78571
Sometimes I struggle with transit and intransitive verbs and had a question.
I’d like to say I took medicine and am pretty much back to normal. Would this
be 「薬飲んで、元に戻した」 Or 「薬飲んで、元に戻った」 or neither lol.

Thank you!
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-14T08:22:57.797
78569
2020-07-15T10:54:48.230
38484
question
grammar meaning translation
元に戻した/戻った which?
You can use either based on how you feel about your contribution to the
outcome (i.e. you are now back to normal).

「戻った」is based on「戻る」. This is an intransitive expression that can be used when
you feel you didn't commit to the outcome or you just want to describe what
has happened. 「薬飲んで、元に戻った」is something like "I took medicine and my health has
recovered."

「戻した」is based on 「戻す」. This is a transitive expression. This can be used when
you feel what you did is significant to achieve the outcome. 「薬飲んで、元に戻した」is
something like "I made my health recover by taking medicine."
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-14T09:34:45.273
78571
2020-07-15T04:15:25.627
2020-07-15T04:15:25.627
39311
39311
78569
answer
(Moved from comments to answer by request)

戻る means that the subject returned. 戻す means that the subject returned the
object. 元に戻った means "I went back to normal". 元に戻した means "[...] put me back to
normal," where [...] here is either "I" or "the medicine" (or perhaps "the act
of having drunk the medicine"). "I" is the most natural subject in this case
by a good bit, since "I" is the implied subject to 薬飲んで; but the others are
possible.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-15T10:54:48.230
78593
2020-07-15T10:54:48.230
39129
78569
answer