Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

 

In Japanese, sometimes there are two types of the same verb often referred to as transitive and intransitive verbs. 

The Difference Between Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

 

In English, you can use verbs like “to open” as both an intransitive and a transitive verb, e.g.

“I will open the door” and “The door will open”. However, Japanese requires you to use different forms for intransitive and transitive verbs respectively, like the verbs in the table: 

 

Transitive Verb	Subject（topic） set by the particle は or が (we can omit the topic of the sentence, unless it's absolutely necessary)		object		Verb	Difference	English
	わたし	は/が	ドア	を	あけました	indicate intentional actions	I opened the door.
Intransitive			Subject（topic）set by the particle が		あきます	indicate automatic or natural actions	Doors are open.
			ドア	が

 

There are several patterns in the conjugations. Please note I do not cover all patterns.

I will show you frequently used verbs below. Please do not try to memorize them all set at once, but step by step

Pattern 1
Transitive verbs	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into transitive
しめる Shi me ru	しまる Shi ma ru	To close	Replace -eru with -aru.
とめる	とまる	To stop
はじめる	はじまる	To start
みつける	みつかる	To find

 

Pattern 2
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
こわす Ko wa su	To break	こわれる Ko wa re ru	To break	Replace -su with -reru.
よごす	To make dirty	よごれる	To become dirty
たおす	To kock/throw down	たおれる	To fall

 

Pattern 3
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
うる U ru	To sell	うれる U re ru	To be sold	Replace -ru with -reru.

 

Pattern 4
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
うむ U mu	To give birth	うまれる U ma re ru	To be born	Replace -u with -areru.

 

Pattern 5
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
なおす Na o su	To fix/cure	なおる Na o ru	To be fixed/cured	Replace -su with -ru.

 

Pattern 6
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
ひやす Hi ya su	to make..cold	ひえる Hi e ru	To get cold	Replace -asu with -e ru.

 

Pattern 7
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
かわかす Ka wa ka su	To dry	かわく Ka wa ku	To dry	Replace -asu with -u.

 

Pattern 8
Transitive verbs	English	Intransitive verbs	English	Conjugation into Intransitive
おとす O to su	to drop	おちる O chi ru	To fall/drop	Replace -su with -i ru.

  

.The others important verbs in pairs

Transitive		Intransitive
あける	Open something	あく	Something open
いれる	Put something in	はいる	Something goes inside
だす	Take something out	でる	Something goes out
つける	Turn something on	つく	Something goes on
けす	Turn something off/ Extinguish something	きえる	Something goes off

 

Transitive/Intransitive ＋　ている

Transitive verbs describe activities, while intransitive verbs describe changes.

In transitive form, they can be followed by the helping verb "ている" to describe action in progress, like:

 

ともだち　は　まど　を　あけています

My friend is opening windows.

 

In intransitive form, they can be followed by the helping verb "ている" to describe states that hold after the change takes place, like:

 

このコンピュータは　こわれています

This computer is broken

Exexrcises

Genki 2

Genki 2 workbook