Transitive verbs are verbs that can always be used transitively, in other words with a direct object: ho fumato una sigaretta ‘I smoked a cigarette’. Sometimes no object is used ho fumato ‘I smoked’, but the verb is still a transitive verb because it can, and often does, take an object. Some verbs can be used both transitively and intran- sitively, e.g. aumentare ‘to increase’, diminuire ‘to decrease’, cambiare ‘to change’: abbiamo aumentato il prezzo del biglietto ‘we have increased the price of the ticket’; il prezzo del biglietto è aumentato ‘the price of the ticket has increased’.