Examples of Transitive Verbs

What Are Transitive Verbs?

Transitive verbs describe an action that happens to someone or something. This someone or something is called the direct object of the verb.

A direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action directly from the subject (the doer). It is the thing or person being acted upon.

In short, transitive verbs always have direct objects. Any verb with a direct object in a sentence is considered transitive.

Important Note

There are no verbs that are exclusively transitive or intransitive by default. Their classification depends entirely on how they are used in a sentence — specifically, whether or not they have a direct object.

Examples of Transitive Verbs

Consider these sentences:

"Diana composed a song."

• The verb "composed" is transitive because it has a direct object — a song.

"She loves him."

• The verb "loves" is also transitive because it has a direct object — him.

Notice that these verbs are transitive because they have direct objects, which usually come immediately after the verb.

Verbs Without Direct Objects Can Be Intransitive

If the verbs in similar sentences do not have direct objects, they become intransitive. For example:

"We all love."

"Diana composes."

Here, there are no direct objects following the verbs love and composes, so the verbs function as intransitive in these sentences.