Translating Transitive and Intransitive Verbs from Latin to English

Verbs are parts of speech among nouns, direct objects, indirect object, etc., that express the action of a sentence. Verbs can convey a physical action such as walking, speaking, or running; mental actions such as thinking, hoping, or understanding; or states or conditions such as being, becoming, or changing. Unlike English, Latin verbs are typically found at the end of a sentence, but recall that word order in Latin is far less important since Latin words change to indicate their function. Although unfamiliar to English speakers, having the verb at the end of the sentence makes translation that much easier for the elementary Latin student since it is the first place a student should start when translating sentences from Latin to English.

When looking up verbs in a Latin dictionary, a standard set of abbreviations and codes identify more information about the word. There are two types of verbs in both English and Latin. Transitive verbs, signified in most dictionaries with “v.t.,” are those that take a direct object. In contrast, intransitive verbs, signified with “v.i.” in a dictionary, do not take a direct object. Understanding the relationship between verbs and potential direct objects makes translation from one language to another much simpler.

Transitive, intransitive, and those verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive are found in Latin as they are in English. They also function in exactly the same way in both languages. However, Latin is an inflected language, meaning the form of words change to indicate their function in a sentence. Consequently, identifying whether a verb is transitive or intransitive requires an understanding of the different cases of nouns.

Recall that Latin’s direct objects are indicated with the accusative case. When translating a sentence from Latin to English always identify the verb first and then look for its subject and any potential direct objects. Success or failure in finding the object of a verb will indicate whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. For example:

Puer rosam dat. (The boy is giving a rose.)

Caesar inimicum superavat. (Caesar defeated the enemy.)

Ionn librum legit. (John is reading a book.)

Notice that in each case, the verbs (dat, superavat, legit) have direct objects (rosa, inimicum, librum) indicating that the verbs are transitive. In contrast, look at these sentences with intransitive verbs:

Nauta est bonus. (The sailor is good.)

Di erant benigni. (The gods were kind.)

Puer sedet. (The boy is sitting.)

Notice that these example sentences have no direct objects receiving the actions of the verbs. This is what sets them apart from sentences with transitive verbs.

Both Latin and English employ transitive and intransitive verbs. Whereas transitive verbs take a direct object, intransitive verbs do not. In some cases, a verb can be either transitive or intransitive depending on whether a speaker or writer supplies a direct object. Identifying whether a Latin verb is transitive or intransitive is a matter of finding or failing to find a word in the accusative case that is the object of the verb. Remember that unlike English, Latin word order is far less important so the direct object in the accusative case may be just about anywhere in the sentence. Practice and experience in translating sentences from Latin to English will make identification of transitive and intransitive verbs easy.