Vivi is the regular intransitive verb for being alive, continuing to exist, or leading one's life in a particular way. English also uses “live” for residence, but Esperanto often chooses loĝi when the point is simply where someone's home is. With vivi, complements typically express manner, circumstances, place, duration, or means of support rather than a direct object.
Complete regular paradigm
| Form | Function | Typical translation |
|---|---|---|
| vivi | infinitive | to live, to be alive |
| vivas | present indicative | lives, is alive |
| vivis | past indicative | lived, was alive |
| vivos | future indicative | will live |
| vivus | conditional | would live |
| vivu | volitive | live!; long live! |
Forms do not change for person or number. Vivu! can be a literal encouragement to live, while Vivu la paco! is the conventional acclamation “Long live peace!” and belongs especially to public, celebratory, or rhetorical language.
La maljuna arbo ankoraŭ vivas kaj ĉiuprintempe floras.
The old tree is still alive and blossoms every spring.
Mia praavino vivis ĝis la aĝo de naŭdek sep jaroj.
My great-grandmother lived to the age of ninety-seven.
Vivu la amikeco inter niaj urboj!
Long live the friendship between our cities!
Being alive and continuing to exist
At its core, vivi contrasts with morti “die” and esti morta “be dead.” It applies to people, animals, plants, and figuratively to customs, languages, memories, and ideas that remain active.
La bestkuracisto diris, ke la vundita birdo vivos.
The veterinarian said that the injured bird would live.
La tradicio plu vivas en la vilaĝaj festoj.
The tradition lives on in the village festivals.
Lia humuro ankoraŭ vivas en la rakontoj de liaj amikoj.
His humor still lives in his friends' stories.
— Ĉu tiu kakteto ankoraŭ vivas? — Jes, sed ĝi bezonas akvon.
— Is that little cactus still alive? — Yes, but it needs water.
The adverbs ankoraŭ and plu add different perspectives. Ankoraŭ vivas means “is still alive”; plu vivas emphasizes continuation onward. Neither changes the verb's intransitive syntax.
How someone lives: manner complements
An adverb often describes the quality or style of a life: bone, simple, modeste, sendepende, danĝere, or trankvile. English frequently uses an adjective after “live,” but Esperanto uses the adverbial -e form because it modifies the verb.
Post la emeritiĝo ili vivas simple, sed tre komforte.
After retirement they live simply but very comfortably.
Kun tiel alta luprezo multaj studentoj vivas malfacile.
With rent so high, many students live with difficulty.
Ŝi volas vivi sendepende kaj fari siajn proprajn decidojn.
She wants to live independently and make her own decisions.
An adjective may instead be a subject predicative with esti: Ŝi estas feliĉa “She is happy.” Ŝi vivas feliĉe describes the manner in which she lives. The difference is not merely word ending: it changes what the description attaches to.
Place: vivi versus loĝi
Both verbs can occur with a place phrase, but they choose different viewpoints. Loĝi en loko identifies a residence. Vivi en loko places a person's broader life, activity, or existence there.
Mi loĝas en Bruselo pro mia laboro, sed mi ŝatus vivi pli proksime al la maro.
I reside in Brussels because of my job, but I would like to live closer to the sea.
Multaj specioj vivas nur en ĉi tiu arbaro.
Many species live only in this forest.
— Kie vi loĝas nun? — En Gento, kun du kunloĝantoj.
— Where do you live now? — In Ghent, with two housemates.
For people, vivi en Belgio is normal when discussing a life in Belgium, not merely an address. For animals and plants, vivi en is the ordinary way to describe habitat because loĝi would personify their dwelling behavior or emphasize a home. See Loĝi: To Reside.
As with other static meanings, the place normally lacks directional -n: vivi en vilaĝo, not en vilaĝon.
Livelihood and material support
Vivi de can identify the source from which someone makes a living. Vivi per can present the means or resources that make survival possible. The overlap is real, but de more readily names income or sustenance supplied by a source, while per highlights an instrument or means.
Ŝi vivas de sia laboro kiel sendependa tradukisto.
She makes her living from her work as a freelance translator.
La familio dum monatoj vivis per tre malgranda enspezo.
For months the family lived on a very small income.
Neniu povas vivi nur de kafo kaj biskvitoj.
No one can live on coffee and biscuits alone.
These are established prepositional frames. Do not turn the means of support into a bare direct object. Related forms include vivteno “maintenance, livelihood” and vivteni sin “support oneself.”
Dum la studoj li vivtenis sin per vespera laboro.
During his studies he supported himself through evening work.
Time span and the limited cognate object
Duration can be an accusative measure without making vivi lexically transitive: vivi cent jarojn “live for a hundred years.” The accusative expresses extent of time.
Tiu specio ordinare vivas nur kelkajn monatojn.
That species normally lives for only a few months.
Esperanto also permits the cognate expression vivi sian vivon “live one's life.” Here vivon repeats the verb's own semantic content and is licensed as a conventional internal object. It does not mean that arbitrary experiences can follow vivi directly.
Post jaroj da zorgado pri aliaj, ŝi volis vivi sian propran vivon.
After years of caring for others, she wanted to live her own life.
For “live through/experience a crisis,” use transitive travivi: Ni travivis malfacilan vintron “We lived through a difficult winter.”
The causative vivigi
Adding -ig- creates transitive vivigi: cause something to live, keep it alive, or make it lively. Its object takes -n.
Regula akvumado vivigos la junajn plantojn dum la seka semajno.
Regular watering will keep the young plants alive during the dry week.
La vigla muziko tuj vivigis la feston.
The lively music immediately enlivened the party.
Ŝiaj konkretaj ekzemploj vivigis prelegon, kiu alie estus seka.
Her concrete examples enlivened a lecture that would otherwise have been dry.
The literal and figurative readings share causation: the subject introduces or sustains life-like energy. Revivi means become alive or active again; revivigi means cause someone or something to revive. Compare La urbo revivis with La festivalo revivigis la urbon.
Post la pluvo la ĝardeno kvazaŭ revivis.
After the rain the garden seemed to come back to life.
Participles and related adjectives
The normal active participles are vivanta “living now,” vivinta “having lived,” and vivonta “going to live.” Ordinary vivi is intransitive, so passive vivata, vivita, vivota are not part of its everyday core. They may appear with the limited transitive expression vivi vivon, but such forms are stylistically heavy; use a clause instead.
Ĉiuj vivantaj estaĵoj bezonas akvon.
All living beings need water.
Vivinte longe eksterlande, li ne plu idealigis sian naskiĝurbon.
Having lived abroad for a long time, he no longer idealized his birthplace.
Viva and vivanta overlap but are not identical. Vivanta is the participle “currently living”; viva is the lexical adjective “alive” and also “lively, vivid.” Thus viva diskuto is a lively discussion, not a biologically living one.
La artikolo prezentas vivan bildon de la urbo kaj intervjuas kelkajn ankoraŭ vivantajn atestantojn.
The article presents a vivid picture of the city and interviews several witnesses who are still alive.
For the full relative-time contrast, see The Six Participles.
Other frequent derivatives
Travivi is transitive “live through, experience”; supervivi is “survive”; postvivi is “outlive or survive after”; vivmaniero is a way of life; vivdaŭro is lifespan; vivanto is a living being. Their valency must be learned with the whole derivative.
Ŝi travivis la krizon sen perdi sian senton de humuro.
She lived through the crisis without losing her sense of humor.
Malmultaj plantoj supervivas vintron sur tiu balkono.
Few plants survive a winter on that balcony.
Supervivi can be used without an object or transitively with what is survived. This is accepted standard variation. Travivi, by contrast, normally presents the experienced period or event as its object.
Register, norm, and frequency
Viv- is a foundational Esperanto root, and the core senses “be alive” and “lead a life” are neutral in all registers. Figurative continued existence and vivigi “enliven” are standard and well attested. Vivu ...! is grammatically ordinary but pragmatically rhetorical, common in slogans, toasts, and public acclamations rather than routine description.
The distinction between loĝi and vivi is a precision guide, not an absolute lexical wall. Accepted usage allows vivi en lando for one's broader life there. The learner recommendation is to use loĝi for addresses and residence questions, preserving vivi for existence, manner of life, and habitat.
Common Mistakes
Using vivi for a simple residential address
❌ Kie vi vivas nun? — En apartamento apud la rivero.
Awkward for a straightforward address question — vivi asks more broadly about one's life.
✅ Kie vi loĝas nun? — En apartamento apud la rivero.
Where do you live now? — In an apartment beside the river.
Using an adjective for manner
❌ Ili vivas simplaj kaj modestaj.
Incorrect for the intended manner — adjectives describe nouns, not how the living occurs.
✅ Ili vivas simple kaj modeste.
They live simply and modestly.
Treating an ordinary experience as a direct object
❌ Ni vivis malfacilan vintron.
Incorrect for ‘lived through’ — bare vivi is normally intransitive.
✅ Ni travivis malfacilan vintron.
We lived through a difficult winter.
Giving a static place directional -n
❌ Multaj birdoj vivas en tiun arbaron.
Incorrect — habitat is a location, not a destination.
✅ Multaj birdoj vivas en tiu arbaro.
Many birds live in that forest.
Leaving vivigi without the caused participant
❌ La muziko vivigis dum la longa vespero.
Incomplete for the intended causative meaning — it does not say what became lively.
✅ La muziko vivigis la feston dum la longa vespero.
The music enlivened the party during the long evening.
Key Takeaways
- Vivi means be alive, continue to exist, or lead a life in a certain way.
- Use adverbs for manner: vivi bone, simple, sendepende.
- Loĝi identifies residence; vivi presents broader life, existence, or habitat.
- Vivi de/per expresses livelihood or means of support; ordinary vivi remains intransitive.
- Transitive vivigi means cause to live or enliven, while travivi means live through an event.
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Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
- Loĝi: To ResideB1 — Use loĝi for having one's home in a place, with static location complements and the transitive causative loĝigi.
- Transitive and Intransitive VerbsA2 — Learn which verbs license a direct object, which require another construction, and how Esperanto systematically changes valency.
- -ig-: CausationB2 — Use -ig- to make something acquire a quality, enter a state, or perform an action, while tracking how causation changes verb valency.
- DeA2 — Use de for movement or development away from a source and for relationships such as possession, authorship, composition, time, and passive agency.
- Manner AdverbsA2 — Describe how actions happen with Esperanto -e adverbs, and distinguish manner from participant states and sentence commentary.
- The Six Participles: A System MapB1 — Map Esperanto's six participles by voice and relative time, then use them as adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and compound verb forms.