Transitive vs Intransitive

Apples were in the parcel I received yesterday.
きのう ( A ) にもつには りんごが ( B ) いました。

a. とどいた/いれて
b. とどいた/はいって
c. とどけた/いれて
d. とどけた/はいって

As “I” neither put the applies in the box nor delivered the box, both verbs should be “intransitive,” so the correct combination is b. とどいた/はいって.

If you choose another choice, particles need to be adjusted and the meaning changes quite a bit:

a. きのう とどいた にもつに りんごを いれて いました: I was putting some apples in the parcel which arrived yesterday (a bit strange thing to do…)
c. きのう とどけた にもつに りんごを いれていました: I was putting some apples in the parcel which I delivered yesterday (quite a bit weird way of saying it…)
d. きのう とどけた にもつには りんごが はいっていました: The parcel I delivered yesterday contained apples.

If you’d like more practice questions like this, I have “Transitive Verbs vs Intransitive Verbs Module” with more than 100 rotating questions for you to practise on. For more information please click this paragraph.

For more explanation about “Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs,” please watch this video (if the video is not showing please click this link):