This thesis aims to study the functions of transitive verbs in the Thai language and to classify them into subgroups both according to the classes of nouns preceding and following them, and according to their co-occurrence with the words / thù:k /"ถูก"/ kan /"กัน" and / tua /"ตัว". The data were drawn mostly from the Dictionary of The Royal Institute (1950) and from a study of the everyday conversation of people who use the Bangkok dialect. The research has shown that transitive verbs in the Thai language may be classified by their functions into seven groups, which in turn may be classified into a total of 107 subgroups according to the classes of nouns that precede and those that follow them. When analysed, according to their co-occurrence with the words / thù:k /" ถูก "/ kan /" กัน "and / tua /" ตัว "the transitive verbs may be classified into 6 subgroups ( 2 for each co-occurrent word). Finally it is suggested that further research should be conducted to discover all the possible nouns that may precede and follow particular-transitive verbs, and should also study the class of transitive verbs, which can only occur in conjunction with the post-verbs. The last part of this thesis comprises an appendix classifying all the transitive verbs studied in this thesis into their respective subgroups together with examples illustrating the use of each verbs.
