Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of ruliĝi
Coloured illustration of ruliĝi
#1782 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to roll, to roll along

Word origin

Built inside Esperanto from ruli ('to roll something') and the suffix -iĝ-, which turns a transitive verb into its own subject. The root ruli comes through French rouler from Latin rotula, a little wheel, from rota.

Origin
Esperanto derivation on a Latin root
Root
ruli + -iĝ-
English cognates
roll, rotate, roulette, rotary

Examples

.

The stone rolled down the mountain into the river.

.

The ball rolled under the table.

.

Big waves roll towards the shore.

This is a genuine build, and one of the clearest in the language. is transitive: somebody or something rolls an object, . Add -- and the object becomes the subject and does the thing by itself: . English hides the difference by using one word for both jobs, which is exactly why learners write the sentence wrong.

So: the ball rolled is , never . That second one says the ball rolled something else and then forgot to say what. The full machinery, including the mirror-image -- that goes the other way, is in the -ig- and -iĝ- article, and it is worth reading once properly rather than guessing verb by verb.

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Esperanto · Free printables

ruliĝi: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "ruliĝi" (to roll, to roll along): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 36.