Here's how to describe it:
* It answers the question "What?" or "Whom?" after the verb.
* "She kicked the ball." (What did she kick? The ball.)
* "I saw her." (Whom did I see? Her.)
* It's directly affected by the verb.
* "He built a house." (The house is directly changed by his action.)
* It usually comes after the verb, but can sometimes be placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis.
* "The ball, she kicked."
* It cannot be a prepositional phrase.
Examples:
* Subject: The dog
* Verb: chased
* Direct Object: the squirrel
* Subject: She
* Verb: ate
* Direct Object: the sandwich
* Subject: The carpenter
* Verb: built
* Direct Object: a table
Note: Not all sentences have direct objects. For example, in the sentence "The sun shines," there is no direct object because the verb "shines" doesn't have a receiver for the action.