The good thing about transitive and intransitive verbs in Spanish is most English students tend to get them right when guessing.
The bad thing is we don’t really learn about this idea in school. But, it helps if you want to understand certain phrases and grammar structures in Spanish. And of course, there is the odd exception to the rule.
Verbs in English can be grouped into transitive only, intransitive only or both. There are some verbs like “to have” that are transitive only, verbs like “to go” that are intransitive only and verbs like “to read” than can be both transitive and intransitive depending on the sentence.
In general, when you translate from English to Spanish, the verbs that are transitive only are still transitive only and similarly with intransitive and the verbs that are both. The challenge is the few rare exceptions. But, in most cases you want need to remember these.
Listen to today’s podcast to learn how to use transitive and intransitive verbs in Spanish. And if you have any questions, you can leave them below.
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Examples from the episode:
I have a new car – Tengo un coche nuevo.
I have a girlfriend – Tengo una novia.
I want world peace – Quiero la paz mundial.
I want to travel – Quiero viajar.
I love you a lot – Te quiero mucho.
I go to school – Voy a la escuela.
I arrive late – Llego tarde.
I arrive early – Llego pronto.
I arrived late to the concert – Llegué tarde al concierto.
I read a lot – Leo mucho.
I read slowly – Leo despacio.
I’m reading this book – Estoy leyendo este libro.
She practices often – Ella practica a menudo.
She practices her Spanish – Ell practica su Español.
I slept for an hour – Dormí durante una hora.
In english you can’t sleep something.
He put his kids to bed – Él durmió a sus niños a la cama.
What other Spanish transitive or intransitive verbs do you know?
Podcast: Play in new window
I had learned about the transitive/intransitive verbs some time ago. I soon forgot it but this is a good refresher. Coming from English I haven’t seen why I need to know which is which. We know the pattern I think instinctively. Perhaps as we advance the need to know becomes more apparent. With ‘durmió’ it suggests the meaning might change. Is that a fair statement?
Hey Rosemary, thanks for the question. Yes the meaning change of ‘dormir’ from intransitive to transitive is a fair statement. What I was really hoping that you got out of this episode was to simply think that if verb is transitive in English it should be in Spanish as well. That way you can avoid things like:
Person 1: ¿Tienes mis llaves?
Person 2: Sí, tengo.
In English we wouldn’t say “yes I have”, we would say “yes I have them.” In Spanish you should say “sí, las tengo.” You’re right in saying that it is mostly instinctive and generally transitive verbs in English are transitive in Spanish as well. So hopefully after listening to this tip, everybody can remember to use a direct object if required.