Transitive, not Transvestite!
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 the two is that one verb is an action done by an active agent while the other is something that occurs without a direct agent. In English, this is sometimes expressed with the same verb, such as: "The ball dropped" vs "I dropped the ball" but in Japanese it becomes 「が」 vs 「を」. Sometimes, the verbs changes when translated into English such as "To put it in the box" (に） vs "To enter the box" （に） but this is only from the differences in the languages. If you think in Japanese, intransitive and transitive verbs have the same meaning except that one indicates that someone had a direct hand in the action (direct object) while the other does not. While knowing the terminology is not important, it is important to know which is which in order to use the correct particle for the correct verb.
Since the basic meaning and the kanji is the same, you can learn two verbs for the price of just one kanji! Let's look at a sample list of intransitive and transitive verbs.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
| Transitive | Intransitive |
|---|
| to drop | | to fall |
| to take out | | to come out; to leave |
| to insert | | to enter |
| to open | | to be opened |
| to close | | to be closed |
| to attach | | to be attached |
| to erase | | to disappear |
| to extract | | to be extracted |
Pay attention to particles!
The important lesson to take away here is to learn how to use the correct particle for the correct type of verb. It might be difficult at first to grasp which is which when learning new verbs or whether there even is a transitive/intransitive distinction. The good news is that the WWWJDIC now indicates whether a verb is transitive (vt) or intransitive (vi) when the distinction applies. However, I have not tested how extensive the coverage is so I recommend looking at examples sentences from either the WWWJDIC or Yahoo!辞書. For example, looking at example sentences for 「」 from the WWWJDIC or Yahoo!辞書, you can see that it is a transitive verb from the use of the 「を」 particle.
Examples
（１） がを。- I am the one that turned on the lights.
（２） が。- The lights turned on.
（３） を。- Turn off the lights.
（４） が。- Lights turn off.
（５） がを？- Who opened the window?
（６） が？- Why has the window opened?
The important thing to remember is that intransitive verbs cannot have a direct object because there is no direct acting agent. The following sentences are grammatically incorrect.
（誤） を。- （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
（誤） を。- （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
（誤） を？- （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
The only time you can use the 「を」 particle for intransitive verbs is when a location is the direct object of a motion verb as briefly described in the previous section.
（１） を。- I left room.
This page has last been revised on 2006/12/1