Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Tense, Aspect and Verb Forms
Transitive verb
Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples
/ˌtrænsətɪv ˈvɜːb/nounCommon term
In linguistics & grammar, transitive verb means: A verb that needs a direct object to complete its meaning, such as make, describe or enjoy: 'She described the problem'.
In Turkish: geçişli fiil, geçişli eylem
How it is used
Dictionaries mark verbs as transitive [T] or intransitive [I]; many verbs can be both (She is reading. She is reading a novel.). Only transitive verbs can be made passive.
Example sentences
'Discuss' is a transitive verb, so we say 'discuss the plan', not 'discuss about the plan'.
Check whether a verb is transitive before you try to make it passive.
Common collocations
intransitive verb
ditransitive verb
used transitively
take a direct object
Related terms
objectA noun phrase or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or follows a preposition, such as 'the email' in 'She sent the email'.
verbA word that shows an action, event or state, such as run, become or know; in English it changes its form to show tense and agreement.
passive voiceA sentence structure in which the subject receives the action instead of doing it, made with be plus a past participle, as in 'The bridge was built in 1973'.
predicateThe part of a clause that says something about the subject; it contains the verb and everything that follows it, such as 'missed the bus' in 'Emre missed the bus'.
