Intransitive Verbs

Unlike transitive verbs, intransitive verbs only require one participant, and the action does not pass from one participant to another.

For example:

Kei te moe au.
I am sleeping.

Kei te haere au.
I am going.

These examples are complete sentences. There is no object needed to ‘transfer’ the action to. Only one participant is necessary for this action.

Note that in the following example, te toa (the shop) is not a patient of the verb (the shop is not affected by my going to it); rather, it is a comment about the place to which I am going. 'Haere' is an intransitive verb.

Kei te haere au ki te toa.
I am going to the shop.

Intransitive verbs don't have passive forms.

In commands, intransitive verbs take the active form.