Usage of Intransitive Verbs

Active languages are characterized by their special treatment of intransitive verbs, according to the semantic role of their subject. (See morphosyntactic alignment.) In active languages, intransitive verbs are classified in two subtypes: the ones where the subject is typically the agent (performer) of the action (as in eat, run, cook), and the ones where the subject is typically the patient (undergoer) of the action (as in fall, die, and maybe sneeze and hiccup). Active languages are rather rare, but an example is Georgian (which shows active behaviour in some verb paradigms, though it is ergative-absolutive in others).

Unaccusatives and unergatives

Most intransitive verbs fall into one of two categories:

• Unergative verbs, where the subject is the agent (such as run and eat);
• Unaccusative verbs, where the subject is the patient (such as fall and die).

This distinction is related to the division of intransitive verbs in active languages (as explained above). In a number of languages, the unergative/unaccusative distinction is reflected in certain features of the verb; for example, in some Romance languages like Italian and French, unaccusative verbs form their complex tenses with different auxiliaries.

Stative verbs

Many languages employ a special kind of intransitive verbs called stative verbs, that show a state, quality or description of the subject, and often correspond to adjectival predicates in other languages. For example in Japanese, so called i-adjectives function as stative verbs and can be conjugated by tense:

(Watashi wa) sushi ga kirai.

[I (TOPIC MARKER)] sushi (SUBJECT MARKER) unpleasant-PRESENT TENSE

"I don't like sushi." ("As for me, sushi unpleasant.")

Tenki wa yokatta.

weather (SUBJECT MARKER) good-PAST TENSE

"The weather was nice." ("Weather good.")

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