Definition The Golden Rule Verb list Exercises

What is a transitive verb?

A transitive verb is a verb that needs a direct object to complete its meaning — the action passes from the subject onto something or someone. Without an object, the sentence feels unfinished.

SubjectTransitive VerbDirect Object
Ilovepizza.
Shereadsbooks every night.
Weneedyour help.
Theyboughta new car.
Not every verb needs an object: Verbs like sleep, arrive or happen are intransitive — they don't take a direct object at all ("She arrived." — complete on its own). Transitive verbs are the opposite: leave out the object and the sentence sounds broken. ❌ "I bought." → ✅ "I bought a car."

⚠️ The Golden Rule: Verb + Object, Always Together

In some languages, word order is flexible — you can move the different parts of a sentence around without sounding strange. English doesn't work that way. The direct object of a transitive verb must come immediately after the verb. Nothing is allowed to go in between — not a place, not a time expression, not "with someone", not an adverb. Everything else moves to the end of the sentence.

Subject + Verb + Object + (with / to someone) + (place) + (time)

This is one of the most common — and most noticeable — mistakes English learners make, precisely because many other languages allow this separation and English absolutely does not:

❌ I usually make with my husband dinner.
✅ I usually make dinner with my husband.
❌ I'm sharing with you the document.
✅ I'm sharing the document with you.
❌ I ate last night pizza.
✅ I ate pizza last night.
❌ She gave to her brother the keys.
✅ She gave her brother the keys. / She gave the keys to her brother.
❌ He explained to the class the rule.
✅ He explained the rule to the class.
⚠️ This is not a stylistic choice: Breaking up the verb and its object doesn't just sound "a bit off" to a native speaker — it's ungrammatical. If you feel the urge to add extra information (who, where, when), add it after the complete verb + object, never in the middle of it.
A note on phrasal verbs: This fixed order applies to ordinary transitive verbs. Some phrasal verbs (pick up, turn on, put away) work differently — with many of them, the object CAN go between the verb and the particle: "pick the book up" and "pick up the book" are both correct. That flexibility is a separate rule and doesn't apply to the verbs on this page.

Common transitive verbs

This is an extensive list of the most common transitive verbs in English — browse through it with the arrows.

Exercises

Practice what you've just learned:

EXERCISE:

Exercise 1 — Choose the correct sentence

Which sentence keeps the verb and its object together?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.