ABSTRACT
Typ ica l simple sentences consist o f a verb and one or more arguments, that is, phrases that must be present for the sentence to be grammatical . Intransitive verbs are constructed wi th just one argument: the subject noun phrase, as in H a arribat el tren? ' H a s the train arrived?' A few intransitive verbs (weather verbs) no rma l ly have not even a subject, e.g. Nevava 'It snowed'. Transitive verbs (using this t e rm i n a broad sense) are those that are constructed with more than one argument, for example, wi th a subject and a direct object n o u n phrase, as in E l tren portava les bigues 'The train brought the girders'; w i th a subject and an indirect object phrase, as i n L i agraden els pastissos ' H e likes cakes' (lit. 'Cakes please to h im ' ) w i t h a subject n o u n phrase and a locative phrase, as in Nosaltres vam anar a Grec ia 'We went to Greece' ; wi th a subject, a direct, and an indirect object, as i n L ' E n r i c va oferir una rosa a la Rosa ' E n r i c offered R o s a a rose'; w i th a subject, a direct object, and a locative phrase, as i n Fuster va posar les mans a la taula 'Fuster put his hands on the table'. Less often, verbs take other types o f arguments, for example, a preposi t ional phrase wi th a specified preposi t ion, as i n fiar-se de 'trust' (lit. 'trust oneself o f ) : E l nostre fill no es fia dels seus amies O u r son does not trust his friends'; o r a verb may take as complement a manner adverbial , as wi th portar-se 'behave': E s portaven molt malament 'They behaved very badly ' ; or a nomina l complement , as i n E l s Catalans el van elegir president 'The Catalans elected h i m president' (where el is the direct object and president is the n o m i n a l complement) . C o p u l a r verbs (Chapter 30) fall outside the major transitive/ intransitive dichotomy.
