One common problem for English-speaking students of Esperanto is the fact that, in English, many (though by no means all) verbs can have two closely related but functionally quite different meanings. One of these meanings is intransitive, which means the action described by the verb affects only the subject of the sentence; the other of these meanings is transitive, which means that the action is one carried out by the subject which affects someone or something else. A good example is the word "drown". If we say "the man drowned" then "drown" is here an intransitive verb; the action affects only the man. On the other hand, if we say "the man drowned the kittens" then "drown" is here a transitive verb; the man carries out the action of drowning on the kittens.
There are, of course, English verbs that don't fit this paradigm. Take the word "die". If we say "the policeman died", we know that the verb "die" is intransitive and the action affects only the policeman. If we say "the policeman died the criminal" ... well, all we know is that we have made a mistake; we must say, instead, "the policeman killed the criminal" because "die", like its Esperanto equivalent morti, cannot be transitive.
In Esperanto, all verbs are either intransitive or transitive — either one or the other, but not both. Of course, Esperanto provides ways of shifting back and forth between these two actions. If a verb is intransitive, we can add the suffix -IG- to make it transitive; if it is transitive, we can add the suffix -IĜ- to make it intransitive.
Here is a list of common Esperanto verbs that are intransitive (and that are often confusing, in this way, for English speakers).
| Verb | Meaning | Example | Transitive Equivalent |
Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| boli | To boil | La akvo bolis The water boiled |
boligi | Mi boligis la akvon I boiled the water |
| bruli | To burn | La lignaĵoj brulis The wood burned |
bruligi | Mi bruligis la lignaĵojn I burned the wood |
| ĉesi | To cease | La skuado ĉesis The shaking stopped |
ĉesigi | La ŝoforo ĉesis la skuadon The driver stopped the shaking |
| daŭri | To last, endure, continue | La kunveno daŭris The meeting continued |
daŭrigi | Ni daŭrigis la kunvenon We continued the meeting |
| degeli | To thaw, melt | La glacio degelis The ice melted |
degeligi | La eskimo degeligis la glacion The Eskimo melted the ice |
| droni | To drown | La knabo dronis The boy drowned |
dronigi | La murdisto dronigis la knabon The murderer drowned the boy |
| eksplodi | To explode | La bombo eksplodis The bomb exploded |
eksplodigi | La ribelanto eksplodigis la bombon The insurgent exploded the bomb |
| grimpi | To climb | La atleto grimpis The athlete climbed |
||
| halti | To come to a stop | La aŭto haltis The car stopped |
haltigi | La policano haltigis la aŭton The policeman stopped the car |
| kreski | To grow | La vino kreskis The vine grew |
kreskigi | La ĝardenisto kreskigis la vinon The gardener grew the vine |
| krevi | To burst, pop | La balono krevis The balloon burst |
krevigi | La pinglo krevigis la balonon The pin burst the balloon |
| odori | To smell, have an odor | La fiŝo odoris The fish smelled |
odorigi | La varmeco odorigis la fiŝon The heat caused the fish to smell |
| pendi | To hang | La bildo pendis sur la muro The picture hung on the wall |
pendigi | Mi pendigis la bildon sur la muro I hung the picture on the wall |
| sidi | To sit | Li sidis He sat (was sitting) |
sidigi | Mi sidigis lin I sat him down |
| stari | To stand | Li staris He stood (was standing) |
starigi | Mi starigis lin I had him stand up |
| ŝpruci | To squirt out | La akvo ŝprucis de la fontano The water squirted from the fountain |
ŝprucigi | La tubo ŝprucigis akvon The hose squirted water |
| ŝrumpi | To shrink | La gefiloj ŝrumpis The kids shrank |
ŝrumpigi | Kara, mi ŝrumpigis la gefilojn Honey, I shrank the kids |
| ŝveli | To swell | La balono ŝvelis The balloon swelled |
ŝveligi | Mi ŝveligis la balonon I swelled the balloon |
| velki | To wilt | La folioj velkis The leaves wilted |
velkigi | La aŭtuna malvarmeco velkigis la foliojn The cold of autumn wilted the leaves |
You can also find a list of common transitive verbs in Esperanto.