A case system where the doer of a transitive action gets a special marking that intransitive subjects do not.
In precise terms
The property of grouping the intransitive subject with the transitive patient (absolutive) as against the transitive agent (ergative). Ergativity may be morphological, syntactic, or both, and is very often split.
An example
Gizonak haurra ikusi du.
The man saw the child.
What is going on here
'Gizonak' carries the ergative '-k'; 'haurra' is absolutive and unmarked. The marked case here is the agent — the reverse of the accusative pattern, where the object is the marked one.
Why this matters when you are learning a language
Ergative languages are common worldwide, and the pattern is genuinely counterintuitive to speakers of accusative languages. Naming it makes it learnable instead of mysterious.
Across languages
Basque is consistently ergative in its case marking. Hindi-Urdu is split: ergative in the perfective, accusative elsewhere. Dyirbal is famous for syntactic ergativity extending beyond case into clause combining.
Related terms
- Morphosyntactic alignmentAdvanced — How a language groups the subject of an intransitive verb with either the subject or the object of a transitive one.
- SubjectBeginner — The part of a clause that the verb agrees with — usually who or what performs the action.
- Grammatical caseIntermediate — Endings on nouns showing their role in the sentence — who did it, who it was done to, whose it is.
- Grammatical voiceIntermediate — Whether the subject is the one doing the action or the one it is done to — active versus passive.
Where to go next
- Language guides — See grammatical and lexical categories used in context.
- Terminology quiz — Test the terms on this page.