Japanese Transitive and Intransitive Verb Pairs: Patterns and a List for N5 to N4
開く and 開ける both mean “open”. So do 閉まる and 閉める, 始まる and 始める, and about forty other pairs you meet before N3. The first verb in each pair reports what happened; the second tells you somebody did it.
The Whole Idea: が or を
Intransitive (自動詞): it happens
ドアが開く。
The door opens.
Transitive (他動詞): someone does it
私がドアを開ける。
I open the door.
The intransitive verb has no object; the thing that changes is marked with が. The transitive verb has an object marked with を and a person or cause behind it. If a sentence has を, you need the transitive verb.
Japanese likes the intransitive version more than English does. 電気が消えた (the light went out) is a normal way to report something even when you switched it off yourself, and choosing the transitive verb puts the focus on who did it.
Three Rules You Can Rely On
1. A verb ending in -aru is almost always intransitive.
始まる, 閉まる, 決まる, 見つかる. Change -aru to -eru and you get the transitive partner. Two exceptions to remember: 預かる (荷物を預かる, look after someone's bag) and 教わる (日本語を教わる, be taught Japanese) take を.
2. In a pair, the verb ending in -reru is intransitive.
壊れる/壊す, 汚れる/汚す, 割れる/割る. The rule is about pairs only: 忘れる and 連れる end in -reru, have no partner, and take を. 入れる (いれる) is another trap, since its partner 入る is read はいる and does not follow the pattern.
3. A verb ending in -su is transitive.
壊す, 消す, 出す, 落とす, 動かす. No exceptions among the pairs you will meet at N5 and N4.
The ending that tricks people is -eru. It is transitive in 開ける and 付ける but intransitive in 割れる and 焼ける. With -eru verbs the ending is no help, so memorise them as pairs.
The Pair List, Grouped by Pattern
These are the pairs where at least one verb is on the N5 or N4 vocabulary lists we use in Nihongo Pass. Intransitive on the left, transitive on the right.
-aru → -eru
The biggest group. The -aru verb is the intransitive one.
| Intransitive (が) | Transitive (を) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 始まる | 始める | start |
| 閉まる | 閉める | close |
| 決まる | 決める | decide |
| 変わる | 変える | change |
| 集まる | 集める | gather |
| 止まる | 止める | stop |
| 上がる | 上げる | raise, go up |
| 下がる | 下げる | lower, go down |
| 見つかる | 見つける | find, be found |
| 伝わる | 伝える | pass on, convey |
-u → -eru
Here -eru is the transitive one.
| Intransitive (が) | Transitive (を) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 開く | 開ける | open |
| 付く | 付ける | attach, turn on |
| 続く | 続ける | continue |
| 届く | 届ける | reach, deliver |
| 並ぶ | 並べる | line up |
| 立つ | 立てる | stand |
| 育つ | 育てる | grow, raise |
| 入る | 入れる | enter, put in |
| 片付く | 片付ける | tidy |
-eru → -u
The reverse of the group above: here -eru is the intransitive one. Most describe something breaking or coming off.
| Intransitive (が) | Transitive (を) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 割れる | 割る | break (glass, plates) |
| 折れる | 折る | snap, fold |
| 切れる | 切る | cut, run out |
| 焼ける | 焼く | bake, burn |
| 売れる | 売る | sell |
| 取れる | 取る | come off, take |
… → -su
Every verb ending in -su is transitive. Its partner can end in -reru, -ru, -iru or -eru.
| Intransitive (が) | Transitive (を) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 壊れる | 壊す | break |
| 汚れる | 汚す | get dirty, make dirty |
| 倒れる | 倒す | fall over, knock down |
| 直る | 直す | be fixed, fix |
| 戻る | 戻す | go back, put back |
| 残る | 残す | remain, leave |
| 起こる | 起こす | happen, cause |
| 落ちる | 落とす | fall, drop |
| 起きる | 起こす | get up, wake someone |
| 消える | 消す | go out, switch off |
| 出る | 出す | come out, take out |
-u / -eru → -asu, -yasu
A smaller set where the transitive verb adds -asu or -yasu.
| Intransitive (が) | Transitive (を) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 動く | 動かす | move |
| 沸く | 沸かす | boil |
| 冷える | 冷やす | get cold, chill |
| 増える | 増やす | increase |
Two Cases That Break the Pattern
One verb, two partners. 起こす is the transitive partner of both 起きる (wake someone up) and 起こる (cause something to happen). Which one you mean depends on the object: 子どもを起こす or 事故を起こす.
Not real pairs. 見える and 聞こえる look like intransitive partners of 見る and 聞く, but they mean “can be seen” and “can be heard”. Treat them as separate words.
Where It Matters Most: ている vs てある
At N4 the pair choice changes the grammar that follows. Both of these describe an open window, but they say different things:
窓が開いている。
Intransitive + ている. The window is open. That is all it says.
窓が開けてある。
Transitive + てある. Someone opened it on purpose and left it that way.
Notice that 開けてある usually takes が even though 開ける is transitive, because the sentence now describes the state of the window. You will also hear 窓を開けてある when the speaker wants to stress that they did it; both are correct, and が is the form textbooks and the JLPT use.
How the JLPT Tests Them
In the grammar section, the question often hinges on the particle: a blank after を needs the transitive verb, a blank after が usually needs the intransitive one. In listening, the intransitive verb is how people report problems (電車が止まった, パソコンが壊れた), so hearing the pair quickly helps you follow what went wrong.
Check yourself (a question I wrote in JLPT style)
会議は３時に（ ）。
1. 始めます 2. 始まります 3. 始めさせます 4. 始まらせます
Answer: 2. The meeting is the thing that starts, and there is no を, so the -aru intransitive verb is the one.
If Your First Language Is Vietnamese, Indonesian or Mongolian
For Vietnamese speakers the distinction is new, because Vietnamese often uses one verb both ways: “Tôi mở cửa” and “Cửa mở”. Japanese needs a different verb for each, so learn 開く and 開ける together from day one.
Indonesian already marks the difference with affixes (naik and menaikkan, terbuka and membuka), and Mongolian has pairs such as унах and унагаах or хагарах and хагалах, which behave like 落ちる and 落とす or 割れる and 割る. If you speak either, the idea is familiar and the remaining work is memorising the endings. A rough rule of thumb for Indonesian speakers: Japanese -su does a job similar to -kan.
Questions Students Ask About Verb Pairs
How can I tell if a Japanese verb is transitive or intransitive?
Look at the particle first: を before the verb means transitive. If you only have the verb, three endings are reliable: -aru verbs (始まる) are almost always intransitive, the -reru verb in a pair (壊れる) is intransitive, and -su verbs (消す) are transitive. -eru on its own tells you nothing, because it is transitive in 開ける but intransitive in 割れる.
Does every verb have a pair?
No. Many verbs stand alone, such as 行く, 来る or 走る (intransitive) and 読む or 食べる (transitive). When a transitive verb has no intransitive partner, Japanese often uses the passive to describe the result instead.
What is the difference between 開いている and 開けてある?
開いている just describes the state: the window is open. 開けてある adds that someone opened it on purpose, usually for a reason: the window has been left open (to air the room). The first uses the intransitive verb, the second the transitive one.
The ている Form →
States and ongoing actions
Verb Groups 1, 2, 3 →
How each verb conjugates
Japanese Onomatopoeia →
N4 and N3 lists
Learn each verb with its partner
Nihongo Pass brings each verb back just before you would forget it, in sentences where the particle decides the answer.