Verbs which must always have an object are called TRANSITIVE – examples include hit, see, want, carry etc. In these cases, the action of the verb has some effect on someone or something else.
Look at the following two English sentences:
a) the dog chased the cat
b) the cat chased the dog
In the above example, ‘chased’ is a verb that needs both a subject and an object. In English we can’t just say ‘the dog chased’, we have to say who or what it chased. There are lots of verbs like this, e.g.,
- The girl saw the boy
- The cow broke the fence
- I love you
- He wants ice-cream
- The car hit the curb
Other verbs only have a subject and can’t have an object, these are called intransitive verbs.
An example of an intransitive verb is ‘sleep’ e.g., you can’t say *’the man sleeps the dog’. You can say ‘the man sleeps’ or ‘the dog sleeps’.
Note: In many Aboriginal languages, whether a verb is transitive or intransitive will affect how that verb works in a sentence.