Discerning transitive from intransitive

[Deccius]

Salvete omnes,

I am confused by transitive and intransitive verbs. From what I know, a transitive verb is a verb that can be followed by a direct object. Intransitive is just the opposite. That part I understand. But in Latin pugnare is an intransitive verb, correct? But can't pugnare have a direct object? e.g. Hominem pugnavi. Is there anyway that you can easily memorize transitive and intransitive verbs?

Thanks

[benissimus]

pugnare is really "fight" in the sense of "they fight fiercely" or "they fight on horseback". To help you remember that it is intransitive, you could think of it as meaning "to have a fight/battle" instead of simply "to fight". It can take the a cognate accusative (to fight a fight), and less commonly a general accusative, but it is usually intransitive. You can get around this by using the construction pugnare cum (aliquo) "to fight with (someone)". pugnavi cum homine is better than hominem pugnavi. There are other words with similar meaning that are transitive, if you really have your heart set on using an accusative

The best way to remember which verbs are transitive is probably to come up with a definition for them that is intransitive. If you think of pugnare as meaning "to have a battle", resistere as meaning "to stand against", placere as meaning "to be pleasing", credere as meaning "to be trusting", etc. you will not have trouble remembering that they do not generally take a direct object. Fortunately, many Latin words that are intransitive are also intransitive in English, so this doesn't come up too often.