Japanese Verbs -
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs -
Free Japanese Lessons: 30

By now, you might have noticed that there are some pairs of Japanese verbs which look similar, but have slightly different meanings. These pair of verbs are called transitive verbs and intransitive verbs.

Transitive verbs or 他動詞 (tadoushi) are verbs indicating personal action of changing something. The focus is on someone who did the action.

On the other hand, intransitive verbs or 自動詞 (jidoushi) are verbs indicating movement of something. The focus is on the movement itself and it doesn't matter who did the movement.

Basically the sentence patterns of transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs look like the following...

You can see from the sentence patterns that since an transitive verb is talking about action done by someone, there is always a direct object to act upon. Therefore particle を (wo) is being used.

However this is not always the case. When you go to the next lesson, you will learn that there are times when the particle が (ga) is being used for transitive verbs.

But for the time being, just know that most of the time particle を (wo) is being used.

As for intransitive verbs, since the focus is on the movement and not on the person who did the action, particle が (ga) is normally used.

Examples of Transitive and Intransitive Japanese Verbs

Let's use some examples to show how both transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs are being used.

• たなかさんはタクシー を とめました。
  tanaka san wa takushi- wo tomemashita
  Meaning: Mr Tanaka stopped the taxi. 
  
  タクシー が とまりました。
  takushi- ga tomarimashita
  Meaning: Taxi stopped.

In the above first example, you want to say that Mr Tanaka stopped the car (he made the change). Therefore the transitive verb とめる (tomeru) is used.

In the second example, you want to describe the movement of "taxi stopped", hence the intransitive verb とまる (tomaru) is used.

The rest of the examples will be similar. The first one is the transitive verb and the second one is the intransitive verb.

Identify between Transitive and Intransitive Japanese Verbs

Unfortunately there is no rule to differentiate between transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs. The best way is to memorize by hard.

The more pairs of Japanese verbs you come across, the more you can tell which one belongs to which group.

Although it's not always the case, you can use the following general guidelines to tell the differences...

However there are always exceptions in Japanese, so it's not always true for the above guidelines. Therefore the best way is still to memorize them.

Below is the list of some commonly used pairs of transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs...

Related Pages

Lesson 18: Verbs.

Lesson 19: Verbs Part 2 - Change dictionary-form to masu-form and nai-form.

Lesson 20: Verbs on give and receive.

Lesson 21: Verbs te-form.

Lesson 22: Verbs on Progress Action, Habitual Action & Occupation.

Lesson 23: Verbs of Motion & How to Make Request in Japanese.

Lesson 29: Verbs on State Continuation.

Lesson 31: Verbs on State Continuation Transitive/Intransitive.

Like This Page?

Affiliate Link

Learn Japanese Free

Learn Japanese Software

Electronic Dictionaries

Learn Japanese FAQ

Japanese School Directory