intransitive verbs do not require a verbal complement and may appear accompanied by adverbial adjuncts. Transitive verbs, on the other hand, need a complement, that is, a direct object (without preposition) or indirect (with preposition). You verbs can also be direct and indirect transitive at the same time.
Read too: Pronominal verbs — are accompanied by unstressed pronouns
Topics of this article
- 1 - Video lesson on intransitive verbs
- 2 - Examples of intransitive verbs
- 3 - Intransitive verbs and adverbial adjuncts
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4 - Transitive Verbs vs Intransitive Verbs
- → Direct transitive verbs
- → Indirect transitive verbs
- → Direct and indirect transitive verbs
- 5 - Solved exercises on intransitive verbs
Video lesson on intransitive verbs
Examples of intransitive verbs
Here are some examples of intransitive verbs, that is, verbs that do not require a complement:
to wake up;
fall sleep;
to walk;
to fall;
to arrive;
to cry;
attend;
grow up;
to vanish;
log in;
slip;
go;
to die;
born;
to laugh;
go out;
suffer;
smile;
to work;
shake;
travel;
to live;
come back.
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Intransitive verbs and adverbial adjuncts
Sometimes, intransitive verbs appear accompanied by adverbial adjunctstheres. Therefore, care must be taken not to confuse these adjuncts with verbal complements.
See these examples:
fell asleep in my office.
George trembled of fear.
we lived for our children.
traveled by train every week.
In these statements, it is possible to point out, respectively, adverbial adjuncts of place, cause, purpose and means.
See too: Abundant verbs — have more than one form in certain conjugations
Transitive Verbs vs Intransitive Verbs
Intransitive verbs do not require a complement; transitives need it, and are classified as follows:
→ Direct transitive verbs
Present verbal complement without preposition (direct object).
boy boughta pocket book.
→ Indirect transitive verbs
Present verbal complement with preposition (indirect object).
Lucia agreedwith your friends.
→ Direct and indirect transitive verbs
They have both a direct object and an indirect object.
I lentmoneyto my brother.
Solved exercises on intransitive verbs
question 1
(UFJF - adapted) Read the excerpt:
She would touch me, ask me out and want to go to my house. One day it even bit my back”, says Barroso, who, last year, faced, for two months, his boss's lines at the cell phone company where he worked, in Brasília. “People laughed at me all the time,” he recalls. When she felt rejected, the woman, around 50 years old, began to pursue him. She even created situations for him to be fired, such as assigning him absences, even in the face of a medical certificate.
(Text adapted. Available in: https://istoe.com.br/103744_O+ HARASSMENT+ SEXUAL+ FEMALE/. Accessed on: 31 Jul. 2018.)
About the construction “how to assign faults”, it can be said that:
A) is correct, because the pronoun him refers to Barroso, and the verb to assign was used as an indirect transitive.
B) is incorrect, because the pronoun him refers to your boss, and the verb to assign was used as a bitransitive.
C) is correct, because the pronoun him refers to Barroso, and the verb to assign was used as a bitransitive.
D) is incorrect, because the pronoun him refers to Barroso, and the verb to assign was used as an intransitive.
E) is correct, because the pronoun him refers to your boss, and the verb to assign was used as a direct transitive.
Resolution:
Alternative C
In the passage “how to assign you faults”, “faults” is the direct object of the verb “attribuir”, while “le” is the indirect object. Therefore, the verb “assign” is bitransitive, since it is transitive direct and indirect at the same time.
question 2
Analyze the statements below and mark the alternative that presents an intransitive verb.
A) We love the films of Jean-Luc Godard and those of Pedro Almodóvar.
B) When I went to bed last night, I missed you deeply.
C) The engineer ran over a dog that was crossing the street.
D) Joaquim and Inácio liked pasta with lots of cheese.
E) For ten years, I gave my older brother a lot of money.
Resolution:
Alternative B
In these utterances, the only intransitive verb is “to lie down”.
By Warley Souza
Portuguese teacher
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUZA, Warley. "intransitive verbs"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/verbos-intransitivos.htm. Accessed on June 07, 2022.
