Transitive And Intransitive Verbs
When you come to a fork in the road, take it. – Yogi Berra
If you look at the title and think (like me) “I have no idea what transitive and intransitive” mean, then you’ve made a good start. I barely know what they mean either – though I can tell you how they work in (hopefully) a way that makes more sense than the classic “grammary” explanation.
Now back in my day, we had to walk through the snow uphill both ways learned about transitive and intransitive verbs way late. This is (supposedly) advanced stuff, yet it’s used in everyday Japanese and it’s seen everywhere. They’re incredibly useful, and while you need to practice them (quite a bit), they’re something you ought to know sooner, rather than later. That’s why I want to introduce them now so that you can spend the next couple of months going over them and practicing them until you’re super comfortable with it. Let’s get going – here’s the skinny on how transitive and intransitive verbs work.