Object Ellipsis | Esperanto Grammar

Esperanto often leaves a direct object unspoken when its identity is irrelevant, generic, or obvious from context. Ĉu vi jam manĝis? asks whether someone has eaten, not which food was consumed; Mi ne scias can mean “I don’t know [the answer/that].” This is object ellipsis: the verb retains its ordinary meaning, but no object phrase is pronounced.

Object ellipsis must be distinguished from noun ellipsis, where part of the object phrase remains visible: Mi prenos la ruĝan [ĉemizon]. The visible adjective still takes accusative -n. This distinction explains when there is no ending to mark and when -n remains obligatory.

A transitive verb may appear without an expressed object

The grammar does not require every potentially transitive verb to display an object in every clause. Context can supply it, or the speaker can present the action as an activity:

Ĉu vi jam manĝis, aŭ ĉu mi varmigu la supon?

Have you eaten yet, or should I heat up the soup?

Mi kutime legas antaŭ ol mi endormiĝas.

I usually read before I fall asleep.

Manĝi and legi readily take objects—manĝi supon, legi romanon—but these sentences focus on eating and reading as activities. No pronoun such as ĝin needs to be supplied.

The object may instead be fully recoverable from the preceding question:

— Ĉu vi legis la kontrakton? — Jes, mi legis, sed mi havas kelkajn demandojn.

— Did you read the contract? — Yes, I did, but I have a few questions.

The short answer is accepted neutral usage. Repeating ĝin—Jes, mi legis ĝin—is also neutral and can sound clearer if the conversation has mentioned several possible documents.

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Omit an object when the action itself is the point or when the missing referent is uniquely recoverable. Use ĝin, ilin, or a fuller noun phrase when the listener might choose among competing referents.

Generic, indefinite, and context-bound omissions

Three common interpretations recur:

Interpretation	Question answered	Typical example
activity or generic object	Did the activity occur?	Ni jam manĝis.
indefinite or irrelevant object	Was anything of that kind done?	Ŝi sidas kaj legas.
anaphoric, recoverable object	Was the known thing affected?	Jes, mi legis.

The same surface form may permit more than one reading. Mi skribas can mean “I am writing [something]” or “I write as an activity.” Context normally resolves it.

Ne interrompu ŝin; ŝi skribas.

Do not interrupt her; she is writing.

Mi ne scias, sed mi povas demandi.

I don't know, but I can ask.

In the second sentence, both verbs have omitted complements recoverable as “the answer/that” and “someone/the relevant person.” Such conventional omissions are common in conversation and unmarked in register.

Negative and interrogative clauses behave the same way:

Kial vi ne respondis? Mi atendis la tutan matenon.

Why didn't you reply? I waited all morning.

Respondi normally takes an al-complement for the addressee and can introduce content in other ways. Here the omitted material is supplied by the communicative situation. Strictly, this is omission of a complement rather than an accusative object, which is a useful reminder: not every missing participant would have carried -n if expressed.

Likewise, an object may be absent while another use of -n remains overt:

Mi legis du horojn kaj poste iris hejmen.

I read for two hours and then went home.

The reading material is unexpressed, but du horojn is a measure of duration, not its substitute. Hejmen marks direction and belongs to iris. Object ellipsis therefore removes an object phrase; it does not turn every surviving -n form into an object.

No object is different from a retained substitute

If nothing remains of the object phrase, there is nothing to receive accusative marking:

Mi volis helpi, sed neniu bezonis helpon.

I wanted to help, but nobody needed help.

By contrast, a pronoun, correlative, or adjective that stands for the object must take the appropriate form:

— Kiun kukon vi volas? — Mi prenos tiun kun ĉokolado.

— Which cake do you want? — I'll take that one with chocolate.

El la du jakoj mi elektis la pli varman.

Of the two jackets, I chose the warmer one.

Tiun and la pli varman are not optional decorations around an absent object. They are the visible heads or remnants of object phrases, so -n is required. The implied nouns would be kukon and jakon.

— Ĉu vi trovis ion utilan? — Nenion.

— Did you find anything useful? — Nothing.

The -o correlatives ion and nenion take -n directly. Their adjectives, when present, also take it: ion utilan, nenion novan. See case and number on correlatives for the complete inventory.

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Use this diagnostic: if an adjective or correlative is still pronounced and answers “what/whom?”, the object has not disappeared completely. Mark that visible remnant with -n if its word class permits it.

Omission does not change the verb’s lexical frame

In Mi legas, the absence of an object does not prove that legi has become lexically intransitive. Add a specific text and the ordinary accusative returns:

Vespere mi legas; nun mi legas interesan biografion.

In the evening I read; right now I am reading an interesting biography.

True valency change is different. La pordo malfermiĝis “The door opened” uses the intransitive -iĝ- form; it is not malfermis with an omitted object. Likewise, Mi rompis means “I broke [something]” with the affected thing unexpressed, while Ĝi rompiĝis means “It broke.”

Mi faligis la glason, kaj ĝi rompiĝis.

I dropped the glass, and it broke.

No object is omitted from rompiĝis: its subject ĝi names the thing undergoing the change. This difference matters for passives and derivation as well as for case.

When omission is a poor choice

Grammatical recoverability is not the same as communicative clarity. Some verbs open several strongly expected slots. A bare Mi metis “I put” usually feels unfinished because listeners expect both a thing placed and a location. It can work as an echo answer in a highly constrained context, but it is not a good general model.

Metu la formularon sur mian skribotablon. — Bone, mi metos ĝin tie.

Put the form on my desk. — All right, I'll put it there.

The pronoun ĝin and place word tie keep the reply clear. Similarly, after several plural referents, omitting the object can obscure which group is meant:

Mi ricevis la fotojn kaj la dokumentojn, sed mi ankoraŭ ne kontrolis ilin.

I received the photos and the documents, but I have not checked them yet.

Here ilin naturally refers to both coordinated sets. Bare ne kontrolis is possible in a direct exchange but less precise in continuous prose.

Ellipsis with infinitives and coordination

An infinitive can omit its object under the same pragmatic conditions as a finite verb:

Mi ŝatas kuiri, sed mi malamas lavi la telerojn poste.

I like cooking, but I hate washing the dishes afterward.

Kuiri is presented as an activity; lavi has the expressed object la telerojn. Coordination can also leave a repeated object understood:

Mi legis la artikolon kaj poste resumis ĝin por la grupo.

I read the article and then summarized it for the group.

Using ĝin is the clearest neutral version. In tightly parallel structures, speakers sometimes omit repeated material, but a pronoun usually costs little and prevents attachment ambiguity. The broader principles are covered in ellipsis and recoverability.

Norm, attestation, and register

The possibility of an object-taking verb without an expressed object is part of standard Esperanto, not nonstandard loss of -n. PMEG explicitly recognizes object-taking verbs used without objects, and both Fundamenta and modern corpus texts provide ordinary contextual examples. Everyday verbs such as manĝi, legi, skribi, scii, and kompreni frequently appear this way.

The boundary is partly lexical and pragmatic; there is no mechanical list that predicts every natural omission. That genuine difficulty should not be hidden. The reliable production rule is: omit highly accessible or irrelevant material, but restore a pronoun or full phrase when the verb sounds incomplete or reference could split. In (formal) and technical prose, explicit objects are often preferred for precision; in (informal) conversation, recoverable omission is more frequent.

Common Mistakes

1. Treating a remaining adjective as though the whole object were absent.

❌ El la du ĉemizoj mi prenis la blua.

Incorrect — blua stands for an object noun phrase and needs -n.

✅ El la du ĉemizoj mi prenis la bluan.

Of the two shirts, I took the blue one.

2. Using a subject-form pronoun as a retained object.

❌ Mi vidis ŝi hieraŭ, sed hodiaŭ ne.

Incorrect — an expressed object pronoun must take -n.

✅ Mi vidis ŝin hieraŭ, sed hodiaŭ ne.

I saw her yesterday, but not today.

3. Supplying -n to a prepositional complement because something is omitted.

❌ Mi parolis pri ĝin, sed poste ĉesis.

Incorrect — pri governs the base pronoun ĝi.

✅ Mi parolis pri ĝi, sed poste ĉesis.

I talked about it, but then stopped.

4. Omitting an object where reference becomes ambiguous.

❌ Mi ricevis la peton kaj la respondon, sed ne legis.

Unclear — the listener cannot tell which item was not read.

✅ Mi ricevis la peton kaj la respondon, sed mi ankoraŭ ne legis la respondon.

I received the request and the reply, but I have not read the reply yet.

5. Confusing object omission with an intransitive derivation.

❌ La fenestro rompis dum la ŝtormo.

Incorrect for a window breaking by itself; rompis implies an omitted affected object.

✅ La fenestro rompiĝis dum la ŝtormo.

The window broke during the storm.

Key Takeaways

A transitive verb may appear without an expressed object when the action is generic or the referent is recoverable.
Complete object ellipsis leaves no word on which to mark -n.
A retained pronoun, correlative, or adjective is still an object and keeps accusative marking.
Omission does not automatically change lexical valency; derivations such as -iĝ- create genuinely different frames.
Recoverability controls good usage: use an explicit object whenever omission would leave competing interpretations.

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