transitive verb

In linguistics, a transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object. This direct object is a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that receives the action of the verb and completes the sentence's meaning. The direct object typically answers the question "what?" or "whom?". For example, in the sentence "The kids like pickles," "like" is the transitive verb, and "pickles" is the direct object.123

An intransitive verb, conversely, does not take a direct object. If a word follows an intransitive verb, it usually answers questions like "where?", "when?", "how?", or "how long?". For instance, in "Her car died suddenly last week," "died" is intransitive, and "suddenly last week" tells us when and how the car died. Some verbs can function as both transitive and intransitive depending on the sentence.12