{"id":104,"date":"2009-03-13T06:21:26","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T10:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=104"},"modified":"2009-03-13T06:21:26","modified_gmt":"2009-03-13T10:21:26","slug":"transitive-and-intransitive-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/transitive-and-intransitive-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Transitive and Intransitive Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader has asked me to explain the difference between verbi transitivi<\/strong> (transitive verbs) and verbi intransitivi <\/strong>(intransitive verbs), so I\u2019ll try my best. This is always a difficult\u00a0but, none the less,\u00a0important topic in Italian grammar. OK, let\u2019s start. <\/span><\/p>\n

Transitivo <\/strong>comes from Latin transire<\/em> meaning \u2018to pass\u2019, \u2018to cross\u2019, \u2018to go beyond\u2019, therefore it describes actions<\/em> that move from the subject or doer directly<\/em> to an object, without having to use a preposition such as \u2018to\u2019, \u2018at\u2019, etc. The classic example we learn at school is: io mangio la mela<\/strong> (I eat the apple); in this sentence io<\/strong> is the subject<\/em> of the verb, mangio<\/strong> is the transitive verb<\/em>, and la mela<\/strong> is the direct object<\/em>\u00a0or accusative.<\/em> Of course we don\u2019t always express the direct object, for example:\u00a0la sera mangio presto<\/strong> (in the evening I eat early), the idea of \u2018dinner\u2019, \u2018meal\u2019, \u2018food\u2019 is implicit but not expressed. Similarly, we can say Giovanni guida la macchina per andare a lavorare<\/strong> (Giovanni drives the car to go to work),\u00a0in which\u00a0guidare<\/strong> is a transitive verb because it is followed by a direct object, la macchina<\/strong>.\u00a0However I can omit \u2018la macchina\u2019 and simply say Giovanni guida per andare a lavorare<\/strong>, the idea of the car\u00a0being implicit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intransitivo<\/strong> means \u2018non transitive\u2019, that is: the action does not pass from the subject to the object directly.\u00a0Verbs which don\u2019t express an action but rather a state<\/em> or a\u00a0condition,<\/em> such as essere <\/strong>(to be), stare <\/strong>(to stay), divenire <\/strong>(to become), etc. are intransitive, as are verbs which express movement: andare <\/strong>(to go), venire <\/strong>(to come), arrivare <\/strong>(to arrive), etc.\u00a0After these types of\u00a0verbs we can add information about \u2018where\u2019, \u2018when\u2019, \u2018how\u2019, \u2018how long for\u2019, etc. e.g. sto in ufficio<\/span> tutto il pomeriggio<\/strong> (I\u2019m in the office all afternoon); Giovanni va al lavoro<\/span> in macchina<\/strong> (Giovanni goes to work by car); il treno e\u2019 arrivato in ritardo<\/span><\/strong> (the train arrived late). We can\u2019t however express a direct object. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Verbi riflessivi<\/strong> (reflexive verbs) are considered intransitivi<\/strong>\u00a0because the action takes place on the subject itself, therefore the reflexive verb\u00a0lavarsi<\/strong> (to wash oneself) as in\u00a0mi lavo le mani <\/strong>(\u2018I wash my hands\u2019 or more literally \u2018I wash myself the hands\u2019) is intransitive, but lavare<\/strong> (to wash) as in\u00a0io lavo il piatto<\/strong> (I\u2019m washing the plate) is transitive!\u00a0 You can\u00a0find out\u00a0more about reflexive verbs in last week post.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget that verbs\u00a0which are transitive in Italian may be intransitive in English and vice versa. For example ascoltare<\/strong> (to listen): in Italian we say ascolto una canzone<\/strong> (I\u2019m listening\u00a0to a song), however we don\u2019t use the preposition \u2018a\u2019 (to) and therefore it\u2019s a transitive<\/span> verb because ascolto<\/em> is followed by a direct object, una canzone<\/em> (a song). In English on the other hand\u00a0it\u2019s intransitive because you use the preposition \u2018to\u2019 after \u2018listening\u2019 i.e.\u00a0\u2018I\u2019m listening to<\/span> a song\u2019. Yes I know it\u2019s confusing, but if you really get stuck\u00a0a good bilingual dictionary can help you with individual verbs. When you look up a verb in your dictionary you should find that immediately after the word,\u00a0and before the translation, there is a little acronym: either vt\/v.tr<\/strong> which is short for verbo transitivo<\/strong>, or vi\/v.intr<\/strong>,\u00a0short for\u00a0verbo intransitivo<\/strong>. So\u00a0when you want to know if an Italian verb is transitive or intransitive always look in the Italian to English<\/span> section of\u00a0your dictionary. At the end of the day it is always important to listen to, and read as much of the language as possible in order to reinforce and assimilate these grammatical rules. After a while you will begin to \u2018feel\u2019 what is right and what is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

But why\u00a0is all of\u00a0this so important? Are we just being pedantic\u00a0or sadistic? I know it feels like it sometimes, but there is in fact a further very important reason for learning these grammatical rules:\u00a0knowing the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs will help you to\u00a0understand which auxiliary verb to use in the past tense: essere<\/strong> or avere<\/strong>? <\/span><\/p>\n

In the past tense all transitive<\/strong> verbs are built with the auxiliary avere<\/strong>: e.g. Ho mangiato<\/span> la mela <\/strong>(I ate the apple)<\/span><\/p>\n

all verbs used in the reflexive form<\/strong> are built with essere<\/strong>: e.g. Mi sono svegliato<\/span> alle sette<\/strong> (I woke up at seven o\u2019clock)<\/span><\/p>\n

all verbs expressing a state or condition are built with essere<\/strong>: e.g. Sei stata<\/span> in ufficio questa mattina? <\/strong>(Have you been in the office this morning?)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the rest of the intransitive verbs you\u2019ll need help from the dictionary as there isn\u2019t a fixed rule! For example: siamo andati<\/span> al mercato<\/strong> (we\u2019ve been to the market)\u00a0but abbiamo camminato<\/span> fino al mercato<\/strong> (we walked to the market)<\/span><\/p>\n

Buona Fortuna!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader has asked me to explain the difference between verbi transitivi (transitive verbs) and verbi intransitivi (intransitive verbs), so I\u2019ll try my best. This is always a difficult\u00a0but, none the less,\u00a0important topic in Italian grammar. OK, let\u2019s start. Transitivo comes from Latin transire meaning \u2018to pass\u2019, \u2018to cross\u2019, \u2018to go beyond\u2019, therefore it describes…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[754,896,897],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-transitive-and-intransitive-verbs","tag-verbi-intransitivi","tag-verbi-transitivi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}