# Japanese/Grammar/Transitivity

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) | 自動詞(じどうし) (intransitive verb) | 他動詞(たどうし) (transitive 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。 |

## See also

* 70 transitive/intransitive pairs with descriptive animations
* Well-presented grammar explanation
* [learnjapaneseonline.info/2016/12/27/mastering-transitivity-pairs-remembering-japanese-transitive-and-intransitive-verbs-the-easy-way/]