Actions often affect something or someone. An object is a noun phrase that typically receives or is affected by the action of a verb, such as the direct object in she wrote a letter.

Languages distinguish direct and indirect objects and may mark them with case or adpositions. Object agreement on verbs appears in many systems. Word-order typologies are partly defined by where objects sit relative to verbs and subjects.

Not every verb takes an object; intransitives do not. Learners must master which verbs require objects and how objects are marked. Syntactic tests help identify objects when surface form is ambiguous.

• Noun phrase typically affected by the verb
• Includes direct and indirect objects
• May be marked by case, adposition, or position
• Absent with purely intransitive verbs