Action verbs are almost always listed as transitive or intransitive, depending on your source. WordReference.com certainly does. It also hints at what prepositions a verb may work with.
These indicators will help you to know if a direct object is expected or not. As mentioned, direct objects have preferred placement, as do the direct object pronouns, depending on the mood (or verb form).
Some verbs take both a direct and an indirect object, like 'dar', whose model is «darle algo a alguien». 'Algo' corresponds to the direct object; 'a alguien', the indirect object; and 'le', the indirect object pronoun. The pronoun is suffixed to an infinitive, imperative, or gerundio. I try to learn every verb with its model.
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