Japanese/Grammar/Transitivity

Wikipedia has related information at Transitivity (grammatical category)

Many Japanese verbs belong to pairs of transitive and intransitive verbs. In Japanese these are known as 他動詞 (other move verb) and 自動詞 (self move verb). Formally, the difference between these is that a transitive verb can take on a direct object, whereas an intransitive verb (normally) cannot. There are a few pairs of distinct verbs in English that correlate to this: "raise"/"rise", "fell"/"fall" and "lay"/"lie".

Transitive verbs can be thought of as causative, requiring an agent to perform an action. Intransitive verbs move on their own and can be thought of as just existing.

This is best explained by example. Contrast the following pairs of sentences:


	English	Verb	Japanese
Transitive	(I) close the door.	閉める (しめる)	ドアを閉める。
Intransitive	The door closes.	閉まる (しまる)	ドアが閉まる。
Transitive	The teacher starts the class.	始める (はじめる)	先生が授業を始める。
Intransitive	The class starts.	始まる (はじまる)	授業が始まる。

Transitive	The sun melts the ice.	溶かす（とかす）	太陽が氷を溶かす。
Intransitive	The ice melts.	溶ける（とける）	氷が溶ける。

The general patterns for transitive and intransitive sentences is:

(<subject> は/が)	<direct object> を/が	<transitive verb>。
<subject> が		<intransitive verb>。

The topics of intransitive verbs are usually inanimate.

Some pairings are listed in the following table:

自動詞(じどうし) (intransitive verb)		他動詞(たどうし) (transitive verb)
-eru → -asu
to go out	出(で)る deru	出(だ)す dasu	to get out
to escape	逃(に)げる nigeru	逃(にが)す nigasu	to let escape
to melt	溶(と)ける tokeru	溶(と)かす tokasu	to melt something
to wither	枯(か)れる kareru	枯(か)らす karasu	to let wither
-eru → -yasu
to increase (by self)	増える fueru	増やす fuyasu	to increase (something else)
to cool down (by self)	冷える hieru	冷やす hiyasu	to cool something down
to grow	生える haeru	生やす hayasu	to grow something
-iru → -osu
to wake up	起きる okiru	起こす okosu	to wake somebody up
to get off	降りる oriru	降ろす orosu	to offload
to fall	落ちる ochiru	落とす otosu	to let fall
to elapse (time)	過ぎる sugiru	過ごす sugosu	to spend (time)
-u → -asu
to decline	減る heru	減らす herasu	to decrease something
to boil	沸く waku	沸かす wakasu	to bring something to a boil
to dry (self)	乾く kawaku	乾かす kawakasu	to dry something
to be glad	喜ぶ yorokobu	喜ばす yorokobasu	to cheer somebody
-u → -eru
to get open	開く aku	開ける akeru	to open something
to reach	届く todoku	届ける todokeru	to deliver
to grow up	育つ sodatsu	育てる sodateru	to rear
to stand	立つ tatsu	立てる tateru	to stand up
-ru → -seru
to board	乗る noru	乗せる noseru	to let board
to approach	寄る yoru	寄せる yoseru	to let near
-ru → -su
to return	返る kaeru	返す kaesu	to bring back
to go through	通る tōru	通す tōsu	to let through
to turn (by self)	回る mawaru	回す mawasu	to turn something
to get repaired	直る naoru	直す naosu	to repair
to cross	渡る wataru	渡す watasu	to bring to the other side
-reru → -su
to break up	離れる hanareru	離す hanasu	to separate
to disengage	外れる hazureru	外す hazusu	to release
to tumble	倒れる taoreru	倒す taosu	to overthrow
to become dirty	汚れる yogoreru	汚す yogosu	to dirty
to appear	現れる arawareru	現す arawasu	to let appear
to get broken	壊れる kowareru	壊す kowasu	to break
-aru → -eru
to be decided	決まる kimaru	決める kimeru	to decide
to close	閉まる shimaru	閉める shimeru	to close something
to gather	集まる atsumaru	集める atsumeru	to collect
to begin	始まる hajimaru	始める hajimeru	to begin something
to be found	見付かる mitsukaru	見付ける mitsukeru	to find something
to hang	掛かる kakaru	掛ける kakeru	to hang something up
to be saved	助かる tasukaru	助ける tasukeru	to save
-waru → -eru
to change (yourself)	変わる kawaru	変える kaeru	to change something
to join	加わる kuwawaru	加える kuwaeru	to add
-eru → -u
to burn	焼ける yakeru	焼く yaku	to burn something
to be sold	売れる ureru	売る uru	to sell
to come out	抜ける nukeru	抜く nuku	to draw out
to come loose	解ける hodokeru	解く hodoku	to loosen
others
to be visible	見える mieru	見る miru	to see
to be audible	聞こえる kikoeru	聞く kiku	to hear
to extinguish	消える kieru	消す kesu	to delete
to enter	入る hairu	入れる ireru	to put in
to end	終わる owaru	終える／終わる oeru/owaru	to end something
to become	なる naru	する suru	to do

The rule of thumb is that intransitive verbs usually take nouns with the particles 「が」(ga) or 「は」(wa) that act as subjects, whereas transitive verbs take object nouns marked with 「を」(o). Transitive verbs can also take a ga-subject or wa-subject, although it may be omitted. Note that some intransitive verbs can take an o-object that indicates a location. For example, 出る ("to leave") can be used with a direct object that is a location from which the subject is to leave from. See the table below for more examples:

	English	Verb	Japanese
Transitive with を	(I) took out my wallet from my bag.	出す（だす）	財布をカバンから出した。
Transitive with は and を	I took out my wallet from my bag.	出す（だす）	私は財布をカバンから出した。
Intransitive with を	(I) left home.	出る（でる）	家を出た。
Intransitive with は and を	I left home.	出る（でる）	私は家を出た。

Japanese/Grammar/Transitivity

See also