Telling Them Apart
“Pay no attention to what a critic says. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.” – Jean Sibelius
It’s going to be a while before you memorize which verb is transitive and which is intransitive (especially because they’re kind of similar to each other, usually!), but there are some ways to tell them apart and sort of get away with that. Over time, you’ll come to learn the most common ones by heart, but let’s learn some ways to “cheat” in the meantime.
First, there are a few points you should know:
- Intransitive verbs usually use the が particle. Why? Because it’s identifying something. When you identify something doing something, it tends to be passive. You aren’t doing anything directly to anything else, right? It’s just happening. The が particle often indicates this. So, が + verb = intransitive.
- Transitive verbs, on the other hand, usually use the を particle (that is, unless they’re using に or で). As you probably remember, を signifies that you are doing something directly to something else. That’s what transitive verbs are all about, after all!
- If the sentence doesn’t have a person in it, chances are it’s an intransitive verb. Now, don’t get this confused with sentences omitting the “I” because it’s assumed – that’s still a person. I’m talking about things like radios being broken and doors being open.
If you remember these three tricks, you’ll be able to tell the difference between a transitive and intransitive verb even if you don’t know both of the forms already.
Also be sure you understand that this is a long process – one that will take place over several months. It’s not one of those lessons that just happens at one time. This is the beginning of that process, and you should just strive to learn a little at a time. As long as you understand the basics and how everything works, everything will fall into place a little at a time, piece by piece (kind of like a puzzle!).
Here, let’s try it out!