以下コメントです。 present tense (past tense) 見つける(見つけた）/ 気づく（気づいた）= find(found) <examples> - While we were walking, we found a house. （私たちは歩いている途中に家を見つけた） - I found that the balustrade of the stairs at this house was made in England in 1870. （私はこの家の階段の手すりが１８７０年のイギリス製だという事に気づいた） 見つかる(見つかった）= to be found <examples> - Accidentally that conspirator was found by the police at the haircut. 偶然にその共謀者は散髪屋で警察に見つかった。 - This particular Chinese vase was found in Egypt in early 1800s'. この特別な中国の花瓶は、1800年の初期にエジプトで見つかった。

[a person] が/は [something] を　見つける　-transitive [something]が/は　見つかる -intransitive Unless you really need to mention WHO found it, it's more natural to use intransitive verb.

見つかる = intransitive verb; has no object 見つける = transitive verb; requires an object This is a typical example of transitive-intransitive verb pairs. There are lot of these in Japanese. So start getting used to them.

見つかる - to be found; to be discovered; 見つける - 1: to discover; to find (e.g. an error in a book); to come across; to detect; to spot; 2: to locate; to find (e.g. something missing); to find fault; 3: to be used to seeing; to be familiar with

to be found and to find. one of those transitive intransitive verbs