The verb generally agrees with the subject in both transitive and intransitive sentences.

Pohnpeian transitive sentences contain up to three noun phrases.

Subjects of transitive sentences, however, carry a different marking to indicate that they belong to a separate case, known as the ergative.

Meanwhile, agents of transitive sentences take the ergative suffix, -mu.

Here are three sentence types, each containing a single word: a nominal predicate, an intransitive sentence, and a transitive sentence.

In contrast, a transitive sentence requires the subject and object to be non-identical (e.g., "The man hit John").

The accusative marks the direct object of a transitive verb in a transitive sentence.

The executor in a transitive sentence always precedes the experiencer.

If a noun is the subject of a transitive sentence (meaning that the verb has an object) it receives the ergative suffix.

Pronouns do not receive ergative suffixes and take no ending as the subject of a transitive sentence.