Kilo Lingo
Esperanto grammar Part of Chapter 4

CEFR A2-B1

3 min read

Test yourself (25 questions)

Esperanto -ig- and -iĝ-: Making and Becoming

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 12 October 2026

-- 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

Quick check

Now use it: three quick questions on the chart above. The full practice is further down.

Pick the right one

0/3

Which suffix builds the English meaning?

  1. to heat something (from varma)

  2. to get warm (from varma)

  3. to be born (from naski, to give birth to)

  • . - 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.

The transitivity traps

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

These are the pairs English speakers trip on, because English uses one verb for both:

EnglishIt happensYou do it
boil
stop
burn
begin
end
open
wake
change
move

The fence does not run the same way for every pair. In the first three rows the plain root takes no object, so the -- verb is the derived one. In the rest the plain root takes an object, so the -- verb is derived. No rule of thumb gets them all: learn each root's side once.

  • . - The lesson begins.
  • . - I begin the lesson.

-iĝ- is not the passive

The two are easy to confuse, and they say different things:

  • . - The door closed. (it happened; nobody is mentioned)
  • . - The door was closed. (its state, or somebody shut it)

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
. . takes no object
. .nobody opened it: --
already takes an object

What to do next

  1. Take , and and make the -- and -- verb of each.
  2. Write one sentence where the door closes and one where you close it.
  3. Read transitivity for which side the common roots sit on.

See also

  • Transitivity - which roots take an object, and why the suffix is the only way across.
  • The passive - -ita and -ata, and when -- is the better choice.
  • Word building - -- and -- in the full list of official affixes.

Practise: test yourself

Pick the right one

0/6

Which suffix builds the English meaning?

  1. to heat something (from varma)

  2. to get warm (from varma)

  3. to be born (from naski, to give birth to)

  4. to kill (from morti, to die)

  5. to sit down (from sidi)

  6. to explain, make clear (from klara)

Build the word

0/4

Build the verb from the root, the suffix and the ending.

  1. I boil (the water)

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  2. it ended (the day)

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  3. she sits down

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  4. he killed (someone)

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

Complete the story

0/6

Choose the verb form each gap needs: does the subject do it to something, or does it just happen?

A morning

La horloĝo min je la sepa. Mi kaj en la kuirejo. Mi la akvon por teo. La akvo baldaŭ, kaj la pordo : mia frato venas.

Gap 1 of 6

Spot the mistake

0/4

Each sentence has one verb on the wrong side of the fence. Tap it.

Translation drill

0/5

Translate into Esperanto. Watch which side of the fence each verb sits on.

  1. The door closed.

  2. I closed the door.

  3. The child woke up.

  4. She woke the child.

  5. He made me laugh.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between -ig- and -iĝ- in Esperanto?
-ig- adds someone who causes the action, so the verb takes an object with -n: , I stopped the work. -iĝ- takes the causer away, so the verb takes no object: , the work ended. The circumflex on the ĝ is the only thing between making it happen and it happening.
Why is wrong?
Because is intransitive: it is what boiling water does, not something you can do to water, so it cannot take an object. To boil water you need the causative: . English hides the problem by using one verb for both jobs, which is why English speakers walk straight into it.
How do I know if an Esperanto root is transitive or intransitive?
Look it up once: dictionaries mark each verb, usually tr or ntr, and the mark settles it. (A few, such as and , also turn up without an object in older or casual usage, but and are never wrong.) As a rough guide, a state or something a thing does by itself tends to be intransitive (, , ), and something done to a thing tends to be transitive (, , ). But there are surprises, so check.
Is -iĝ- the same as the passive?
No. is says the door closed, with nobody mentioned. says the door was closed: often just its state (it was shut), sometimes the result of somebody shutting it. When you only mean that something happened, the -iĝ- verb is usually the shorter, more natural choice.
What does the standalone verb do?
It is the suffix used as a verb, meaning to make or to cause. is he made me laugh; is that made me happy. It takes an object plus an infinitive or an adjective, like English make someone do something. , to become, exists too and does the job of : .