The transitive verbs in Chinese language are the verbs can be collocated with the objects like 看and写in看书and写字. In the process of teaching the transitive verbs, Chinese teachers need to pay attention to the matters as follows. The first issue teachers need consider is whether the objects can be omitted. 吃、看and姓、属于are all transitive verbs, but the objects of the former two can be omitted in context while those of the latter two can’t. Generally speaking, the objects of most transitive verbs can be omitted in certain language environment.

The words like 姓、属于and成为are all transitive verbs but the main function is to connect the subject and object to indicate that both sides have certain relationship. Therefore, they are also called as relational verbs. And the relational verbs are usually followed by objects and the objects are absolutely necessary. For those verbs whose objects are not allowed to omit, teachers should emphasize the form of the structure and also the features.

For example, if you attend to one-on-one Chinese learning programs, teachers would tell you the verb 属于should be applied as A属于B like 这个小区属于西城区and成为should be A成为B like 他成为我最好的朋友. Even though the verbs企图、从事and盼望are not relational verbs, the objects of them can’t be omitted.

The second problem is the about the specific objects. For instance, you can say 班长告诉我一件事but not 班长说我一件事. Even though they are transitive verbs, the specific objects of different transitive verbs are various. Some verbs can take only noun, pronoun and numeral while some can take only verb and adjective as their objects. For the former condition, some can have only specific nouns while some abstract nouns. Some have only uncountable nouns while some only countable nouns.

Accordingly, those who learn Mandarin Chinese should know we can’t say 班长说我一件事because the objects of 说and告诉are different. Therefore, when meeting verbs in the process of teaching, teachers should not only tell the students whether they are transitive verbs, but also tell which kind of objects they should take.