Transitivity was a concept I struggled with in elementary school, and then promptly forgot about. Even when I began learning new languages, I was far more preoccupied with perfective verbs and tenses to even think about how transitivity may matter.
Transitivity is the grammar concept that described whether or not a verb takes an object. If it does, the verb is transitive. Otherwise, it's intransitive. And sometimes a verb can be both, depending on the sentence. Here are an example of each:
But despite these differences in German and Russian, I didn't really think about it until I started learning Hindi. As if imperfective and perfective aspects aren't enough already - particularly in the case of Russian - Hindi conjugates perfective verbs based on transitivity. Meaning that while verb aspect is conjugated within the same verb, there are actually two conjugations for the perfective tense.
If the verb is perfective and transitive, it also conjugates based on the direct object, not the subject. And of course, there are rules for other nuances - such a direct object of a transitive verb with the particle को.
Transitivity is the grammar concept that described whether or not a verb takes an object. If it does, the verb is transitive. Otherwise, it's intransitive. And sometimes a verb can be both, depending on the sentence. Here are an example of each:
Joan studies. [intransitive]
Joan studies German. [transitive]A transitive sentence will take a direct object, generally marked in languages like German by the accusative case. In Russian, this gets a little more complicated, as abstract objects of a transitive verb use the genitive, not the accusative.
But despite these differences in German and Russian, I didn't really think about it until I started learning Hindi. As if imperfective and perfective aspects aren't enough already - particularly in the case of Russian - Hindi conjugates perfective verbs based on transitivity. Meaning that while verb aspect is conjugated within the same verb, there are actually two conjugations for the perfective tense.
If the verb is perfective and transitive, it also conjugates based on the direct object, not the subject. And of course, there are rules for other nuances - such a direct object of a transitive verb with the particle को.
Subjects are marked with the postpositions ने, and the subject will decline into Hindi's second case - the oblique.
A different verb conjugation isn't restricted to Hindi. It's also present in Japanese. Various languages indigenous to the Urals and Siberia also have retained some variant of transitive verbs and morphology, such as Ket, Sireniki, and Mansi.
A different verb conjugation isn't restricted to Hindi. It's also present in Japanese. Various languages indigenous to the Urals and Siberia also have retained some variant of transitive verbs and morphology, such as Ket, Sireniki, and Mansi.
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