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, refers to pairs of expressions where a transitive construction using an object denoted with を alternates with an intransitive construction where the thing that would have been the object is now denoted with が. In many cases, the form of verb also changes.
There are many such expression pairs in Japanese. In some cases the transitive / intransitive pairs become set expressions.
Some of the most common examples include:
ドアを
あ
開
ける → ドアが
あ
開
く
でんき
電気
をつける →
でんき
電気
がつく
おんがく
音楽
を
なが
流
す →
おんがく
音楽
が
なが
流
れる
かぜ
風
を
い
入
れる →
かぜ
風
が
はい
入
る
And here are some more examples:
煙を出す / 煙が出る
風呂を沸かす / 風呂が沸く
The を / が transition also happens when a verb is made passive. This is known as the
うけみこうたい
受身交替
, or sometimes
たどうしのうけみ
他動詞の受身
, often known as the 'passive alternation' in English. There are many examples of the passive alternation - the passive form is one of the more common Japanese constructions, and the を / が alternation is a natural consequence of it. For example:
線を引く / 線が引かれる
The following illustrates the distinction between the forms:
ドアを開ける (transitive)
ドアが開く(intransitive - 自他交替)
ドアが開けられる (passive form of the transitive 開ける - 受身交替)
In some cases, the passive form of the expression has itself become somewhat idiomatic, and the nuance changes slightly, such that the passive meaning is somewhat weakened, with the effect that the meaning overlaps with the 自他交替. Two examples include:
旗を掲げる / 旗が掲げられる
Here 旗を掲げる means 'raise the flag' as expected, but 旗が掲げられる is more a description of state, 'the flag stands raised' (as opposed to the simple passive - 'the flag has been raised').
伏線を張る / 伏線が張られる
In the same sort of way, here the 伏線が張られる feels more like 'foreshadowing is in place' than a direct translation of the passive such as 'foreshadowing has been planted by someone'. In this pair, the transitive form is preferred only when the subject of the verb is the author, as in for example
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The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a grammar point is for you to learn.
Grammar point has a Kanshudo usefulness level of
.
You can view a summary of your mastery of grammar points at different usefulness (or JLPT) levels
here.
Grammar points in our system are rated from 1 to 6, where 1 is the most useful.
A usefulness level of 1 roughly corresponds to the first level of the JLPT, level 5 - i.e., you would be expected to know this grammar if your Japanese was at JLPT 5 level. A usefulness level of 5 roughly corresponds to JLPT 1 (the highest JLPT level).
Some grammar points also have a JLPT badge, indicating they appear in standard lists of required JLPT grammar. Some useful grammar points do not have a JLPT badge. These means that you would generally be expected to know the grammar if your Japanese was at that level, but the grammar point does not appear in standardized lists (which are not necessarily comprehensive).
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Kanshudo tracks your mastery (knowledge) of every kanji, word and grammar point in Japanese individually. In item searches (Kanji search, Word search and Grammar search), you will see a small circle with a number from 0 - 4 next to each item, where zero means 'no mastery' and 4 means 'absolute mastery'. A summary of your mastery data is displayed in your Kanji, Word and Grammar mastery wheels.
The Kanshudo kanji usefulness rating shows you how useful a kanji is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness of , which means it is among the most useful kanji in Japanese.
is one of the 138 kana characters, denoted with a usefulness rating of K. The kana are the most useful characters in Japanese, and we recommend you thoroughly learn all kana before progressing to kanji.
All kanji in our system are rated from 1-8, where 1 is the most useful.
The 2136 Jōyō kanji have usefulness levels from 1 to 5, and are denoted with badges like this:
The 138 kana are rated with usefulness K, and have a badge like this:
The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a Japanese word is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness level of , which means it is among the
most useful words in Japanese.
All words in our system
are rated from 1-12, where 1 is the most useful.
Words with a usefulness level of 9 or better are amongst the most useful 50,000 words in Japanese, and
have a colored badge in search results, eg:
Many useful words have multiple forms, and less common
forms have a badge that looks like this:
The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, 日本語能力試験) is the standard test of Japanese language ability for non-Japanese.
would first come up in level
N.
Kanshudo displays a badge indicating which level of the JLPT words, kanji and grammar points might first be used in:
indicates N5 (the first and easiest level)
indicates N1 (the highest and most difficult)
You can use Kanshudo to study for the JLPT. Kanshudo usefulness levels for kanji, words and grammar points map directly to JLPT levels, so your mastery level on Kanshudo is a direct indicator of your readiness for the JLPT exams.
Kanshudo usefulness counts up from 1, whereas the JLPT counts down from 5 - so the first JLPT level, N5, is equivalent to Kanshudo usefulness level .
The JLPT vocabulary lists were compiled by Wikipedia and Tanos from past papers. Sometimes the form listed by the sources is not the most useful form. In case of doubt, we advise you to learn the Kanshudo recommended form. Words that appear in the JLPT lists in a different form are indicated with a lighter colored 'shadow' badge, like this: .
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The pitch accent markings show you how to pronounce a word. A line underneath a kana symbol indicates low pitch, and a line above indicates high pitch. A vertical line at the end indicates the pitch of the next sound in a sentence using the word is different to the last sound of the word. The number(s) to the right of the markings show how this pitch is represented in a Japanese dictionary.
For more information, see our comprehensive guide:
Wherever you see the green star,
you can tag any kanji, word or grammar point for future reference in your
Favorites list, which is accessible from the main menu.
You can automatically create flashcards from your Favorites,
or use Quick Study to study them any time.
Wherever you see the flashcard icon,
you can automatically create a new flashcard or view flashcard status.
Flashcards can be created for any kanji, word, grammar point or example sentence on Kanshudo.
