Verbs that can or must have an accusative object are called transitive verbs.
| Examples | |
| the verb must have an accusative object | Paul braucht Geld. |
| Sandra liebt ihre Kinder sehr. | |
| Er schenkt ihr Blumen. | |
| the verb can have an accusative object* | Monika isst (eine Pizza). |
| Sie singt (ein deutsches Lied). | |
| Hast du schon (die Rechnung) bezahlt? |
* There are many transitive verbs that can form a comprehensive sentence without an accusative object.
Verbs that cannot have an accusative object as an argument are called intransitive verbs.
An intransitive verb can have: no arguments, an argument in the dative or genitive, a prepositional object or an adverbial.
| argument | Examples |
| no arguments | Er schläft. |
| dative object | Du folgst nicht dem Rat deiner Eltern. |
| genitive object | Ich bedarf deines Rates. |
| prepositional object | Sie achtet auf ihre Figur. |
| adverbial | Das Bild hängt an der Wand. |