Intransitive verb connects with a transitive verb via Te Form

Question

I have learnt that a noun that is preceding an intransitive verb should go with the GA particle (it is a subject). And a noun that is preceding a transitive verb then it should be used with the WO particle (it is an object).

However, I have also learnt that verbs in Japanese can be connected with TE FORM. So can we connect an intransitive verb with a transitive verb?

If it is yes, then how can we decide which particle to use (GA or WO)? Because in this sentence the Noun is the subject for a verb but also the object for the other?

The pattern is just like this:

NOUN (GA/WO) V1 TE + V2 TE +... In which V(n) can be a transitive verb or intransitive verb.

Could you please give me some examples.

Answer 1

I feel you are a little confused because you have seen some over-simplified explanation about transitive verbs... Perhaps it's best to learn from examples.

• 私は^S 寝ます^Vi。
  I^S sleep^Vi.
• 私は^S 起きます^Vi。
  I^S wake^Vi (up).
• 私は^S シャワーを^O 浴びます^Vt。
  I^S take^Vt a shower^O.
• 私は^S 朝食を^O 食べます^Vt。
  I^S eat^Vt breakfast^O.

Using a te-from to connect two verbs...

• 私は^S シャワーを^O1 浴びて^Vt1* 寝ます^Vi2。
  I^S take^Vt1 a shower^O1 and (then) sleep^Vi2.
• 私は^S 起きて^Vi1* シャワーを^O2 浴びます^Vt2。
  I^S wake^Vi1 (up) and (then) take^Vt2 a shower^O2.
• 私は^S シャワーを^O1 浴びて^Vt1* 朝食を^O2 食べます^Vt2。
  I^S take^Vt1 a shower^O1 and eat^Vt2 breakfast^O2.

(S: subject, Vi: intransitive verb, Vt: transitive verb, O: object, *: te-form)

So, aside from the obvious difference in word order (S-O-V vs S-V-O), I hope you can see there is not much difference.

Just like English verbs, every Japanese verb has a corresponding subject, which is marked by が (or は) but may be omitted. A transitive verb additionally takes an object, which is marked by を. (In other words, a transitive verb takes two arguments, while an intransitive verb take only one.)

Also note that シャワーを私は浴びます is still a valid Japanese sentence, although it sounds clumsy in a simple case like this. See: Does word order change the meaning of a sentence?