Help ”する” vs ”をする”

Hello everyone!

I have just started learning Japanese seriously and came across the first real doubt that I cannot seem to resolve anywhere else.

I have been using the Genki 1 Textbook and Workbook set to learn Japanese. Through this I have learnt that "する" is highly versatile, allowing the formation of many verbs from nouns.

However, the textbook often includes the object particle を in the middle of many of these する verbs. For instance, "運動をする". Is this を compulsory? From this online dictionary I have been relying on: undou - Jisho.org 運動 is listed as a する verb and so 運動する, without the object marking particle, seems equally valid to me (I rationalised it as literally doing the action of exercising instead of viewing exercising as an object).

Please help me clarify this. Thank you in advance everyone! :emoji_grinning:

運動をする and 運動する are the same in meaning. It's similar to "to do exercise" vs. "to exercise" in English. Grammatically, 運動 is a noun in 運動をする, so を is necessary when 運動 is modified, thus, for instance 腕の運動する is ungrammatical. (Actually, 腕の運動する is used in colloquial expressions. It's considered that を is omitted in these cases.)

Toritoribe said:

運動をする and 運動する are the same in meaning. It's similar to "to do exercise" vs. "to exercise" in English. Grammatically, 運動 is a noun in 運動をする, so を is necessary when 運動 is modified, thus, for instance 腕の運動する is ungrammatical. (Actually, 腕の運動する is used in colloquial expressions. It's considered that を is omitted in these cases.)

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Thanks for the help! This clarified it for me