Ergative Verbs: The Secret to Sounding Like a Native Speaker

The table below shows how different ergative verbs work in everyday sentences. Compare each pair to see how, in these types of verbs, the focus shifts from the person causing the action to the thing undergoing the change.

Verbs that can be used both transitively and intransitively without altering their forms are called ergative. In the case of transitive sentences, an agent or actor performs the verb, while in intransitive sentences, the very action occurs to the subject without naming the agent or the force performing the action.

Compare the following ergative verb examples:

Here, “opened” is transitive because the subject acts on an object.

In this particular case, “opened” is intransitive because the window experiences the change. Unlike passive verbs, ergative constructions do not need a form of be followed by a past participle.

Such a flexible construction is often used with verbs denoting motion, transformation, destruction, temperature, or the initiation/termination of an action. For instance, verbs like break, close, melt, start, and boil may be used in both constructions without changing their form.

Ergative verbs in English are ideal in situations where the result is more important than the individual accountable for the action. In doing so, they allow speakers to describe a change without naming, blaming, or even knowing who caused it.

Outside of everyday English, you can commonly encounter this construction in polite discourse, in business communication, in customer relations, and when the cause is unknown.

Ergative verbs can be found in many contexts in our day-to-day use of English; however, they can be easily memorized when classified by meaning. Some verbs tend to be typical for cooking, transportation, machines, and transformations.

Analyzing them according to categories will also allow understanding what nouns usually serve as objects and subjects with the same verb. The list of ergative verbs given below provides a classification of the most relevant constructions with the examples used by native speakers on a daily basis into the following groups.

Verbs of cooking and food

Cooking verbs often shift attention between the person preparing something and the food undergoing a certain process.

Verbs of movement and transport

With transport verbs, the transitive setup shows someone steering, commanding or basically controlling the vehicle, or machine. The intransitive version places the moving object at the centre of the sentence.

Some words in this category are also irregular verbs, but their past forms do not affect their ability to function ergatively.

Verbs of change of state

Many state change verbs are common ergative verbs that describe something becoming different, reaching a new condition, or moving from one stage to another.

The ergative verb structure presents the change as an event, whereas passive voice represents it as an action done to the subject and highlights the agent.

Even a basic grammar check will save you from any misunderstanding. Passive sentences contain a form of be followed by a past participle, such as was closed, was broken, or was opened. They can also take a phrase beginning with by to name the person or force behind the action.

Ergative sentences use the verb in an active form:

Try to add a by-phrase. If that works well following a passive verb, the sentence is passive: The window was opened by a member of staff. If the verb appears without be and simply describes what happened to the subject, it is functioning ergatively: The window opened.

Ergatives and unaccusatives share many similarities as they might describe a process of undergoing change instead of doing anything intentionally. However, the fundamental distinction of ergative vs unaccusative verbs lies in their capability to take a direct object.

“Roll” is an example of an ergative verb since it fits into two categories: Roll the barrel or The barrel rolls. Depart and emerge, on the other hand, do not have corresponding causative forms: She departed the passenger and The fog emerged a figure are not really possible constructions.

There is some overlap between the two terms. The intransitive form of an ergative verb can also be said to be unaccusative since its subject undergoes the action. Ergative verbs are unique in the sense that they have corresponding transitive forms.

Unlike many action verbs that present the subject as an intentional doer, unaccusative constructions usually show the subject experiencing an event, movement, or change.

The best way to distinguish between these two categories in this case would be to find the causative construction. If the verb allows taking an object without changing its inherent meaning, it will be an ergative construction, otherwise it will most probably be unaccusative.

Ergative verbs give greater versatility to English in that the same verb is used to refer to the action caused and to the effect on the subject. Once you identify the difference, sentences like The machine stopped, The sauce thickened, or The schedule changed will be easier for you to understand and generate.

The key to this task is learning how to pay attention to what is being stressed in the sentence. If the sentence has a transitive construction, the focus will be on the agent who triggers the action; however, in an ergative construction, the stress will be on the outcome of the action. 

With regular exposure to paired examples, this distinction answers the question of how to use ergative verbs and soon becomes an intuitive part of your everyday English.