ditransitive

English

Etymology

From di- + transitive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdaɪˈtɹæn.zə.tɪv/, /ˌdaɪˈt͡ʃɹæn.zə.tɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

ditransitive (not comparable)

1. (grammar) Of a class of verbs which take both a direct and an indirect object. An example is 'give', which entails a giver (subject), a gift (direct object) and a receiver (indirect object).
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 344:

     So far, we have considered only transitive Verbs which take a single NP Complement. However, there are a subset of transitive Verbs (known as ditransitive Verbs) which can take two NP Complements, as illustrated in (16) below (where the NP Complements are bracketed):
     (16) (a)      John gave [Mary] [a present]
     (16) (b)      The postman handed [me] [a parcel]
     (16) (c)      He showed [her] [his credentials]
     (16) (d)      He sent [his mother] [some flowers]
     (16) (e)      Never promise [anyone] [anything]
     The relevant subcategorisation frame for Verbs used in this construction will be [— NP NP], indicating that they can take two NP Complements.

   • 2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Dependency Grammar” (chapter 3), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 79:

     The verb gave is sometimes called ditransitive: It can take two nouns following the verb, as in Lana gave the dog a stick. Here, the noun dog is the recipient of gave, and the object or patient of gave is the noun stick. The first post-verbal noun for ditransitive verbs is sometimes called its indirect object.

Synonyms

• doubly transitive

Hypernyms

• transitive

Derived terms

• ditransitively
• ditransitivity

Related terms

• ambitransitive
• intransitive
• transitive

Translations

having both a direct and indirect object — see also ditransitive verb

• Arabic: مُتَعَدٍّ إِلَى مَفْعُولَينَ
• Breton: daoudranzitivel
• Finnish: ditransitiivinen
• French: bitransitif (fr)
• Georgian: ორპირიანი (orṗiriani)
• Greek: δίπτωτος (el) (díptotos)
• Korean: 이중 타동사 (ijung tadongsa)
• Persian: دوگذرا (dôgozarâ)
• Polish: dwuprzechodni, ditranzytywny
• Russian: двуперехо́дный (ru) (dvuperexódnyj)
• Spanish: ditransitivo
• Swedish: ditransitiv (sv)

Noun

ditransitive (plural ditransitives)

1. (grammar) A verb that takes both an object and an indirect object.