Particles required by verbs.

This article was written in response to a request from one of my readers.

It concerns a grammar question that frequently appears in Japanese language learning and the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT):
What is the correct particle? question.

The one or two hiragana characters before a verb appearing in a sentence are the particles.

For reference, the equivalents of "o" in Korean are "를(Rul)/을(Ul)", and the equivalents of "ga" are "가(Ga)/이(i)".

However, the particle required before a verb varies depending on the nature of the verb itself.

In the case of Japanese verbs, there are various classification criteria, but they can be broadly divided into intransitive verbs and transitive verbs.
First, what are their definitions?

Intransitive verbs are verbs like "to sleep," "to work," "to go," "to come," "to return," and "to open," which are verbs that do not have "o" before them.
A characteristic is that they do not exert any action or influence on people or things.

On the other hand, transitive verbs require "o" before them. And, contrary to intransitive verbs, they have the characteristic of "exerting action or influence on people or things"
.

Let's look at the verbs that appear in each lesson of "Minna no Nihongo."

In Lesson 4, "to work," "to sleep," and "to study" appear as new vocabulary, and in Lesson 5, "to go," "to come," and "to return" appear.
These can all be called intransitive verbs.

These can all be considered intransitive verbs.
(Although "to rest" and "to study" require "o" before them, we will treat them as exceptions.)
And in Lesson 6, transitive verbs appear for the first time.

In Lesson 30, patterns where intransitive and transitive verbs are paired, such as "to open (transitive)," "to open (intransitive)," "to close (transitive)," and "to close (intransitive)," are introduced for the first time.
The orthodox examples written as such pairs are these.

The orthodox examples written as such pairs are these.

1. The window opened.

2. I opened the window.

1. is an intransitive verb sentence, where the element required before it is an inanimate subject, and the particle before that is "ga" or "wa."

On the other hand, what about 2.?

It follows the format of a subject (living being) performing an action, and "object + o." The concept and structure of the sentence are different.

The patterns seen most often are as follows.

Pattern 1 in this table corresponds to the example sentence 1 above, "The door is open." On the other hand, pattern 3 is the structure of example sentence 2, "I opened the door."

However, Pattern 2 is ambiguous.
It does not fall under Patterns 1 or 3, and one can observe complex sentence structures and characteristics.

Since it is impossible to introduce all such cases, representative ones are listed below.

3. The typhoon visits this place

This is an example where an inanimate subject, 'typhoon', performs a volitional action.

4. I got on the bus

In example 4, Korean requires 'reul' (which corresponds to 'o') before 'ride', but
in Japanese, 'ni' is required, so it is defined as an intransitive verb.

5. I got off the bus at the station

Although it does not exert influence or perform an action, it is an intransitive verb that requires 'o' before it.

6. I gave a present to the child

Verbs that require two or more 'noun + particle' parts, such as 'ni' for the recipient of something sent or given, and 'o' for the item being sent.
This is mainly seen in expressions of giving and receiving.

7. I let the child play in the park.

8. I made the child drink juice.

This is a case where the particle before the verb changes by making the sentence causative.

How was it?
When reading sentences,whether the subject is animate or inanimate,
and whether the predicate is volitional,
these two points can be considered the criteria for judgment.
And if there is volition, most are transitive verbs,
and 'o' is required before them.

However, there are many cases where 'o' is required even without volition,
or conversely, where particles other than 'o' are required even with volition.

Finally, I would like to conclude this article by introducing a list of particles required by verbs
and the functions of each particle.

This article is written in the Korean version.
If you are interested,please refer here.