Transitive and Intransitive verbs

A verb is Transitive, if the action does not stop with the doer, but passes from the doer to something else.

Examples:

• Birds build nests. (Build what? Build nests; "nests" is an object)
• The man killed a dog.
• I broke my leg skiing.
• I began to study English.
• I do not know how to do it.

Note: We will use the standard here of underlining objects.

The word or words denoting that person or thing, to which the action of the verb is directed, are called the Object.

A verb is Intransitive, when the action stops with the doer, and does not pass from the doer to anything else.

Examples:

• Men sleep to preserve life. (Sleep what ? This is nonsense. No word or words can be placed as object to such a verb as "sleep".)
• Birds chirp.
• Rivers flow.

To sum up:
Transitive verb one that requires an object.
Intransitive verb one that does not require an object.

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