Language learning is often framed as a journey from ignorance to fluency—a straight road paved with vocabulary lists, grammar drills, and conjugation charts. But what if fluency isn’t just about knowing the right word, but understanding that there might be more than one right word? What if learning a language is as much about thinking sideways as it is about thinking forwards?
Let’s begin in an unlikely place: a Japanese dollar store.
One Paddle, Two Names: A Tale of しゃもじ
We see two kitchen utensils: plastic rice paddles used for scooping and serving rice.
They are both sold at Daiso, a popular Japanese 100-yen shop, and they are both marketed as standing rice paddles—meaning they can balance upright on their handles, improving hygiene and convenience.
But look closely at the packaging.
- On the left, the label says: 立つしゃもじ (たつしゃもじ)
- On the right, it says: 立てるしゃもじ (たてるしゃもじ)
At a glance, these phrases may look identical, or at least interchangeable. And functionally, they are. But linguistically, they open a fascinating window into how language operates, how perspective shapes expression, and how learners can benefit from seeing beyond binary definitions.
Breaking Down the Japanese
立つしゃもじ
- 立つ is the intransitive verb ‘to stand’
- This phrase literally means: ‘a rice paddle that stands (on its own)’
- See more on transitive/intransitive verbs in my post with video here:
立てるしゃもじ
- 立てる is the transitive verb ‘to stand [something] up’
- This phrase could be interpreted as: ‘a rice paddle you can stand up’
- This can be a little confusing, since there’s also a たてる that functions as the potential form of たつ—ie ‘can stand/able to stand’. But in this case, we’re dealing with a separate dictionary entry: 立てる, which (among other meanings) can be translated as:
to stand up, to put up, to set up, to erect, to raise
Subtle? Yes. But significant. One puts the focus on the rice paddle’s ability to stand independently; the other subtly points to the action of the user positioning it upright. The first emphasises the design; the second, the function.
Both are correct. Both are meaningful. And this is where things get interesting for language learners.
We can expand upon this concept by thinking about what particles to use. Now, the packaging doesn’t give us any, it says:
立つ
しゃもじ
and
立てる
しゃもじ
What answers would you give if you were to convert this into a ‘full sentence’?
The first would be しゃもじが立つ – ‘the rice spoon stands’.
The second would be しゃもじを立てる – (You) stand the rice paddle up.’
Incidentally, the reason that the たてる in this case is not the 可能形 (potential form), is because of the animate/inanimate distinction that is made in Japanese. To use this verb in its potential form would be implying that the rice spoon is an animate object, which it is not.
This is because Japanese draws a line between animate and inanimate objects. The potential form of a verb like 立つ assumes the subject has agency or will—something only animate beings have. A rice paddle doesn’t ‘choose’ to stand up, so saying it can stand (しゃもじが立てる) would imply it’s somehow alive. Instead, the form used here is the transitive verb—describing what can be done to the object, not what the object can do by itself.
This area of Japanese, transitive and intransitive verbs, is one of the most overlooked, and in my opinion, should be tackled almost immediately after you have learned the verb basics. For example, if you look at Tae Kim’s complete guide, it comes in the next section after verbs as the 9th entry:
If you don’t know about these verbs, it can make the study of Japanese very confusing as you will often have separate entries for the same kanji for the ‘basic’ form of the verb as well as the transitive and intransitive forms.
There’s More Than One Way to Say It
When we learn a new language, we often cling to the idea that each word has a ‘true’ equivalent in our mother tongue. But most of the time, languages are not one-to-one codes. They are worlds built from nuance, culture, perception, and even marketing creativity.
This rice paddle example gives us two equally valid ways of describing the same object, depending on your perspective:
- Do you see the rice paddle as doing something (standing)?
- Or do you see yourself as the actor, placing it upright?
Both are ‘correct’, but each brings a slightly different worldview.
This kind of flexibility is essential. It may sound like a cliché, but immersing yourself in native materials—listening closely and reading widely—is key. Early on, you may not notice the subtle distinctions in how things are expressed. But once you’ve built a solid grounding in Japanese grammar and start to understand why these forms exist, you’ll begin to engage with the language on a deeper level. What may seem effortless or natural to a native speaker often reflects deliberate, rule-based choices (that also are basically subconscious decisions made in an instant). Things are said a certain way for a reason—even if that reason isn’t immediately obvious.
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