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  • Hello! And welcome to Like A Native Speaker In This week's lesson, you're going to be

  • learning about transitive and intransitive verbs.

  • [introduction]

  • Transitive and intransitive verbs? Bwuuuuh?! Ok...ok, relax. Those words sound complicated,

  • they sound difficult, but it's actually not that big of a deal.

  • This is one of the fundamentals of English grammar and something that many many students

  • get wrong. Basically, when we talk about transitive or

  • intransitive verbs, what we're actually talking about is objects.

  • So! You're super smart, so you know that English is Subject, Verb, Object.

  • The object is generally the thing receiving the verb, receiving the action.

  • But there are two kinds of objects: direct and indirect.

  • A direct object comes immediately after the verb. It comes directly after.

  • "I bought a car." An indirect object means there is something

  • between the verb and the object. It is not direct!

  • "I went to the store." 'The store' is the object, 'went' is the verb.

  • 'To' is a preposition; it's the connector. So what does this have to do with transitive

  • or intransitive? Well, I'm glad you asked, voice in my head!

  • A transitive verb, is a verb that is able to take a direct object after it.

  • But an intransitive verb cannot take a direct object. Or sometimes it doesn't need an object

  • at all. Confused yet? It's alright. Let me give you

  • an example. "I ran". No object necessary. That is a complete

  • sentence. But if you wanted to add an object, you need

  • a preposition. "I ran to the store."

  • Compare this with a transitive verb. "I bought."... That's incorrect.

  • That's not a complete sentence. The most common mistake I hear is students

  • saying, "Ah, I like." What? You like what?

  • The tricky part is that which verbs are transitive and which verbs are intransitive,

  • a lot of it is just memorization. And I know, I know. You hate memorization.

  • I hate memorization. But sometimes, that's what you have to do.

  • However! There is a guideline that can help.

  • Usually, intransitive verbs are verbs of movement; go, run, walk.

  • Another example of an intransitive verb is 'happen'.

  • So transitive verbs require an object and it's generally a direct object.

  • Intransitive verbs do not require an object and usually there's a preposition or an adverbial

  • phrase after the verb. Some verbs are the third category: bitransitive.

  • As you can probably guess, a bitransitive verb is the one that can be used in a transitive situation

  • or an intransitive one. Often the meaning can change.

  • As an example, "He runs to the store." It has that feeling of movement.

  • Now, if we change it, "He runs the store." It is actually correct, because run is a bitransitive

  • verb. But the meaning is completely different.

  • In case you were wondering, "He runs the store" means he manages the store, he controls the

  • store. So transitive and intransitive verbs are very

  • important, basic parts of grammar, and they're connected with how you use an

  • object with the verb. There are three kinds: transitive, intransitive

  • and bitransitive. Transitive requires a direct object.

  • Intransitive does not require an object, but if there is an object, there is usually a

  • prepositional phrase or an adverbial phrase. And bitransitive verbs swing both ways. You

  • can use them transitively or intransitively. But be careful because some verbs change meaning

  • when you use transitive or intransitive. Now you are masters of verbs and objects.

  • If you have any questions, you know what to do.

  • And as always, thank you for subscribing, and I will see you next time!

  • [Outro]

Hello! And welcome to Like A Native Speaker In This week's lesson, you're going to be

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