Questions tagged [transitivity]
他動性・自他対応. Whether or not verbs take a direct object as a complement. In Japanese, these objects are typically marked with the accusative case marker を.
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Is 片付きます a word?
In the first lesson of みんなの日本語初級II (lesson 26), the word 片【かた】づきます shows up as "be put in order, tidy up." I looked in a couple of dictionaries, and can only find 片【かた】付【づ】けます, which has the ...
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Why do we use が instead of を with a 他動詞 in the expression 車が止めてあります?
I was studying てあります and ています in the context of 他動詞 and 自動詞 with my Japanese teacher. I had to choose between 止める and 止まる in the following sentence:
学生：こんにちは。先生、お迎えに来ました。家の前に私の車が＿＿＿＿。どうぞお乗りください。
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Why is it that transitive seeming expressions like 蜘蛛の子を散らす and 波を打つ act intransitive
I can partly understand 波を打つ but the only thing I don't understand is how hitting the waves would cause undulation or resemble it, but I don't understand how 蜘蛛の子を散らす is intransitive. You're not the ...
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Is ためらうわけではなかった natural?
...だからといって、昨日も、山ほど宿題を出すのをためらうわけではなかった。 (official Japanese TL)
...but it hadn't stopped her giving them a huge pile of homework the day before (original Harry Potter text)
"It won't stop X doing ...
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In 雪が降り続けています, why is the potential form of 降り続く being used?
From this dialogue:
まだ雪が降っています
ずーっと雪が降り続けています
why is 降り続けて in its potential form?
Doesn't it make more sense to use 降り続いて here to make it
Snow is still falling.
Continuously, snow is falling.
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When are える words 他動詞 and when are they 自動詞?
When I started using WaniKani I was always wondering why 上がる is intransitive (to rise by your-/itself) and 上げる is transitive (to raise something).
Over time I learned that there are patterns defining ...
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Why is 流す used in ゴミがたくさん流されてきました instead of 流れる?
From 4m36s of https://youtu.be/N70t8hQCcPI?t=276, the speaker says
ゴミがたくさん流されてきました
This apparently translates to "A lot of trashed was washed up."
My question is why 流す is being used here ...
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Is する in “どうしたの” and “どうかしたの” transitive or intransitive?
I have been learning Japanese for over a year and I still can’t understand how these very common phrases work grammatically.
I do know of several intransitive usages of する but none seem to fit in ...
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Quick Question about 始まる vs 始める
In today's Japanese class, my teacher said "私が始まる" instead of what I had expected to hear which is "始める" to mean "I will be the one to start". I'm sure of that meaning ...
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輪廻's meanings (cycle) where does it come from?
Last weekish or so I made a question about てを verb, and a person told me it was a duplicate question, and that 輪廻 in the case my question was being asked was transitive. So I searched on wiktionary ...
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When to use を with 気になる
Most things I've seen claim that 気になる is an intransitive verb and that one major difference from 気にする is the transitivity. This includes examples from this site.
However, a native speaker recently ...
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Meaning of を with ようになる? [duplicate]
小学生の高学年の頃から、二人は関係を揶揄われるようになった。
What could this mean? Isn't ~ようになる intransitive?
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The grammatical subject associated with 困る
I have seen that the verb 困る, an intransitive verb, is translated in English as "to have trouble", "to be troubled" or even "to have a hard time". These are grammatically ...
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By what rationale is わすれるconsidered transitive?
I continue to be puzzled by the distinction in Japanese between transitive (“other move”) and intransitive (“self move”) verbs. My understanding is that the primary determinant is the extent to which ...
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Is there a word specifically for "a transitive/intransitive verb pair"?
There are many pairs of transitive and intransitive verbs in Japanese: e.g. 上げる and 上がる, 交える and 交じる, 広げる and 広がる.
Separately, transitive verbs are called 他動詞{たどうし} and intransitive verbs are called ...
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Why does 退く{しりぞく} take を even though it's intransitive?
I have this example sentence:
ソフトボールチームのヘッドコーチのポジションを退く{しりぞく}には、まだ早過ぎますよ。
It’s still too early for you to step down from your position as head softball coach.
The question is in the title.
So far I ...
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Where is verb transitivity listed in japanese dictionaries? [closed]
This may be a generic question. I wanted to see if a verb had some transitive use and thought a japanese-japanese dictionary would be more detailed than jisho.org, but I can't seem to find any mention ...
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Is 出くわす a 他動詞 that's intransitive?
According to a video on transitive/intransitive verbs, "Cure Dolly" states that whether a verb ends in す is "always" a reliable indicator on whether it is an "other-move" ...
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Is the verb 売る both a transitive and intransitive verb?
In the context of the sentence: スーパーで雑誌が売っている, is the verb 売っている being used as a transitive or intransitive verb?
I understand that usually 売る is a transitive verb in the sense that "I sell ...
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Why is there the use of を with 行ける
I came across this bit of dialog in a game
「深海」に行きたいっぱ！だから船を行けるようにしてほしいっぱ！
I know it, more or less, says:
We want to go to the deep sea! Because of that, we want you to make sure that the boat can ...
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How often is 戦う used with the particle を?
I learned the word 戦う as an instransitive verb for "to fight" (the verb is listed as intransitive at Jisho.org), mainly combined with と to like this: Aと戦う, to express the party or entity (A)...
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Intransitive Verbs - Progressive vs Current State
Let's use the word 壊す (Transitive) and 壊れる (Intransitive)
For Transitive verbs in Japanese, it seems fairly easy to say "it is being broken" vs "it was and currently still is broken&...
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Confused about object of 迎える in this sentence
I am currently on lesson 9 of Japan Foundation's まるごと B1-1. There is a text about a woman celebrating Christmas for the first time at her American partner's home. It begins with the sentence "...
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Is there a way to conjucate transitive verbs to intransitive verbs ? or a pattern to use? [duplicate]
In the last lesson I had in my Japanese course, we learned about transitive verbs & intransitive verbs.
In the Genki II book, there's no explanation as to how a verb is transformed from transitive ...
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About the difference in these sentences with のを and のが
I've been struggling to find the difference between those two structures, is one of them wrong or they are both right and have a difference in meaning/emphasis
俺が走るのが見た
俺が走るのを見た
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Differences between 栽培する, 作る, and 育てる for "grow"?
I'm trying to find the best word for "grow" something in a garden. This includes the transitive: "grow potatoes", "grow my own tea leaves" - and also the intransitive, &...
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Using passive voice with transitive and intransitive verbs
What's the difference between using the passive voice with a transitive and an intransitive verb?
Take the examples:
パソコンがこわれられた ｖｓ パソコンをこわされた
(PS: I don't know if the particles I used in the ...
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Choice of 入れた in 缶に入れた蚊取り線香
A passage from the second chapter of 夜は短し歩けよ乙女 by 森見登美彦:
先ほどまで、ご主人は奥さんと一緒に本棚に囲まれた内側にいて、レジを打っていました。私と樋口さんが姿を見せると、あとを大学生のアルバイトに任せて出てきてくれました。そして案内されたのは店舗の背後にある木立の奥です。そこには缶に入れた蚊取り線香の煙がふんわり漂い、...
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を/に・通る particle help
In the sentence,
毎日、この道を通ります。
why is を used? Wouldn't it be に?
Also,
試験に通る
I thought the verb was intransitive, so I thought it would be が maybe. "the test was passed" ?
Any helpful ...
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Use of を with seemingly intransitive verbs describing emotions
何を悩んでいるの
What is troubling you?
何をそんなに興奮しているんだ
What are you so excited about?
I keep seeing sentences like the above where verbs, which seem to me to be intransitive, are taking 何 as an object. Are ...
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Can 続けて be used intransitively?
From a definition of 降り続く：
雨や雪などが、何日も続けて降る。「—・く長雨にうんざりする」
If you boil this down to 雨が続けて降る it appears to make no sense if you consider 続ける as a transitive verb. What's going on?
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Why are もらう、習う、教わる、借りる and 聞くthe only transitive verbs that behave like they are in passive conjugation? Is there a name for this category of verb?
もらう、習う、教わる、借りる and 聞く (in its "to hear from" meaning) and their honorifics I'm pretty sure are the only verbs where に and から are somewhat interchangeable in their active form, in that に ...
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葉が四枚になったところで、大きい植木鉢に植え替えた。
葉が四枚になったところで、大きい植木鉢に植え替えた。毎日どんどん(a)ーーーーー、とても楽しみだった。
そのうち、蔓が伸びてきた。棒を立てて、この蔓を巻いてやった。折れないように注意しながら、伸びた部分をなるべく横に(b)ーーーーーといいそうだ。
For selection b there are 2 choices:
1 - 広げる
2 - 広がっていく
I chose the 2 which ...
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Are verbal nouns or suru verbs transitive, intransitive, both, or either depending on the verbal noun or suru verb?
Are verbal nouns or suru verb transitive, intransitive, both, or either depending on the verbal noun or suru verb? For example: if you had the suru verb 勉強する (study), could it have a direct object and ...
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Is there any pattern to tell which verb of the two is transitive and which is intransitive?
Let me first explain what I mean. Take these two pairs for example:
付く、付ける (the first one is intransitive, the second one is
transitive)
抜く、抜ける (the first one is transitive, the second on is
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How does the transitive and intransitive verbs work when modifying a noun?
How do they work in relation with the particles? Like for example わたしの知らないこと vs 私に分からないこと. I notice that the 知らない doesn’t really go with the particle に like in the other one. Why is that and do ...
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に versus を with 会いました verb
I casually used を in the sentence クマを会いました。I was corrected with クマに会いました。Checking references and sample sentences I found no を examples. I think there is something fundamental about を and に that I do ...
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The verb [手伝]{てつだ}う, does it use the particle に?
For example, if I want to say "I helped my uncle yesterday", how would I say it?
昨日私のおじさんにてつだいました。
Or, I would just use the particle を.
昨日私のおじさんをてつだいました。
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公園で母に… vs 公園で母を…
Let me preface by saying that I am new to learning Japanese (about one month).
I came across this sentence and I’m confused about the particle に.
公園で母に会いました。
Why is に used here? If I use が or を, are ...
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Using 〜ています with intransitive and transitive verbs
I am currently learning that 〜ています can be used to express a state that resulted from a previous action, e.g.
でんきがついています。
All examples in my textbook (Minna No Nihongo - Lesson 29) use intransitive ...
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Does 泣いている describe a continuous action or a state after a change has taken place?
Intransitive verbs describe a change that people/things undergo from my understanding and do not take a direct object. I've also read that the te-form of intransitive verbs with いる describe a state ...
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Can the particle を work as から in certain situations?
I found the next sentence:
村を飛び出した
Because of 飛び出す being an intransitive verb, then that を is not working as a direct object marker, right? Then can を work as a "substitute" for から in this ...
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Where does the -a stem come from with auxiliary-constructed transitive/intransitive verb pairs if the base verb is a 二段活用 (or カ行変格活用)?
It seems to be generally understood that transitive/intransitive verb pairs, when they are not a 四段活用 and a 二段活用 that share the same 終止形, were created by taking a base verb, whether transitive or ...
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Particle Use with 注射する
(1) 人に薬を注射する。
(2) 人を薬で注射する。
(3) 人に薬で注射する。
A survey of sentences tells me that (1) is certainly grammatical, but (2) & (3) do not occur (At least in the ones I looked at). Both in English and ...
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休む usage with を？
I'm a beginner to Japanese, and I just learned about transivity. I read that the verb 休む is intransitive, and it means "to take a break from." I also read that intransitive verbs cannot take ...
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「が分かるようにできる」についての質問
日本語
32変数のd次方程式って32個があったら大抵変数を分かるようにできます。
この文を書いてたんですけど、間違えてたと思います。「何々が分かるようになる」を使えるのは分かりますが、「何々を分かるようにする」ってあってますか？僕の原因でそのことが分かるようになったみたいなことを言いたいです。
英語
First, for accurate context, a mathematically ...
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Intransitive verb that becomes passive?
What are the nuances when an intransitive verbs becomes a passive verb. Is not it just duplication:
Example
窓が開いた
And
窓が開かれた
Isnt 開かれる and 開く both mean "to be opened".
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Can intransitive verbs be used in a transitive way with abstract objects?
Nearly all Japanese verbs are classified as either transitive or intransitive. However, I am wondering if there are cases where one can use an intransitive verb in a transitive way, especially in a ...
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Please help me understand the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction
I’m trying to understand the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction. I read an article in wikionary.org
Here
which seemed to make sense. In particular it stated that the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction is a ...
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Understanding 他動詞vs自動詞 more clearly
I have been trying to grasp the concepts of transitive vs intransitive as I learn Japanese and had some questions on the following
窓を開けている... OK
窓を開けてある..... OK
窓が開いている.... OK
now I have an issue with ...
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