Today we’ll be talking about transitive counterparts of intransitive verbs in German.
If you want to know what transitive and intransitive verbs are in the first place, I have an article Transitive Verbs, Intransitive Verbs and More on that on my Prospero English blog, so feel free to check it out. Although it’s about transitive and intransitive verbs in English, the same rules apply to German.
Anyway, to be brief, transitive verbs are verbs that are followed by an object. Intransitive verbs are not followed by an object, but rather by a prepositional phrase or by nothing at all.
In the spoken German we use lots of intransitive verbs which have transitive counterparts in more formal language. The meaning is the same.
Examples of Transitive – Intransitive Verb Pairs
Here are some examples. In the left column you can see the transitive verb, so the one that you would rather use in more formal language. In the middle column, in the same row, you can see its intransitive counterpart. You would go with it in less formal language. Finally, in the right column, you can see the meaning of the transitive – intransitive verb pair.
| Transitive | Intransitive | meaning |
| den Mond anheulen | sich mit Geheul gegen den Mond wenden | to howl at the moon |
| den Wagen umfahren | um den Wagen herumfahren | to drive around a car |
| eine Villa bewohnen | in einer Villa wohnen | to live in a villa |
| jdn verspotten | über jdn spotten | to mock sb |
| Transitive | Intransitive | meaning |
| jdn versorgen | für jdn sorgen | to look after sb |
| etw. erleiden | an etw. leiden | to suffer from sth |
| die Brille zum Reinigen anhauchen | gegen die Brille zum Reinigen hauchen | to breathe on the glasses to clean them |
| sich umgewöhnen | sich an etw. anderes gewöhnen | to readapt |
| Transitive | Intransitive | meaning |
| etw. ersteigen | auf etw. steigen | to climb sth |
| etw. dem Kasten entnehmen | etw. aus dem Kasten nehmen | to take sth out of the chest |
| jdn anhusten | jdm ins Gesicht husten | to cough in sb’s face |
| etw. ersehnen | sich nach etw. sehnen | to long for sth |
INFO
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