Kilo Lingo

Ch 4 · Lesson 9

Making and becoming: -ig- and -iĝ-

i is to seat someone, to sit down: -ig- does it to something, -iĝ- lets it happen. Both go on any root, and and are verbs on their own.

The short version

-ig- means cause it, -iĝ- means it happens

is ; is.

I heated the water; the water got warm.
Why?

Put -ig- on any root and you get a transitive verb meaning make it so. Put -iĝ- on and you get an intransitive one meaning go into that state. gives i, to heat something, and i, to get warm. gives i, to seat someone, and , to sit down. gives , to get married. One circumflex separates make it happen from it happened, so it is worth the keystroke.

-- makes someone do it to something; -- makes it happen by itself. English uses one verb both ways. Esperanto keeps them apart.

-ig- (someone causes it)-iĝ- (it happens by itself)object -nWhat do the colours mean?
RootWith --With --
, warm to heat to get warm
, to sit to seat someone to sit down
, to boil to boil (water)( already: it boils)
, to finish( already: I finish it) to end
  • . - The water is boiling.
  • . - I am boiling the water.

Two suffixes, one fence

-ig- (someone causes it)-iĝ- (it happens by itself)object -nWhat do the colours mean?

Every Esperanto verb sits on one side of a fence: it takes an object (transitive) or it does not (intransitive). The two suffixes are the way across:

  • -- adds a causer. The new verb takes an object, and the object takes -n.
  • -- takes the causer away. The new verb takes no object at all.
  • . - He stopped the car.
  • . - The car stopped.
  • . - She closed the door.
  • . - The door closed.
Six panels following the same woman with long hair and a bow through her day: the alarm clock rings beside her bed while she is still asleep; she stretches as she gets up, the sun at the window; she has breakfast at a table with a bowl, toast and a cup; she talks on the phone; she shops, holding a full bag in front of the shelves; she comes home to her house in the evening.
  1. .
  2. .

La horloĝo vekas ŝin: the clock wakes her (veki takes an object). Ŝi vekiĝas: she wakes up (nobody is woken by anyone).

One letter, g or ĝ, is the whole difference between make it happen and it happened.

They stick to anything

Both suffixes go on any root where the result makes sense, and the new word needs no dictionary's blessing:

RootWith --With --
, full to fill to fill up
, husband to marry off to get married
, to stand to set up to stand up
, to know to inform to find out
for, away to remove to go away

Several words you already know are built this way:

WordPiecesEnglish
(to die) + --to kill
(to give birth to) + --to be born
(to make) + --to become
  • Londono. - I was born in London.

igi and iĝi on their own

-ig- (someone causes it)-iĝ- (it happens by itself)What do the colours mean?

Give the suffixes an ending and they are verbs in their own right. is to make, to cause; it takes an object plus an infinitive or an adjective:

  • . - He made me laugh.
  • . - That made me happy.

is to become, the same job as :

  • . - He became a teacher.

Going further: The transitivity traps and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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What do the colours mean?