule is more than clear. Based on this, we will now try to select a list of transitive verbs:

• stroked the cat;
• looked for the keys;
• wrote down the recipe, etc.

and intransitive verbs:

• fell asleep standing up;
• jump;
• fly.

• Transitive verbs are those whose action passes to the subject. For example, write, read, eat, draw, look, warm, and so on.

  Intransitive verbs are those whose action does not transfer to the subject. For example, laugh, study, fly, develop, and so on. Everything is very simple!

  Transitive verbs, examples:

  I read a magazine

  watching a movie,

  didn't drink tea

  amassed a collection

  ironing clothes

  to love life,

  foamed the soap.

  Intransitive verbs, examples:

  thought about life

  got ready to visit

  get the flu,

  wave a flag

  stared at the fire.

  

  Transitive verbs can be identified by conjugation; these are verbs of the second conjugation. Transitive verbs direct their action to an object and on this basis transitive verbs differ from intransitive verbs, which denote an action in itself. The tables contain definitions and examples of two types of verbs.

  

  

  

  Transitive verbs are verbs after which you need to write an addition or clarification. And intransitive ones are independent verbs.

  Examples of transitive verbs:

  • Girl writes composition.
  • The boy is already saw This movie.

  Examples of intransitive verbs:

  • Old man fell.
  • Finally a bus I arrived.

• Some examples of transitive verbs: draw (landscape), listen (fairy tales), tell (news), carry (bag), give (flowers), bring (joy).

  Some examples of intransitive verbs: dress, have fun, rejoice.

  Transition the verb indicates that the action moves to another object. Transitive verbs are verbs that control the accusative case of a noun without pretext and the genitive case with negation, with the noun designating a part of the whole or, on the contrary, a large number of objects.

  Examples of transitive verbs: draw a house, build an apartment, carry a basket, drank milk, ate jam, ate meat, picked mushrooms, did not learn the rules.

  All other verbs are intransitive and returnable Same.

  For example: getting ready for a trip, shaking your fist, growing, flying away, shivering, getting sick.

  Determining whether a verb is transitive or not is very easy.

  After the verb it is necessary to ask the question whom? or what?. If this can be done, then the verb is considered transitive; if not, then it is intransitive.

  For example: I see (what?) a tree,

  I know (what?) the rule,

  I'm preparing (what?) soup.

  BUT I admire (the question WHAT? cannot be asked),

  I’m coming (you can’t ask such a question either).

  There is a rule associated with transitivity. A verb is considered transitive if the noun in the accusative case next to it does not require a preposition. It is recommended to stand the birch bluntly. I look at the birch tree- look intransitive, because the noun in the accusative case comes with a preposition. I see a birch tree verb to see transition, because the noun came into vin. pad. without pretext. And everything like that. Very easy and simple.

  The rule indicates that in transitive verbs the object of action (in our case the word birch, but in the text any word) can also be expressed in the genitive case. This happens in 2 cases: 1). It denotes a part of the whole: buy bread, drink water, 2). before the verb there is a negation in the form of a particle not: did not drink coffee in the morning.

  The rest are intransitive. If you see a reflexive suffix -sya or -sya on a verb, it is intransitive. It turns out that there are fewer transitive ones than intransitive ones.

  Verbs can be transitional And not transitional. In the first case, it means that the action of the verb extends to the subject.

  This can happen, firstly, when a verb is used together with a noun in the accusative case without a preposition: write poetry, watch TV.

  Secondly, it is used together with a noun in the genitive case, when there is a negative particle before the transitive verb (watched TV - didn’t watch TV), and also when the action extends to part of the object, and not to the whole object (took things - took things (part of things).

  Other verbs are not transitive: get involved in (what?) football.

  If you take into account the transitivity/non-transitivity of the verb, you should pay attention to the meaning of the noun in the accusative case next to the verb, which should name the object of the action: stand for an hour (in line), - the noun is in the accusative case, and the verb is not transitive.

  

Transitivity/intransitivity is a category on the basis of which the relationship between the subject and object of an action can be distinguished. The meaning of this category is that the subject performs a certain action, and its result may or may not “appear” (not transfer) to the subject. Therefore, verbs in Russian are divided into transitive and intransitive.

Transitive and intransitive verbs. Lexical meaning

To determine transitivity, it is necessary to identify a key feature that acts as an addition to the verb and has a certain case marking.

A transitive verb is a verb that has the meaning of an action that is aimed at an object and changes or produces it (check the work, dig a hole).

Intransitive verb - denotes movement or position in space, or a moral state, or a physical state.

So-called labile verbs are also distinguished. They can act as both transitive and intransitive (the editor edits the manuscript - the world is ruled by the person himself).

Syntactic difference

The syntactic difference between transitive and intransitive verbs is associated with lexical meaning. Transitive and intransitive verbs are usually combined:

In addition, the object of action with transitive verbs can also be expressed in the genitive case, but only in the following cases:

• when designating part of an object: buy water, drink tea;
• if the verb has a negation: I have no right, I haven’t read the book.

Transitive and intransitive verbs (table) have the following basic differences.

Morphological characteristics

As a rule, these verbs do not have special But still, certain types of word formation act as indicators of the transitivity or intransitivity of the verb. So, a transitive verb is:

• all verbs with the suffix -sya (make sure);
• denominative verbs in which the suffix -e- or -nicha-(-icha-) stands out: to be picky, to become weak, to be greedy.

Transitive verbs include verbs that are formed from adjectives using the suffix -i-: green, blacken.

There are some cases when, by attaching a prefix to intransitive unprefixed verbs, transitive verbs are formed. Examples: harm and neutralize.

If there is no object in the sentence, then the transitive verb performs the function of an intransitive verb: The student writes well (the property inherent in this person is indicated).

Intransitive verbs contain a special group of reflexive verbs; their formal sign is the suffix -sya (to wash, to return).

Reflexive verbs. Peculiarities

Reflexive verbs are studied in the school curriculum, just like transitive verbs (grade 6).

A reflexive verb denotes an action directed towards oneself. It is formed using the particle (postfix) -sya (-s).

The following main features of these verbs can be identified:

• Firstly, they can come from both transitive verbs (dress - dress) and intransitive verbs (knock - knock). But still, reflexive verbs (transitive verbs after adding the postfix -sya (-sya)) in any case become intransitive (to dress - to dress).
• Secondly, these postfixes are added: -sya - after consonants (washed, washed, washed), -sya - after vowels (dressed, dressed). It is worth noting that participles are always written with the postfix -sya (dressing, washing).
• Thirdly, reflexive verbs are formed in three ways: suffixal-postfixal - by adding a suffix and a postfix to the stem (res+vi(t)sya), prefixal-postfixal (na+drink_sya), postfixal (wash+sya).

Formation of derivatives in -sya and passive participles

Since the main morphological properties of transitive verbs are the formation of derivatives in -sya and which is not typical for intransitive verbs, let’s take a closer look at this process.

In most cases, a transitive verb is one that forms a passive participle or derivatives with the ending -sya, which can have a reflexive (hurry up), passive (create), or decausative (break up) meaning.

Exceptions are the verbs add (in weight), cost, weigh, and most semelfactives in -nu (pick). In addition, these verbs do not form passive and reflexive derivatives.

But still, there are intransitive verbs that can form passive constructions. For example, the verb expect. He forms a passive from an intransitive construction with the addition in I expect the arrival of Vasily - the arrival of Vasily is expected.

Correlation of verb transitivity

Despite the fact that transitivity does not have a single formal expression, there are still trends that connect the category of transitivity with the formal properties of the verb, for example, with verbal prefixes:

• The overwhelming majority of non-reflexive verbs with the prefix raz- are transitive (to blur, to push apart). The exceptions are: verbs denoting movement with the suffix -va- / -iva- / -a- (waving, driving around); verbs expressing spontaneous changes in the properties of an object, in particular those containing the suffix -nu-, formed from intransitive verbs (soak, melt, swell); verbs containing thematic vowels -e-, which denote a change in properties (get rich, get rich); including calling, thinking about it.
• Almost all containing the prefix iz-, are transitive (exceptions: get wet, run out, deign and others).

Semantic properties of transitive verbs

The Russian language has a large class. In addition to those that are significantly affected by the situation, the verb may have a direct object that plays another semantic role (for example, see, have, create - with these transitive verbs nothing happens to the object, it is not destroyed, does not change).

So it turns out that contrast by transitivity should not be strictly connected with the semantic class of the verb. This means that a transitive verb does not necessarily have to denote an agential-patient situation. But still, some trends can be noted.

So, a transitive verb is:

Semantic properties of intransitive verbs

Having identified the semantic properties of transitive verbs, we can determine the properties of all the others, that is, intransitive ones:

• Verbs are one-place, without objects, that is, characterizing a change in the state of the patient (direct object, significantly affected by the situation), which was not caused by the agent. Or a case is possible when the agent plays an insignificant role: die, rot, fall, get wet.
• Doubles with an indirect addition. That is, verbs of help (with the exception of support): promote, help, condone, assist.
• Verbs that are used with an object that is an integral part of the agentive participant of the verb (to move, move, wave).
• Verbs of perception of a fictitious situation (count on, expect (what), rely on, hope for).

Non-canonical types of direct objects

It has already been said more than once that the key property of transitive verbs is the ability to interact with the direct object in the accusative case. But there are classes of verbs that are used not only with nouns and pronouns in the accusative case, but also with a word or phrase of another part of speech that is semantically identical to it to one degree or another. It can be:

• prepositional phrase (I scratched his ear);
• genitive group (grandfather did not read this newspaper);
• adverbial group (he drinks a lot, I decided so);
• sentential actant (infinitive phrase - I like to go to the theater; subordinate clause used together with the conjunction - so that or - that - I understood that he will go to the sea; subordinate clause together with the conjunction - when - I don’t like it when it rains).

Some of the listed constructions can not only replace the direct object used with transitive verbs, but also be used to express a similar function with intransitive verbs. Namely:

Analogues of the above complements in the accusative case have, to varying degrees, the prototypical properties of direct complements.

Let's sum it up

Despite the fact that this topic is one of the difficult ones, we were able to determine what a transitive verb means. We also learned to distinguish it from the intransitive and distinguish reflexive ones from the latter. And to prove this, let us give as an example phrases with transitive verbs, with intransitive and reflexive verbs:

• transitional: paint the walls, treat a patient, read a book, sew a suit, widen a sleeve, buy tea, drink water, has no right, rock a child;
• intransitive: walk the streets, believe in goodness, walk in the park, become exhausted from fatigue;
• reflexive: achieve a goal, disagree, get closer to each other, obey the boss, think about existence, vouch for a brother, touch on an issue.

Write the verbs in a column, determine their type, find, if possible, a species pair, if not, explain the reason.

Guessing game

cut - cut

Characterize – two-species

Hearing is one-species, does not strive for change.

To appear - to appear

Run - one-species, verb. movement

Applaud – single-species, multiple times

Take - take

To know - to know

News - one-species, verb. movement

Talk - say

All verbs of the Russian language in relation to the object (subject) of action are divided into 2 groups: transitive and intransitive. Transitivity - intransitivity is related to the meaning of the verb itself.

In the language, some verbs denote an action aimed at an object, which at the same time changes (paint the house) or arises as a result of this action (write a letter), such verbs are called transitional.

Possibility or impossibility of asking a verb a question whom? What?– method of determining transitivity/intransitivity.

The object to which the action is directed is direct object action, it is expressed by a noun in the accusative case without a preposition: Old man caught seine fish.

The object of action in transitive verbs can also be expressed in the genitive case:

1) when designating part of an object ( drink tea),

2) if there is a negation of the verb ( don't buy milk).

Verbs have no morphological signs of transitivity, with the exception of the group of verbs like whiten - turn white, blacken - turn black and verbs with a prefix obes- (obes-): depopulate - depopulate, bleed - bleed. In these pairs the verbs end in – it are transitive, and verbs in -there are– intransitive.

Transitive verbs are:

1) verbs denoting actions that create something: build, draw, construct;

2) verbs denoting actions that destroy something: break, demolish, destroy;

3) verbs of perception: see, hear, feel.

When determining the transitivity/intransitivity of a verb, it is necessary to establish indicators of transitivity. In a sentence, the indicator of transitivity is the direct object - a noun or pronoun in V.p. without pretext or in R.p. – when denying or expressing a part of the whole, as well as equivalents of V.p.

1) The sentence lacks a direct object, but it can be restored from the context or situation: They probably have bread. Buy they have, okay?

2) The verb has inf-v, which can be replaced by V.p. without preposition: I love sleep in attics(K. Paust).

3) There is no direct object with the verb, but there is a subordinate clause that can be replaced by V.p. without preposition: Natasha saw that steam locomotives run on rails.

4) There is no V. or R.p with the verb. direct object, but there are stable combinations (D.p. with By, quantitative combinations), which can be replaced by V.p. without preposition: Now I'd like a hot cutlet eat. Let's more details - I'll collect everything(I. Vasilenko).

5) With a verb there is a substantivized unchangeable word, which is replaced by V.p. without preposition: I bet you feel good".

In all of the above cases, the verb in the sentence does not have a direct object, but you can ask a question about it whom? What?, so it's transitional.

Intransitive verbs- these are verbs that denote an action that is not capable of moving to a direct object, therefore they are not combined with nouns in the accusative case without a preposition: turn blue, walk, be sad, rush.

Intransitive verbs are:

1) verbs of being, existence: to be, to exist, to be;

2) verbs of motion: walk, swim, ride;

3) verbs of physical and mental state: stand, get sick, get angry;

4) verbs of type of activity, occupation: teach, carpenter;

5) verbs denoting behavior: to be brave, to be young;

6) verbs of auditory and visual perception: knock, sparkle.

Intransitivity can be formally expressed or unexpressed. The affix serves as an indicator of intransitivity -sya: rejoice, gather. But verbs without - can also be intransitive. Xia:dream, work.

Verbs with the suffix –sya (-s) are called returnable, they constitute a special type of intransitive verbs (cf.: wash the baby - transitive verb, wash – intransitive). Thanks to the addition of the affix -sya verb wash became intransitive and received an additional semantic connotation - myself.

Difficult cases of determining the transitivity / intransitivity of verbs

1. When determining transitivity/intransitivity, you need to take into account the meaning in which the verb is used in a sentence: there are cases when in one meaning it is transitive, in another it is intransitive.

Finally everything fell silent.

Everything can be lost, everything that has been collected over centuries, everything can shut up, threatening reprisals... And only human memory cannot be concreted and destroyed!(S. Mikhalkov).

2. When analyzing V.p. a direct object must be delimited from the V.p. with adverbial meaning: Village residents light fires all night long (K. Paust.). The soul must work and day and night, and day and night (N. Zabolotsky).

, “responsible” for designating actions. It has not only changeable characteristics, but also constant ones - those that do not disappear when words are changed. Transitive and intransitive verbs in Russian differ in the presence or absence of one of these constant features - transitivity.

In contact with

The concept of verb transitivity

Transitivity is understood as a grammatical category indicating the ability of the verb form manage direct object, that is, to attach nouns (objects) in the accusative and, less commonly, genitive case, which does not have a preposition.

This is the formal side of the definition. But what is a transition from the semantic side?

The meaning of transitive verb forms is that they denote “non-independent” actions that cannot be performed without a controlled object. Here are examples:

• To write (what?) a play, to serve (who?) a client, to not earn (what?) money are transitive verbs (simply “write” or “serve” is impossible, and “earn” without a controlled object is a verb with a different meaning).
• To sit (on what?) on a chair, to wash, to suffer (from what?) from an illness are intransitive verbs (you can simply “sit” or “suffer”).

Transition is what it is transfer of action from subject (subject) to object (called direct object).

In what cases should nouns be put?

Transitive verbs are able to control the object both in the form of the accusative case and in the form of the genitive case - in both cases without a preposition. But how do you know which of the two cases to use in each specific case?

The accusative is basic. The genitive addition takes on the form in the following cases:

1. If it means “a certain amount of something”: “drank water” (n.) - that is, some part of the poured liquid; but “drank the water” (vin. p.) - that is, all the water in a given vessel or reservoir.
2. In negative sentences, if the meaning “at all” is implied: “I didn’t eat your carrots” (I just didn’t eat) - “I didn’t eat your carrots” (I didn’t eat at all, not a piece).
3. In negative sentences, if there is an intensifying particle “nor”: “We have no idea.”

The accusative case in negative sentences weakens the negation, and the genitive, on the contrary, strengthens it.

Important! Some nouns with transitive verbal forms acquire a genitive case form that differs from the main one: “I’ll take some sugar”, “not knowing the ford, don’t poke your nose into the water” (instead of “sugar”, “ford”).

How to determine the transitivity of a specific verb

How to determine transitivity? Problems often arise with this. The presence or absence of transitivity can be determined using the following method.

First you need to find the verb form in the sentence. Then find nouns or to which you can ask the question “who?” or “what?”

If there is such a word and there is no preposition with it, then this is a direct object; in front of us transition.

If the sentence is incomplete, the direct object may not be present, but it is implied; in this case, you also need to ask a question in the accusative case of the verb: “Do you understand me? “I understand (who? what?).” If you can’t ask such a question, then this intransitive: “Where have you been all week? “I was sick” (it is impossible to ask “who?” or “what?”).

Important! All reflexive and verb forms in the passive voice are not transitive, that is, those that have the suffix “-s” or “-sya”: it seems, washes, is located.

While observing this rule, you need to keep in mind the meaning of the noun - it must denote the object of the action. There are situations when a noun in the accusative case without a preposition stands next to a verb and is related to it, but it cannot be transitive: “It takes an hour to drive,” “to live for a week.”

Transitivity of polysemous verbs

Verb forms of words can have multiple meanings. In this case, in the first meaning there is a transitive type, and in the second meaning the same word is an intransitive type. “He is telling (what?) a lie” is transitive, but “the child is already speaking (talking)” is intransitive. “The orchestra is playing (what?) a march” is transitive, but “the child is playing (busy playing)” is intransitive.

In humorous texts, a situation is possible when the normally intransitive becomes transitive: “Drink vodka and misbehave with discipline.”

The comic effect is built on this; the verbs seem to acquire the meanings of those instead of which they are placed– “to hooligan” instead of “to violate”, etc.

Obsolete meanings of intransitive verb forms may have transitivity.

“Trade” is an intransitive verb in modern Russian, but earlier, having the meaning of “price the price,” it was transitive: “To trade a horse.” This usage remains in folklore.

Differences between transitive and intransitive

Now you need to find out what is the difference between transitional from intransitive. First of all is its meaning. Transitional is usually designated.

The transitivity of a verb in Russian is determined by its ability to denote an action directed directly at an object. This is expressed grammatically by the fact that the verb controls the noun in the accusative case without a preposition. There are many examples of such constructions - “catch fish”, “write a letter”, “clean the carpet”.

How to determine the transitivity of a verb? There is nothing complicated in such an operation; it is enough to mentally ask him the question: “Who?”, “What?” If the verb is used in a negative context ( don't buy milk), the case changes to genitive - this should be remembered.

The meaning of transitive and intransitive verbs

Linguists have established that the transitivity and intransitivity of a verb are differentiated by the meaning of words. Thus, transitive verbs refer to various actions on objects. They can be created, destroyed or modified ( build a building, chop wood, destroy a house). The object can also remain unchanged ( congratulate mom). The same list includes combinations denoting the sensory perception of an object with the verbs “look”, “listen”, etc.

In turn, intransitive verbs are characterized by the following meanings:

• physical or mental condition ( be afraid, doze);
• appearance of a sign, its intensification ( blush);
• movement or location in space ( go, sit);
• activities, skills ( manage).

Morphological signs of intransitivity

The main difference between transitive and intransitive verbs lies in the ability to form passive participles. Compare the number of impersonal forms of the words “draw” and “walk”:

Paint

Walk

Sometimes the transitivity of a verb is determined based on the infinitive. There are derivational types of verbs that cannot be transitive:

Reflexive verbs

Of all the formal features, the transitivity and intransitivity of the verb are best distinguished by the postfixes -sya-/-s-. Once upon a time they were forms of the pronoun “oneself” until they lost their independence. This origin of the postfix determined the specific name of verbs - reflexive (the action is directed at the agent himself). Compare: wash your face And wash your face.

All reflexive verbs are intransitive. And this is absolutely understandable: why use an additional noun next to them if the transitivity of the verb is contained in the structure of the word itself?

Particularly difficult cases

Sometimes the question of how to determine the transitivity of a verb can be confusing. The main difficulty is that certain words with the meaning of action can be used differently in different contexts. Consider the sentences: " Child reading a book" And " The child is already reading".In the first case, an action takes place aimed at a specific object - a book. The main purpose of the second sentence is to convey information that the child is able to perceive what is written, that is, the verb “read” acts as intransitive. Another, more understandable example is with the word “shut up.” Compare: " Everyone finally fell silent" And " Silence a certain fact"(that is, deliberately not mentioning something).

Before determining the transitivity of a verb, it is necessary to check whether the noun next to it in the accusative case has an adverbial meaning. In the sentence “We studied all night,” the nominal component is used as a temporary characteristic, and not as an object on which the action is performed.

Some transitive verbs control nouns in the genitive case outside of negation ( buy notebooks, pick berries). In other cases, parallel forms are possible - wait for a trolleybus / trolleybus, which are differentiated in accordance with the category of certainty/uncertainty. So, after the phrase “I’m waiting for a trolleybus” I would like to add “at number 5”. But the form of the genitive case latently indicates that the speaker himself is not entirely sure what kind of vehicle he needs. He's just waiting and that's it.

A similar situation occurs with constructions like “drink tea/tea.” The existence of two parallel forms should not be confusing. The genitive case indicates that they are going to drink cup/glass tea. However, in both the first and second cases, the verb is transitive.

For the curious

You can often hear phrases like “walk/swim me” from young children. Such an error indicates a good sense of language that every child is endowed with. A few centuries ago we had many more verbs governing nouns without prepositions in the accusative case. Now their number has decreased. Perhaps someday the transitivity of the verb in the Russian language will cease to exist altogether. However, it is difficult to judge how true this information is, so it still doesn’t hurt to repeat the above material once again.