Let me first explain what I mean. Take these two pairs for example:

> 付く、付ける (the first one is **intransitive** , the second one is **transitive**
> )
>
> 抜く、抜ける (the first one is **transitive** , the second on is **intransitive**
> )

(of course, つく has a lot of meanings/homophones, but this is a different
question... or not?)

So, the question now becomes: **is there a pattern here, or at least a
statistics to try and predict without context if in a verb pair, say with
～く/～ける , which one is transitive and which one is intransitive?**

Possibly this all just comes down to memorization, but who knows? I don't.
Yet.

* * *

P.S. I tried to find if this has been asked before and found some partial
answers: [how to 'build' these
pairs](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/41430/are-there-
morphological-rules-to-build-transitive-interactive-verb-pairs), [whether all
verbs come in such
pairs](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/55754/existence-of-
transitive-intransitive-pairs), and even a very interesting and possibly
related explanation about the [history of okurigana and verb
conjugations](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/21042/are-there-
any-patterns-for-okurigana), but these are all... well, as I said, partial

Having created the question, I found three more related questions in the
"Related" section: [about
etymology](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/12527/etymology-of-
transitive-intransitive-verb-pairs?rq=1), [about -eru/-aru verbs
specifically](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/586/about-eru-and-
aru-verb-pairs-that-are-not-transitive-intransitive-counterpart?rq=1), and
[about if there is a transitive/intransitive pattern in
general](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/14861/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8B-%E3%81%A8%E3%82%81%E3%82%8B-and-
such-pairs-of-verbs?rq=1), and so far it has proven especially informative for
me:

> -e(ru) - a kind of transitivity flipper, it can make transitives
> intransitive or intransitives transitive. An example of the first is さける
> ('split open', compare さく 'tear'), and an example of the second is つける
> ('attach', compare つく 'stick to').
>
> Many of these pairs, とめる~とまる included, seem to have had these morphemes
> added to both members.
>
> I'm not sure this is a grammatical process, at least any more; none of these
> morphemes are still productive as far as I know. You're probably best off
> remembering each word as a single lexical unit, especially considering the
> fact that there's a good deal of variation among what pairs up with what.

However, there might still be more information to this, or additional sources
that the community might share
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-07T16:43:32.870
90657
2021-10-07T17:05:24.440
2021-10-07T17:05:24.440
45485
45485
question
verbs transitivity pattern
Is there any pattern to tell which verb of the two is transitive and which is intransitive?