「見つかりません」v.s.「見つけません」


In my Japanese textbook, there’s a fill-in-the-blank question (and here I will
modify it into a multiple-choice question for better comparison and contrast):

> さっきから携帯電話を探しているのですが、

A. 見つかりません。

B. 見つかりませんでした。

C. 見つけません。

D. 見つけませんでした。

I have two questions about this sentence: the first is about tense; the second
is about 自動詞・他動詞。

I filled in 見つけませんでした and tried translating it into English (which is not my
mother tongue either):

I’ve been looking for my mobile phone for a while, but didn’t find it (or
couldn’t find it).

The answer given is 「見つかりません」.




見つかる is intransitive, "to be found/located". 見つける is transitive, "to
find/locate".

  * A: 見つかりません = "it has not been found (so far / yet)."
  * B: 見つかりませんでした = "it was not found."
  * C: 見つけません = "I don't/won't find it."
  * D: 見つけませんでした (= "I didn't find it.")

見つかる is the normal verb used when you talk about the result of a search in
Japanese. We don't usually say C and D. For example "24 results found" is
"24件見つかりました" in Japanese.

Between A and B, A is the better option because the first half of the sentence
indicates this person is still trying to find the phone. B sounds like the
speaker suddenly gave up in the middle of the sentence, which is a little
unnatural.




見つかる is intransitive, "to be found/located". 見つける is transitive, "to
find/locate".

  * A: 見つかりません = "it has not been found (so far / yet)."
  * B: 見つかりませんでした = "it was not found."
  * C: 見つけません = "I don't/won't find it."
  * D: 見つけませんでした (= "I didn't find it.")

見つかる is the normal verb used when you talk about the result of a search in
Japanese. We don't usually say C and D. For example "24 results found" is
"24件見つかりました" in Japanese.

Between A and B, A is the better option because the first half of the sentence
indicates this person is still trying to find the phone. B sounds like the
speaker suddenly gave up in the middle of the sentence, which is a little
unnatural.

