Japanese/Grammar/Transitivity

Many Japanese verbs have pairs of transitive and intransitive verbs. Formally, the difference between these is that a transitive verb can take on a direct object, whereas an intransitive verb can not. There are a few pairs of distinct verbs in English that correlate to this: "raise"/"rise", "fell"/"fall" and "lay"/"lie".

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

	English	Verb	Japanese
Transitive	(I) close the door	閉める (しめる)	ドアを閉めます。
Intransitive	The door closes	閉まる (しまる)	ドアが閉まります。
Transitive	The teacher starts the class	始める (はじめる)	先生はクラスを始める。
Intransitive	The class starts	始まる (はじまる)	クラスが始まる。
Transitive	The sun melts the ice	溶かす（とかす）	日が氷を溶かす
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 parings are listed in the following table:

自動詞(じどうし) (intransitive verb)		他動詞(たどうし) (transitive verb)
〜ぇる → 〜ぁす
to go out	出(で)る	出(だ)す	to get out
to escape	逃(に)げる	逃(にが)す	to let escape
to melt	溶(と)ける	溶(と)かす	to melt sth
to wither	枯(か)れる	枯(か)らす	to let wither
-eru → -yasu
to increase (by self)	増える fueru	増やす fuyasu	to increase (sth else)
to cool down (by self)	冷える hieru	冷やす hiyasu	to cool sth down
to grow	生える haeru	生やす hayasu	to grow sth
-iru → -osu
to wake up	起きる okiru	起こす okosu	to wake sb up
to get off	降りる oriru	降ろす orosu	to offload
to fall	落ちる ochiru	落す 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 sth
to boil	沸く waku	沸かす wakasu	to bring sth to a boil
to dry (self)	乾く kawaku	乾かす kawakasu	to dry sth
to be glad	喜ぶ yorokobu	喜ばす yorokobasu	to cheer sb
-u → -eru
to get open	開く aku	開ける akeru	to open sth
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 sth
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 diengage	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 sth
to gather	集まる atsumaru	集める atsumeru	to collect
to begin	始まる hajimaru	始める hajimeru	to begin sth
to be found	見付かる mitsukaru	見付ける mitsukeru	to find sth
to hang	掛かる kakaru	掛ける kakeru	to hang sth 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 sth
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 sth
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
weitere
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 sth
to become	なる naru	する suru	to do

Note that the direct object can have either particle "を" or "が". The difference lies therefore in the verbs ... and these must be remembered! No-one said this would be easy. :-)

See also

• 70 transitive/intransitive pairs with descriptive animations