ditransitive
/ˌdaɪˈtɹæn.zə.tɪv/
ditransitive adjective: 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).
Adjective
ditransitive (not comparable)
- 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).
- 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...1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 344 - 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...2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Dependency Grammar” (chapter 3), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 79
- Synonyms:
- doubly transitive
- 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):
Noun
ditransitive (plural ditransitives)
- A verb that takes both an object and an indirect object.
ditransitive meaning in Arabic and Persian
ditransitive in Arabic
- having both a direct and indirect object — see also ditransitive verb
- مُتَعَدٍّ إِلَى مَفْعُولَينَ
ditransitive in Persian
- having both a direct and indirect object — see also ditransitive verb
- دوگذرا dôgozarâ
Synonyms of ditransitive
Forms of ditransitive
| plural | ditransitives |
|---|
Origin of ditransitive
From di- + transitive.
Words formed from ditransitive
Phrases with ditransitive
Questions about ditransitive
- What does ditransitive mean?
- Ditransitive means 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).
- What is ditransitive in Arabic?
- Ditransitive in Arabic is مُتَعَدٍّ إِلَى مَفْعُولَينَ. See Ditransitive meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is ditransitive?
- Ditransitive can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ditransitive?
- Ditransitive is pronounced /ˌdaɪˈtɹæn.zə.tɪv/.
Words near ditransitive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ditransitive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ditransitive.wav.
Cite this entry: “ditransitive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ditransitive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.