Japanese Verbs - Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs or 他動詞 (tadoushi) are verbs indicating personal action of changing something. The focus is on someone who did the action.
On the other hand, intransitive verbs or 自動詞 (jidoushi) are verbs indicating movement of something.
The focus is on the movement itself and it doesn't matter who did the movement.
Basically the sentence patterns of transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs look like the following...

Transitive verb: Person は/が Object を Verb

Intransitive verb: Noun が/は Verb

You can see from the sentence patterns that since an transitive verb is talking about action done by someone, there is always a direct object to act upon. Therefore particle を (wo) is always being used.
As for intransitive verbs, since the focus is on the movement and not on the person who did the action, particle が (ga) is normally used.

Examples of Transitive and Intransitive Japanese Verbs

Let's use some examples to show how both transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs are being used.

• たなかさんはタクシー を とめました。
  tanaka san wa takushi- wo tomemashita
  Meaning: Mr Tanaka stopped the taxi.
  
  タクシー が とまりました。
  takushi- ga tomarimashita
  Meaning: Taxi stopped.

In the above first example, you want to say that Mr Tanaka stopped the car (he made the change). Therefore the transitive verb とめる (tomeru) is used. In the second example, you want to describe the movement of "taxi stopped", hence the intransitive verb とまる (tomaru) is used.
The rest of the examples will be similar. The first one is the transitive verb and the second one is the intransitive verb.

1. やまださんはドア を しめました。
   yamada san wa doa wo shimemashita
   Meaning: Mr Yamada closed the door.
   
   ドア が しまりました。
   doa ga shimarimashita
   Meaning: Door closed.
2. たなかさんはまど を あけました。
   tanaka san wa mado wo akemashita
   Meaning: Mr Tanaka opened the window.
   
   まど が あきました。
   mado ga akimashita
   Meaning: Window opened.
3. せんせいはでんき を つけました。
   sensei wa denki wo tsukemashita
   Meaning: Teacher swithed on the light.
   
   でんき が つきました。
   denki ga tsukimashita
   Meaning: Light switched on.
4. はははテレビ を けしました。
   haha wa terebi wo keshimashita
   Meaning: My mother switched off the TV.
   
   テレビ が きえました。
   terebi ga kiemashita
   Meaning: TV switched off.
5. わたしはねこ を へやにいれました。
   watashi wa neko wo heya ni iremashita
   Meaning: I brought the cat into the room.
   
   むし が へやにはいりました。
   mushi ga heya ni hairimashita
   Meaning: Insect came into the room.
6. わたしはねこ を そとにだしました。
   watashi wa neko wo soto ni dashimashita
   Meaning: I put the cat outside the room.
   
   むし が そとにでました。
   mushi ga soto ni demashita
   Meaning: Insect went outside the room.
7. はははおさら を ならべました。
   haha wa osara wo narabemashita
   Meaning: My mother laid the plates.
   
   わたしはみせのまえにならびました。
   watashi wa mise no mae ni narabimashita
   Meaning: I went into the queue in front of the store.
8. せんせいはじゅぎょう を はじめました。
   sensei wa jugyou wo hajimemashita
   Meaning: Teacher started the lesson.
   
   じゅぎょう が はじまりました。
   jugyou ga hajimarimashita
   Meaning: Lesson started.

Identify between Transitive and Intransitive Japanese Verbs

Unfortunately there is no rule to differentiate between transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs. The best way is to memorize by hard. The more pairs of Japanese verbs you come across, the more you can tell which one belongs to which group.
Although it's not always the case, you can use the following general guidelines to tell the differences...

1. Most of the time transitive verbs end with an "eru" or "su" sound, like for example, あける (akeru) and けす (kesu).
2. Intransitive verbs oftenly end with an "aru" or "ku" sound. But sometimes they also end with an "eru" sound. For example, とまる (tomaru), あく (aku) and でる (deru).

However there are always exceptions in Japanese, so it's not always true for the above guidelines. Therefore the best way is still to memorize them.
Below is the list of some commonly used pairs of transitive and intransitive Japanese verbs...

	Verb	Kanji/ Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
1.	Trans. 他	止める/ とめる	tomeru	to stop
	Intrans. 自	止まる/ とまる	tomaru	to be stopped
2.	Trans. 他	閉める/ しめる	shimeru	to close
	Intrans. 自	閉まる/ しまる	shimaru	to be closed
3.	Trans. 他	開ける/ あける	akeru	to open
	Intrans. 自	開く/ あく	aku	to be opened
4.	Trans. 他	点ける/ つける	tsukeru	to switch on
	Intrans. 自	点く/ つく	tsuku	to be switched on
5.	Trans. 他	消す/ けす	kesu	to turn off
	Intrans. 自	消える/ きえる	kieru	to be turned off
6.	Trans. 他	入れる/ いれる	ireru	to put in
	Intrans. 自	入る/ はいる	hairu	to enter
7.	Trans. 他	出す/ だす	dasu	to take out
	Intrans. 自	出る/ でる	deru	to leave
8.	Trans. 他	並べる/ ならべる	naraberu	to arrange
	Intrans. 自	並ぶ/ ならぶ	narabu	to queue
9.	Trans. 他	始める/ はじめる	hajimeru	to start
	Intrans. 自	始まる/ はじまる	hajimaru	to be started
10.	Trans. 他	落とす/ おとす	otosu	to drop
	Intrans. 自	落ちる/ おちる	ochiru	to fall
11.	Trans. 他	動かす/ うごかす	ugokasu	to move
	Intrans. 自	動く/ うごく	ugoku	to be moved
12.	Trans. 他	増やす/ ふやす	fuyasu	to increase
	Intrans. 自	増える/ ふえる	fueru	to be increased