Shimeru vs. Shimaru

[rajs20]

Hi,

I have been studying a JLPT 4 Vocab list I found online, and I got to two funny looking entries:

閉まる [しまる] /(v5r,vi) to close/to be closed/(P)/
閉める [しめる] /(v1,vt) to close/to shut/(P)/

What's the deal w/ this? I have only heard of "shimeru" up to now, is this "shimaru" supposed to be used in a different context or something?

Thanks

Raj

 

[kamuizero]

Uhm Shimeru I think it's used when the action is done by an animated object (transitive verb) and Shimaru it's the intransitive form of the verb, like " doa ga shimatteiru " (the door is closed) and the other verb is used when someone realizes the action.... it's like "deru" and "dasu", hope this helps a bit, someone please correct me if I'm wrong ^__^

 

[rajs20]

Sweet, thanks a lot!

<-- noob, haven't learned about transitive/intransitive yet