Transitive Verbs

Question

When looking up verbs for translation, the system present me various uses and meanings for the verb under the heading of transitive verb. What does transitive verb mean and what is the source of all of these many alternate meanings and uses of the verb?

Answer 1

Hi. On the Web there are many good explanations of transitive verbs.

As for the source of the meanings and uses... that's just how languages develop. In English, for example, the verb "to run" has forty-eleven gazillion meanings and uses. You can run to the store and run a business, your nose can run, your stockings can run, the bus can run until midnight, you can run a tab at the bar, a river can run into the sea or even run out of water....

Answer 2

Transitive uses of verbs are uses that involve a direct object. Something acts on something.

I hit the ball. I bake cookies. Etc.

Intransitive uses of verbs do not act directly on something.

I laughed. If you say I laughed at him it is an indirect object, not direct. You cannot laugh something or someone. It has to be at something or someone.

Some can only be used one way, but some verbs can be used both ways:

I smell the flowers. T

The flowers smell good. I (Good is an adverb)

I walk my dog. T

I walk to the park. I (the park is an indirect object here)

Sometimes the meanings shift subtly when a verb is used intransitively versus transitively.