Japanese verbs love to come in pairs that look and sound almost identical – but one puts the focus on someone doing the action, and the other describes something happening by itself. Get them mixed up and you might open the door with ドアが開ける when you mean ドアが開く. Sneaky, right?
This list hands you around 54 common transitive and intransitive verb pairs with straightforward meanings and natural example sentences. You’ll see exactly how each verb behaves in a real sentence, so you can stop guessing whether to use が or を.
Ready to make your brain do a tiny happy dance? Scroll to the bottom of the article for the free printable Japanese transitive and intransitive verbs vocabulary list PDF and the free downloadable printable Japanese transitive and intransitive verbs flashcards — perfect for quick review, sneaky practice, and a little grammar glow-up.
Use this list as a starting point, then keep going in the Yak Yacker Japanese section for more words, phrases, and study-friendly reference pages.
Quick Quiz
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| Word | Reading | Type | Meaning | Example | Translation | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 折る | おる | transitive | to break by bending | 枝を折った。 | I broke the branch by bending it. | |
| 授業が始まる | jugyō ga hajimaru | intransitive | begin; start | 授業が始まります。 | The class begins. | |
| 授業を始める | jugyō o hajimeru | transitive | start; begin | 授業を始めます。 | I will start the class. | |
| 止める | tomeru | transitive | to stop | 車を止めます。 | I stop the car. | |
| 沸かす | わかす | transitive | to boil (something) | お湯を沸かす。 | I boil water. | |
| 沸く | わく | intransitive | to boil (itself) | お湯が沸く。 | The water boils. | |
| 消す | kesu | transitive | to turn off; to erase | 電気を消します。 | I turn off the light. | |
| 渡す | わたす | transitive | to hand over | 友だちに本を渡します。 | I hand the book to my friend. | |
| 渡る | わたる | intransitive | to cross | 橋を渡ります。 | I cross the bridge. | |
| 温める | あたためる | transitive | to warm something | スープを温める。 | I warm up the soup. | |
| 焼く | やく | transitive | to bake or grill something | 魚を焼く。 | I grill fish. | |
| 焼ける | やける | intransitive | to be baked or grilled | パンが焼ける。 | The bread gets baked. | |
| 直す | naosu | transitive | to fix; to repair | 時計を直します。 | I fix the clock. | |
| 破る | やぶる | transitive | to tear something | 紙を破った。 | I tore the paper. | |
| 終える | oeru | transitive | to finish; to end | 宿題を終えました。 | I finished my homework. | |
| 続く | つづく | intransitive | to continue | 雨が続きます。 | The rain continues. | |
| 続ける | つづける | transitive | to continue (something) | 勉強を続けます。 | I continue studying. | |
| 花瓶が落ちる | kabin ga ochiru | intransitive | fall | 花瓶が落ちました。 | The vase fell. | |
| 花瓶を落とす | kabin o otosu | transitive | drop | 花瓶を落としました。 | I dropped the vase. | |
| 落とす | otosu | transitive | to drop | 財布を落としました。 | I dropped my wallet. | |
| 見つける | mitsukeru | transitive | find | 財布を見つける。 | Find a wallet. | |
| 財布を見つける | saifu o mitsukeru | transitive | find a wallet | 財布が見つかる。 | The wallet is found. | |
| 起こす | おこす | transitive | to wake someone up | 母が私を起こした。 | My mother woke me up. | |
| 車が止まる | kuruma ga tomaru | intransitive | stop | 車が止まりました。 | The car stopped. | |
| 車を止める | kuruma o tomeru | transitive | stop; park | 車を止めます。 | I will stop the car. |
Free Japanese Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Vocabulary List and Flashcard PDFs
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