-ig-: Causation

The suffix -ig- creates a causal action: the subject causes the result expressed by the base. Varmigi means to make something warm, sidigi to cause someone to sit, and manĝigi to cause someone or something to eat. Every -ig- verb is transitive: its direct object is the participant changed or brought into the resulting situation.

English often hides causation inside unrelated verbs—seat, feed, lengthen, sharpen—or uses make, have, and get. Esperanto exposes the shared logic, but the base’s category determines what kind of result -ig- creates. Valency is therefore part of the word’s meaning, not a detail added afterward.

The Result Comes Before -ig-

The material before -ig- describes the result; the subject causes that result, and the object undergoes the change.

This is the central -ig-/-iĝ- contrast. Varmigi introduces a causer and an affected object; varmiĝi presents the affected participant as undergoing the change. See -iĝ- for change without an external causer in the clause.

Quality Roots: Make The Object Become X

With a quality root, -ig- means “give the object that quality” or “make it become X.” Akrigi makes sharp, paligi makes pale, purigi makes clean, and longigi makes long.

Longigi and plilongigi have a logical distinction: the first makes something long; the second makes it longer than before. In practice, the two overlap when the comparison is obvious. Conversely, speakers normally use mallongigi “shorten” rather than mechanically building heavier plimallongigi or malplilongigi.

The result stem may itself contain another affix. Malvarmigi is built on malvarma “cold”: cause something to become cold. It does not inherently mean “undo a previous warming”; context may supply that history, but the morphology supplies only the cold result.

Intransitive Action Roots: Cause The Subject To Act

When the base verb is intransitive, its original subject becomes the object of the -ig- verb:

• la infano sidas → mi sidigas la infanon;
• la gasto dormas → la kuracilo dormigas la gaston;
• la akvo bolas → ni boligas la akvon.

The causer need not act intentionally. A medicine can dormigi, news can paligi, and rain can prokrastigi an event. -Ig- asserts a causal relation, not coercion or conscious command.

Transitive Action Roots: Two Participants Compete For Object Position

With a transitive base, causation adds a new participant to an event that already has an agent and an object. Manĝi has an eater and food; manĝigi adds a causer. Esperanto normally puts one of the inner participants in the direct-object role and marks the other differently.

Here la bebon is the caused eater, now the object of manĝigis; per legoma supo supplies the food. A different framing makes the food the direct object and the eater an al phrase:

The same alternation appears with komprenigi. You can cause a person to understand a proposition, or make the proposition understood to that person.

Do not mark both inner participants as unrelated direct objects. Choose which participant the causative presents as directly affected, then express the other with al, per, a content clause, or another suitable construction. The accusative with causatives page treats these clause patterns in depth.

Noun Roots And Other Categories

With a noun-like base, -ig- can cause the object to become the named role or thing, acquire its characteristic form, or perform the associated action. Convention decides which relation is normal.

Edzigi reflects traditional vocabulary in which edzo is a husband; modern speakers often choose the ordinary reciprocal verb phrase geedziĝi kun when focusing on the couple rather than an outside arranger. The causative structure itself remains transparent.

A particle or prepositional phrase can also supply the result: forigi “remove,” transigi “transfer across,” kunigi “join,” endomigi “bring indoors,” entombigi “bury.” These formations are conventional, but their internal scope differs.

In endomigi, the whole phrase-like result “in a house/indoors” precedes -ig-. In kunordigi “coordinate,” however, kun- modifies the already established ordigi and relates its object to something else; it is not simply “cause to be with order.” Such lexicalized differences are why theoretically possible parsing must be checked against actual usage.

When The Simple Verb Is Already Causal

Esperanto roots have conventional verbal meanings. A simple verb may already express causation, so adding -ig- can add a second causer or create a different word.

Fini normally means “finish, bring to an end.” Finigi therefore means “cause someone to finish” or, in some contexts, have something finished—not merely “finish” with extra emphasis.

The second example uses independent igi because it makes all participant roles immediately clear. A compact finigi construction is possible when context establishes who is made to finish what, but the analytical form is often easier to process.

Similarly, maski already means put a mask on or conceal with a mask; maskigi normally means cause someone else to mask. Lumi means emit light, while lumigi means make something give light or illuminate. Limi and limigi, kolori and kolorigi, and ordi/ordigi show areas of accepted overlap or lexical distinction. There is no purely logical shortcut: idiomatic speakers learn which simple roots are already causative.

The pedagogical recommendation is to prefer the established shorter verb when it already has the intended causal meaning. Consult usage before inventing a heavier form. See lexicalization and conventionality.

Independent Igi And Nonverbal Endings

The suffix is also the independent verb igi, “make/cause.” It can take an object plus an infinitive or a result description.

In the second pattern, gaja is a predicative complement and does not take accusative -n. Compare the compact derivative gajigi min, “cheer me up.”

The stem can take nonverbal endings: akrigo “sharpening,” akriga “sharpening/causing sharpness,” sidigo “the act of seating.” The underlying causative roles remain.

Common Mistakes

Adding -ig- To A Verb That Is Already Causal

Keeping The Old Subject Unmarked

Confusing Causation With Change Of State

Building A Heavy Form Without Checking Convention

Key Takeaways

• The base before -ig- expresses the result; the subject causes the object to reach it.
• All -ig- verbs are transitive, and action bases change the mapping of participant roles.
• Quality roots yield “make X,” intransitive verbs yield “cause to act,” and transitive verbs create a three-participant situation.
• Simple verbs such as fini and maski may already be causal; extra -ig- changes or burdens the meaning.
• Affix stacking, lexical convention, and clear role marking are essential for idiomatic use.