Atendi la trajnon, helpi al li, kredi je: objects and je

Plain object: no preposition

These verbs take a plain object, the -n, where English puts a preposition. This is where English speakers go wrong most:

Timi also takes pri, with a different meaning: the thing you fear for.

• Mi timas pri via sano. - I am worried for your health.

Peti takes the person or the thing as its object, never both: Mi petis lin pri helpo. - I asked him for help.

Object or preposition: both correct

Many verbs take either a plain object or a preposition, and both are standard. The licence is in the Fundamento itself, in exercise 29 of the Ekzercaro:

El la dirita regulo sekvas, ke se ni pri ia verbo ne scias, ĉu ĝi postulas post si la akuzativon (t. e. ĉu ĝi estas aktiva) aŭ ne, ni povas ĉiam uzi la akuzativon. Ekzemple, ni povas diri "obei al la patro" kaj "obei la patron".

If you do not know whether a verb takes the accusative, you may always use it: obei al la patro and obei la patron are both right. The verbs where both forms are in common use:

Pick one form and keep it within a text. Two limits stop this being a licence to invent:

• No verb takes two objects. The same exercise: pardoni al la malamiko lian kulpon - to forgive the enemy his offence, never pardoni la malamikon lian kulpon.
• Some verbs never take an object. Plaĉi, aparteni and okazi put the person after al, never in the accusative: plaĉi min is wrong.

Transitivity covers which verbs take an object at all.

Kredi: three meanings

With kredi, the choice changes the meaning:

So mi kredas je vi is I believe in you: you will come through. Nobody will misunderstand a swap, but it is one of the few verbs where the preposition carries real meaning.

Je: when nothing fits

Rule 14 of the Fundamento gives every preposition a fixed meaning, then adds je for when the sense does not show which to use. Its examples are all verbs and nouns of feeling:

The Ekzercaro adds that je is best used as seldom as possible, and that the accusative may replace it:

• Mi sopiras je mia perdita feliĉo. - I long for my lost happiness.
• Mi sopiras mian perditan feliĉon. - the same, with the accusative.

Today ĝoji normally takes pri or pro: Mi ĝojas pro via helpo. - I am glad of your help. Use je where usage has settled on it, as in kredi je and je la tria horo; elsewhere a preposition with a meaning reads better. Tricky prepositions covers je in full.