Difference Between Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Basically, transitivity is a universal characteristic of a clause, which results in the transfer of activity from an agent (subject) to the patient (object). When you talk about the difference between a transitive and intransitive verb, the point to ponder is whether the sentence contains object or not. While transitive verb is one that has a subject and object as well, the intransitive verb has a subject only.

A sentence consists of a subject, verb and object. Subject implies the doer (noun) of the action, the verb expresses the action, and object denotes the person or thing (noun) on which the action is done. There are mainly two types of verbs, transitive verb and intransitive verb. Let’s take a look at the examples to understand their difference:

1. Transitive: I play badminton daily.
   Intransitive: The child plays in the park daily.
2. Transitive: She walks to the office.
   Intransitive: Neha walks on the road.

Content: Transitive Verb Vs Intransitive Verb

1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Examples
5. How to remember the difference

Comparison Chart

Basis for Comparison	Transitive Verb	Intransitive Verb
Meaning	Transitive Verbs refer to the verbs that possess a subject and an object.	Intransitive Verbs refer to the verbs that possess a subject only and have no direct object.
Passive voice	The sentence having transitive verb can be transformed into passive voice.	The sentence having transitive verb cannot be transformed into passive voice.
Example	I am waiting for my grandfather to come.	She laughed.
	She rushed to the hospital.	I ran
	Jane goes to salon every month.	You won.

Definition of Transitive Verbs

Transitive Verbs are the types of action verbs having an object, which receives the action. When the verb used in a sentence is able to answer “who” or “what” of the action, i.e. who or what is affected by the action, then that verb is considered as a transitive verb. Some examples of transitive verbs are given below:

• Alex studies for his final exams.
• My mom likes bananas.
• She drives the car very carefully.
• Peter works at his friend’s company as a Manager.
• You painted the table.
• I appreciate his loyalty
• Could you pass me the bowl?

Here, the words which are in bold are the verbs in the sentence, while the words or phrases in italics are the objects.

Definition of Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive verbs are those action verbs that reflects complete action, even when there is no direct object which follows it. In an intransitive verb, the action performed by the subject is not passed to an object. However, there may be a word or phrase that comes after the verb, but they are not the object, as they tell you “how” or “where” the action took place. Let’s look at the given examples for better understanding:

• It stopped immediately.
• She travelled across the state.
• I have to go now.
• His mother died.
• The incident took place in the morning.
• The movie started at 12 pm.
• When the work is over, we went for a long drive.

Here, the words in bold are the verbs in the sentence.

Examples

Transitive Verbs

• I go to the dancing class every Saturday.
• You need to buy some chocolates for the students.
• She sent a mail to the top executive.
• Jury told Peter about the accident.

Intransitive Verbs

• I live in a hostel in Jaipur with my sister.
• It happened yesterday.
• The flight departs at 1 pm.
• She’s playing.

How to remember the difference

When you understand the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs it will help you deal with confusing English verbs like lay and lie, sit and set, wherein lay is a transitive verb, whereas a lie is an intransitive one, and similarly set is a transitive verb and sit is intransitive one.