Okay I know this might sound like a stupid question but 見つける according to dictionaries means “to find, to discover, etc.” and 見つかる being the intransitive version is translated as “to be found, etc.”
But wouldn’t the passive form of “to find” also be “to be found” hence 見つけられた be the same as 見つかる?.
So would 盗まれたカバンが山田さんに見つかった。and 盗まれたカバンが田中さんに見つけられた。express the same thing: “The stolen bag was found by Mr. Yamada.” ?
Maybe/Possibly I’m making the mistake of trying to directly compare English and Japanese.
2 comments
>盗まれたカバンが山田さんに見つかった。
見つかる doesn’t take an agent like that–grammatically, it’s active, not passive. 見つけられる places specific emphasis on whom the thing was found by, whereas 見つかる puts the spotlight on the thing being found–it’s not important whom it was found by, it’s just that now you can see it when you couldn’t before. You could say 盗まれたかばんは見つかった to say that the bag’s been found, but your above sentence exactly as it is doesn’t call for 見つかる. I do think that your confusion here is stemming from thinking too much in English, yes, since both can be defined as “to be found.” But try your best to ignore that definition and believe that 見つかる is an active verb!
https://ja.hinative.com/questions/493427
TL;DR (or too beginner, can’t read perhaps): 見つかる feels more like it’s found on accident, like you just happened to pass by, while 見つけられる implies active searching and volition.