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Hi guys,
I didn’t even realise until yesterday that Tofugu had the podcast (thanks Joel for mentioning it). So I listened to a few episodes. One was talking about transitive vs intransitive verbs and what they mean. That was cool and I got a better understanding of some words that I didn’t quite understand the point of.
For those that don’t know this yet, apparently, transitive verbs are the ones that “do something to something else” (direct object), while intransitive don’t. That made so much sense for some verbs that I have encountered so far and couldn’t quite figure out what is so different about them (they share the kanji), but now I know. And they come in pairs…
For example
入る （はいる）- to enter (this would be intransitive, as in enter the room)
入れる （いれる）- to insert/put (transitive, as in put ham in the sandwich, can’t really enter it :-))I will let you guess which one is which in these examples;
上げる（あげる）＝ To raise (something)
上がる（あがる）＝ To rise止まる（とまる）＝ Something Stops
止める（とめる）＝ To Stop SomethingWhile they were discussing the concept in the episode, they mentioned that some people are trying to use a workaround and finding their way around this by checking the particles that are being used and that got me thinking. I was under the impression (based on the lessons here) that you can only use two particles with verbs を (with the direct object) and に (for anything to do with movement and time) so I went back to the lessons to check.
I found this example that I missed before:
いす に すわります not much movement here, but it uses に particle so I started to think that one is probably used for all intransitive verbs then.
I did a bit of research and saw examples of intransitive verbs being used with は as well.
Anyone know about this any more? I would like to know how to best utilise them in the sentences.
Basically, the deal is that transitive verbs involve a subject verbing an object, while intransitive verbs just have the subject verbing on its own. Which is to say, while the key feature of intransitive verbs is that they don’t take a direct object, it’s important that you don’t forget that both verb types still have a subject, which is marked by が. Frequently, the subject is the topic, which is marked by は, which is why you see は being used with intransitive verbs – however, the object of a transitive verb could also be the topic, and marked by は, which is why you shouldn’t take the absense of を as a definite sign that it’s an intransitive verb.
So, for example,
スーパーマンは車を止めた – Superman stopped the car
車が止まった – The car stoppedcan also be
スーパーマンは車は止めた – Superman stopped the car (but not, say, the train)
車は止まった – The car stoppedA handy rule of thumb with transitive/intransitive pairs is you’ll usually find that one is group one and the other is group two – like all rules in Japanese, however, there are exceptions, and there’s also no consistency about which of the pair falls in which group. It does give you a handy way to remember things, though.
We DO have transitive/intransitive verb pairs in English too, but they’re quite frequently the same word in both cases, so we don’t notice them so much.
On the subject of に, it’s got about a thousand uses. As well as marking time and destination, it also marks the indirect object (= the beneficiary of the verb being done), the agent in passive and causative sentences, the surface on which an action takes place (e.g. write on a piece of paper), purpose of motion, and location of existence (i.e. with ある, いる, すむ and so forth).
Awesome response… Thanks…
I just realised there was a full lesson on this in Season 6 :-)
I am not quite there yet, but I checked it anyway.
Some more tips to boot. Awesome…
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