Japanese Transitive And Intransitive Verbs: A Simple Guide

  • Ichika Yamamoto
    Written by Ichika Yamamoto
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Japanese Transitive And Intransitive Verbs: A Simple Guide

I saw a post recently on X about transitive and intransitive verbs in Japanese.

It seems that this stumps a lot of English speakers at first.

So what are they?

In short:

  • a transitive verb is an action done by someone to something.
  • an intransitive verb is an action that just happens on its own.

The key is figuring out who or what is doing the action.

Let me explain.

What are transitive verbs (他動詞)?

A transitive verb, or tadoushi (他動詞) in Japanese, needs a direct object.

Think of it this way: a subject performs an action, and that action is transferred to something or someone else.

You can’t just “open” - you have to open something.

You can’t just “eat” - you have to eat something.

That something is the direct object.

In Japanese, the direct object is marked with the particle を (o).

So the pattern is: Subject + は/が (wa/ga) + Object + を (o) + Transitive Verb.

Here are a couple of examples:

Listen to audio

私は窓を開けます。

Watashi wa mado o akemasu.
I open the window.

Here, “I” (私) am the one doing the action.

The action is “to open” (開けます), and it’s being done to the “window” (窓).

The window is receiving the action, so we use the transitive verb and mark the window with を (o).

Listen to audio

田中さんは電気を消しました。

Tanaka-san wa denki o keshimashita.
Tanaka-san turned off the lights.

Tanaka-san performed the action “to turn off” (消しました) on the “lights” (電気).

What are intransitive verbs (自動詞)?

An intransitive verb, or jidoushi (自動詞), describes something that happens without a direct object.

The action stays with the subject.

Think of it as a state of being or a change that happens automatically.

The window doesn’t open something else; it just opens. The lights don’t turn off something else; they just turn off.

With intransitive verbs, the thing that is changing is the subject, and it’s usually marked with the particle が (ga).

The pattern is: Subject + が (ga) + Intransitive Verb.

Let’s look at the intransitive versions of our last examples.

Listen to audio

窓が開きます。

Mado ga akimasu.
The window opens.

See the difference?

Nobody is opening the window.

The window is just opening on its own. The window itself is the subject, so we mark it with が (ga) and use the intransitive verb.

Listen to audio

電気が消えました。

Denki ga kiemashita.
The lights turned off.

The lights turned off by themselves. Maybe there was a power outage. The point is, no one actively turned them off in this sentence.

Comparing common verb pairs

The trickiest part of this for learners is that many Japanese verbs come in transitive/intransitive pairs.

They sound similar but have different endings.

Memorizing these pairs is a huge step forward. Don’t try to learn them all at once.

Instead, learn them as “chunks” when you encounter them.

Here’s a table of some common pairs to get you started:

MeaningTransitive (someone does it)Intransitive (it happens)
To open開ける (akeru)開く (aku)
To close閉める (shimeru)閉まる (shimaru)
To turn onつける (tsukeru)つく (tsuku)
To turn off消す (kesu)消える (kieru)
To start始める (hajimeru)始まる (hajimaru)
To finish終える (oeru)終わる (owaru)
To put in入れる (ireru)入る (hairu)
To take out出す (dasu)出る (deru)
To drop落とす (otosu)落ちる (ochiru)

Let’s see one of these pairs in action.

Listen to audio

私は映画を始めました。

Watashi wa eiga o hajimemashita.
I started the movie.
Listen to audio

映画が始まりました。

Eiga ga hajimarimashita.
The movie started.

In the first sentence, “I” am the agent performing the action on the movie (the object), so we use the transitive 始める (hajimeru) with the particle を (o).

In the second sentence, the movie is the subject and it’s starting on its own.

There’s no external agent.

So, we use the intransitive 始まる (hajimaru) with the particle が (ga).

A simple trick to remember the difference

If you’re ever stuck, just ask yourself this one question:

Is someone doing the action to something else?

  • YES? -> You need a transitive verb and the particle を (o) to mark the object.
  • NO? (It’s just happening on its own) -> You need an intransitive verb and the particle が (ga) to mark the subject.

This simple check will get you the right answer most of the time.

Like anything in Japanese, it just takes practice.

The more you read and listen to Japanese, the more natural it will feel to pick the right verb without even thinking about it.

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Donovan Nagel
Donovan Nagel - B. Th, MA AppLing
I'm an Applied Linguistics graduate, teacher and translator with a passion for language learning (especially Arabic).
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