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ドアがあいたとき、おばけものはあらわれた！
Doa ga aita toki, obakemono wa arawareta!
When the door opened, a monster appeared!
Now, we are getting deeper and deeper into the grammar.
Transitive vs. Intransitive
Transitive and intransitive verbs in Japanese are not that different from English. Do you remember the difference between the two?
Transitive verbs are verbs where someone does an action. Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, expresses a change in the subject.
Take these two sentences for example:
Reina opened the door.
vs.
The door opened.
In the first one, Reina opened the door. Reina did an action on the object (the door).
In the second one, the subject experienced a change. The door opened (it was closed before, now it is opened - change of state.)
Keep in mind that this is not the same as saying 'the door was opened'. Intransitive verbs are not the same as passive verbs.
In Japanese, these two sentences will be:
れいなはドアをあけた。
Reina wa doa o aketa.
ドアがあいた。
Doa ga aita.
The verb あける is 'to open'. It is a transitive verb, meaning that there must be a subject who does an action on an object.
The verb あく also means 'to open', but this is the intransitive form, so it will only be used with a subject who went through a change of state.
Does that make sense?
Thus, this sentence is wrong.
X れいなはドアをあいた。
X Reina wa doa o aita.
あける and あく are just one pair among many that you will encounter in Japanese.
You can easily identify transitive and intransitive verbs by their particles. Most transitive verbs take on the particle を, meanwhile most intransitive verbs take the particle が.
Naoko-chan turned on the lights.
なおこちゃんがでんきをつけました。
Naoko-chan ga denki o tsukemashita.
The lights came on.
でんきがつきました。
Denki ga tsukimashita.
つける is the transitive verb and つく is the intransitive. You can see this pattern going on.
あける
つける
vs.
あく
つく
Let's see another pair.
はじまる (something begins) and はじめる (to begin something) are also a pair.
I will start the class.
わたしがじゅうぎょうをはじめます。
Watashi ga juugyou o hajimemasu.
Class has started.
じゅうぎょうがはじまりました。
Juugyou ga hajimarimashita.
The same goes for the verb 'to decide', きめる (to decide something) and きまる (something is decided).
Again, you can see a pattern.
はじめる
きめる
vs.
はじまる
きまる
Studying these patterns will also help you, because sometimes, it isn't necessary to plug in the subject or object in the sentences, so you cannot always rely on the particle to see if the verb is transitive or intransitive.
Transitivity of Japanese verbs sometimes differs from transitivity of English verbs. In English, verbs that must take an object are transitive even though the object is not being affected by the subject.
Take this sentence for example:
Reina understands English.
Here, Reina is the subject and English is the object, thus making the verb 'understand' transitive. But the English language itself is not affected by whether Reina understands it or not, so it will be intransitive in Japanese.
れいなはえいごがわかります。
Reina wa eigo ga wakarimasu.
This is why we use the particle が with the verb わかる and not を!
I have seen a lot of people make that mistake before. So be careful!
There are other verbs that might be transitive in English, but are actually intransitive in Japanese.
ある and いる, for instance, are intransitive verbs.
In some instances, the particle を will be used with intransitive verbs.
Yes, well, you didn't think this lesson would be that easy, did you?
Verbs with intention, for example, を will become a possibility.
Reina became able to understand English.
れいながえいごをわかるようになった。
Reina ga eigo o wakaru you ni natta.
This sentence does not only explain an understanding of English, but it also explains the process of becoming able to understand English, due to the use of the verb なる.
Although the use of が is still more natural in this case, the use of を could tweak the sentence as to mean that Reina really did something to make herself understand English.
Other examples can include the suffix 〜たい that we attach to verbs to say that we want to do something, like たべたい (want to eat). Since it has both the transitive verb たべる and the intransitive suffix 〜たい, which particle would be more appropriate? Well, both could be!
おにぎりがたべたい！
おにぎりをたべたい！
The first sentence could work if you suddenly have a craving for onigiri. The second one, on the other hand, has a feeling that you want to act upon your desire for onigiri right then and there.
Verbs that express a motion can sometimes acquire the particle を in certain circumstances. Many of these intransitive verbs are loners, which mean they do not have a transitive verb partner verb, such as あるく and およぐ.
In 2021, Chiharu walked the Kumano Pilgrimage road.
2021ねん、ちはるはくまのふるみちをあるいた。
Ni sen ni juu ichi nen, Chiharu wa Kumano furumichi o aruita.
Each year, Sakura swam the English channel.
まいねん、さくらはイギリスかいきょうをおよいた。
Mainen, Sakura wa igirisu kaikyou o oyoita.
Think about these sentences this way: if you replace the 'the' with 'on' or 'in' in these sentences, you tweak the meaning. Replacing を by に in both sentences will also tweak the meaning.
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Causative verbs
You might encounter causative verbs in Japanese.
First off, what are causative verbs? These verbs are used to indicate actions that someone make happen. They are often used in the context of someone making somebody do something. It can also be used in the context of letting someone do something. So, for this, it can become a bit confusing to some people. However, when the causative form is used with あげる or くれる, it automatically means that someone is letting someone do something. We will see how to use both ways.
The ending of verbs in the causative form is させる.
させる itself is the causative form of the verb する (to do).
For ichidan verbs, we take the verb stem and add させる.
たべる -- たべさせる
おきる -- おきさせる
For godan verbs, we change the last syllable as we do for the negative and attach せる.
よむ -- よま -- よませる
きく -- きか -- きかせる
はなす -- はなさ -- はなさせる
あそぶ -- あそば -- あそばせる
かう -- かわ -- かわせる
する -- させる
くる -- こさせる
Here are some examples of sentences in the context of someone making somebody do something.
The teacher made the students do a lot of homework.
せんせいががくせいにしゅくだいをたくさんさせた。
Sensei ga gakusei ni shukudai o takusan saseta.
That manager often makes (people) work long work hours.
そのぶちょうはよくちょうじかんはたらかせる。
Sono buchou wa yoku choujikan hatarakaseru.
Here are some examples of sentences in the context of letting someone do something.
The teacher let (the students) ask many questions.
せんせいがしつもんをたくさんきかせてくれた。
Sensei ga shitsumon o takusan kikasete kureta.
You can also replace くれる with ください.
Please let me rest for the day.
きょうはやすませてください。
Kyou wa yasumasete kudasai.
When asking for permissions, we don't really use this form. We will rather use the 〜てもいいですか form we have learned.
Can you let me go to the bathroom?
トイレにいかせてくれますか？
Toire ni ikasete kuremasu ka?
This form sounds like you are a prisoner or something, so it sounds really weird.
トイレにいってもいいですか？ sounds better.
There is a shorter version of the causative form. You will mostly hear it in casual speech since we like to shorten stuff when we speak. Kinda like the contractions in English.
The shorter form has the same rules for ichidan and godan verbs,
but instead of させる, we will use さす.
たべる -- たべさす
おきる -- おきさす
よむ -- よます
いく -- いかす
あそぶ -- あそばす
する -- さす
くる -- こさす
Don't make me say the same thing over and over again!
おなじことをなんかいもいわすな！
Onaji koto o nankai mo iwasu na!
Don't forget that な in this sentence means 'do not'.
I am hungry, so let me eat something.
おなかあいているんだから、なんかたべさしてくれよ。
Onaka aiteirunda kara, nanka tabesashite kure yo.
This is a more direct and vulgar way of asking someone to let you do something.
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Passive verbs
Passive verbs express verbs that are done to the passive subject.
Notice the difference between these two sentences:
Reina threw the ball. (active)
The ball was thrown by Reina. (passive)
The passive form in Japanese, unlike in English, is widely accepted in writing.
The rule for the passive form is the same for all verbs. Thus, ichidan and godan verbs will conjugate the same way.
Take the final う sound of all verbs and change it to a あ sound, then add れる.
たべる -- たべら -- たべられる
よむ -- よま -- よまれる
あそぶ -- あそば -- あそばれる
する -- される
くる -- こられる
Do not mix たべられる with the expression 'can eat'.
This is why we often omit the ら to say たべれる (can eat) to avoid this confusion.
The mouse was eaten by an owl!
ネズミがふくろうにたべられた！
Nezumi ga fukurou ni taberareta!
I am told by everyone that I am strange.
みんなにへんだといわれます。
Minna ni hen da to iwaremasu.
Exceeding the speed of light is thought to be impossible.
ひかりのはやさをこえるのは、ふかのうだとおもわれる。
Hikari no hayasa o koeru no wa, fukanou da to omowareru.
I was asked a question by a foreigner, but I couldn't answer.
がいこくじんにしつもんをきかれたが、こたえられなかった。
Gaikokujin ni shitsumon o kikareta ga, kotaerarenakatta.
Use of the passive form to show politeness
One useful use of the passive form is that the passive form is deemed to be better when being polite as it is less direct. Less direct means you are being more polite towards somebody.
Asking a question in the negative is more polite, so is using the passive form.
Here is the same sentence (what will you do?), but in different degree of politeness:
どうする？(casual, familiar)
どうしますか？(regular politeness, teineigo)
どうされますか？(passive politeness)
どうなさいますか？(honorific, sonkeigo)
どうなさいますでしょうか？(honorific and uncertainty)
The sentence grows longer as you reach higher in politeness.
How about your receipt?
レシートはどうされますか？
Reshiito wa dou saremasu ka?
Are you going to tomorrow's meeting?
あしたのかいぎにいかれるんですか？
Ashita no kaigi ni ikarerun desu ka?
I just want to be loved.
あいされたいだけです。
Aisaretai dake desu.
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Causative-passive forms
Now that we learned both forms, let's learn how to put them together. The combination of causative and passive verbs means that the action of making someone do something was done to that person.
This would translate to 'someone is made to do something'.
Sometimes in English, this pairing sounds really strange, but in Japanese, it is common.
The causative-passive form is formed by first conjugating to the causative form and then by conjugating the result to the passive form, never the other way round.
たべる -- たべさせる -- たべさせられる
よむ -- よませる -- よませられる
いく -- いかせる -- いかせられる
Despite not wanting to eat breakfast, I was made to eat it.
(Someone made me eat breakfast)
あさごはんはたべたくなかったのに、たべさせられた。
Asagohan wa tabetakunakatta no ni, tabesaserareta.
In Japan, the event of being made to drink is numerous.
(People making other people drink is common)
にほんでは、おさけをのませられることがおおい。
Nihon de wa, osake o nomaserareru koto ga ooi.
I was made to wait for two hours by this guy.
(This guy made me wait)
あいつににじかんもまたせられた。
Aitsu ni ni ji kan mo mataserareta.
But wait, there is a shorter version!
First conjugate to the shortened causative form, then conjugate the passive form:
いく -- いか -- いかす -- いかされる
なく -- なか -- なかす -- なかされる
However, this form cannot be used where the shorter causative ends in さす. You cannot have ささす.
Verbs like 'to eat' and 'to talk' cannot take this short version.
X たべる -- たべさす -- たべささす
X はなす -- はなさす -- はなささす
The students were made to stand in the hall.
がくせいがろうかにたたされた。
Gakusei ga rouka ni tatasareta.
I was made to wait for two hours by this guys.
あいつににじかんもまたされた。
Aitsu ni ni ji kan mo matasareta.
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You have completed lesson 23!
レッシュン23ができた！
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