transitive/intransitive?

[maxiewawa]

I've got a list of transitive verbs and their intransitive equivalents, from my 'Teach Yourself' book.

okiru/okosu, ochiru/orosu wareru/waru, kowareru/kowasu, aku/akeru, shimaru/shimeru, naoru/naosu

I know the difference between intransitive and transitive verbs, but I can't see how they are formed.

Do I have to just memorise all of these pairs, or is there some kind of construction that I am missing?

ie for group 1 verbs, do this, for group 2, do this, and here are the irregulars.

Tetsudatte kudasai! (Please help me!) Tetsuderu ni shitai! (I want to be helped!)(I'm not sure if that last makes sense, since I haven't yet mastered intransitive verbs)

[Bueller_007]

I've got a list of transitive verbs and their intransitive equivalents, from my 'Teach Yourself' book.

okiru/okosu, ochiru/orosu wareru/waru, kowareru/kowasu, aku/akeru, shimaru/shimeru, naoru/naosu

I know the difference between intransitive and transitive verbs, but I can't see how they are formed.

Do I have to just memorise all of these pairs, or is there some kind of construction that I am missing?

You can't really learn to form them, but you can learn to recognize them.

If it ends in "aru", it is usually intransitive.
If it ends in "eru", it is usually transitive, unless it ends in "reru", when it is usually intransitive.
If it ends in "su", it is usually transitive.
If it ends in "iru", there doesn't seem to be a rule, but IMO, it's usually *transitive*. (Although the examples you've given above are exceptions.)

There do seem to be some basic formation rules, but I'm not sure how useful/practical it would be for you to memorize these.

"-aru" intrans. verbs usually have a "-eru" trans. partner.
"-reru" intrans. verbs usually have a "-ru" or "-su" trans. partner.
"-iru" trans. verbs I haven't thought enough about to tell you. I think many of them are verbs that have a transitive form only. Like 用いる.
The rare "-iru" intrans. verbs usually have a "-osu" trans. partner.
"-keru" trans. verbs usually have a "-ku" intrans. partner; "-beru" trans. verbs usually have a "-bu" intrans. partner, etc.

You actually could have kinda figured out all of those rules by yourself, from the examples that you posted above.

Tetsudatte kudasai! (Please help me!) Tetsuderu ni shitai! (I want to be helped!)(I'm not sure if that last makes sense, since I haven't yet mastered intransitive verbs)

The first one makes sense. The second does not.

[Bueller_007]

That last post was just from stuff I figured out by myself.

This is from my new Japanese grammar book. Here are the different categories of trans/intrans conversion. Intrans is on the left, Trans is on the right:
eru->asu/yasu/u
iru->osu
u->eru
ru->su/seru
reru->su
aru->eru
waru->eru

No sense in memorizing that stuff really... Just try to remember which endings are usually trans, and which ones are usually intrans, and take it from there. In the end, you'll just have to learn by yourself through exposure.

[tiroth]

Great advice not to worry too much about it...especially since those aren't hard rules, e.g. 預ける・預かる where BOTH are transitive.

[Bueller_007]

Great advice not to worry too much about it...especially since those aren't hard rules, e.g. 預ける・預かる where BOTH are transitive.

Good point.

[maxiewawa]

Thanks for your help!

[Bueller_007]

Thanks for your help!

No worries.