# The 100 most common Esperanto verbs (with examples)

Source: https://esperantopedia.org/learn/common-verbs/
Language: en
Updated: 2026-10-11

> The 100 most common Esperanto verbs from 822,296 Tatoeba sentences, each with its meaning, transitivity and an example. Verbs are 17.6% of all words.

The most common Esperanto verbs are *esti* "to be", *povi* "can", *havi* "to have", *fari* "to do", *diri* "to say" and *voli* "to want". The 100 most frequent verbs in our [list of 1,000 common words](https://esperantopedia.org/learn/common-words/) make up **14.2% of all words** in a corpus of 5.8 million words of everyday Esperanto sentences, and the ten most frequent alone make up 8.1%. Every verb has the same endings for all persons, so one short lesson on [verb endings](https://esperantopedia.org/grammar/verbs/) opens the whole table.

## Six endings, one form for every person

Every verb below is shown as an infinitive in *-i*. To use it, replace *-i* with an ending; the ending is the same for "I", "you", "he", "we" and "they".

| Ending | Use | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| *-i* | infinitive | *iri* | to go |
| *-as* | present | *Mi iras. Ili iras.* | "I go. They go." |
| *-is* | past | *Mi iris.* | "I went." |
| *-os* | future | *Ni iros.* | "We will go." |
| *-us* | conditional | *Ŝi irus.* | "She would go." |
| *-u* | command, wish | *Iru!* | "Go!" |

There are no irregular verbs, not even *esti*: *mi estas, vi estas, ili estas*. See [verbs](https://esperantopedia.org/grammar/verbs/) for compound tenses and participles.

## The 10 verbs to learn first

This is our own choice, not an official list. Eight of the ten are among the ten most frequent verbs in the table. The other two verbs of that top ten, *devi* and *ŝati*, come next: *devi* works like *povi* and *voli*, and *ŝati* is used the same way (*Mi ŝatas legi.* – "I like reading."). *Kompreni* and *paroli* are added because a beginner needs them in the first conversation.

| Verb | English | Why first | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| *esti* | to be | Identity, place and state; the most frequent verb by far (4.1% of all words) | *Mi estas studento.* – "I am a student." |
| *havi* | to have | Possession and family | *Mi havas fraton.* – "I have a brother." |
| *voli* | to want | Wishes and orders in shops and cafés | *Mi volas manĝi.* – "I want to eat." |
| *povi* | can, to be able to | Ability, permission and polite questions | *Ĉu mi povas sidi ĉi tie?* – "May I sit here?" |
| *iri* | to go | Movement and directions | *Ni iras al la parko.* – "We are going to the park." |
| *fari* | to do, to make | Makes the question *Kion vi faras?* | *Ŝi faras kukon.* – "She is making a cake." |
| *diri* | to say, to tell | Lets you ask how to say a word | *Kiel oni diras „dankon“ angle?* – "How do you say 'dankon' in English?" |
| *scii* | to know (a fact) | Answering and not answering questions | *Ĉu vi scias, kie estas la banko?* – "Do you know where the bank is?" |
| *kompreni* | to understand | Saying whether you follow | *Ĉu vi komprenas min?* – "Do you understand me?" |
| *paroli* | to speak, to talk | Asking who speaks what | *Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton?* – "Do you speak Esperanto?" |

## The 100 most common Esperanto verbs

*Rank* is the position of the verb among all 1,000 words of the list, so *esti* at 3 comes right after *la* and *mi*. The column *Transitive?* follows the labels of ReVo, the Reta Vortaro: **T** means transitive (the verb can take a direct object with *-n*), **I** means intransitive, **T/I** means ReVo marks both uses, and **–** means ReVo gives no label. The examples are our own; look up any verb in the [dictionary](https://esperantopedia.org/dictionary/).

| Rank | Verb | English | Transitive? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | *esti* | to be | I | *La kato estas en la ĝardeno.* – "The cat is in the garden." |
| 19 | *povi* | can, to be able to | T | *Mi povas veni morgaŭ.* – "I can come tomorrow." |
| 21 | *havi* | to have | T | *Ŝi havas tri katojn.* – "She has three cats." |
| 27 | *fari* | to do, to make | T | *Kion vi faras?* – "What are you doing?" |
| 30 | *diri* | to say, to tell | T | *Li diris nenion.* – "He said nothing." |
| 31 | *voli* | to want | T | *Mi volas kafon.* – "I want coffee." |
| 35 | *scii* | to know (a fact) | T | *Mi ne scias la respondon.* – "I don't know the answer." |
| 39 | *devi* | must, to have to | T | *Ni devas iri hejmen.* – "We have to go home." |
| 40 | *iri* | to go | I | *Ŝi iras al la lernejo.* – "She goes to school." |
| 47 | *ŝati* | to like | T | *Mi ŝatas muzikon.* – "I like music." |
| 50 | *paroli* | to speak, to talk | T/I | *Ŝi parolas tri lingvojn.* – "She speaks three languages." |
| 52 | *vidi* | to see | T | *Mi vidas hundon en la ĝardeno.* – "I see a dog in the garden." |
| 61 | *veni* | to come | I | *Mia amiko venos morgaŭ.* – "My friend will come tomorrow." |
| 67 | *kredi* | to believe | T/I | *Mi kredas vin.* – "I believe you." |
| 80 | *pensi* | to think | T/I | *Mi pensas pri vi.* – "I am thinking of you." |
| 83 | *manĝi* | to eat | T | *Ni manĝas pomojn.* – "We are eating apples." |
| 84 | *bezoni* | to need | T | *Mi bezonas helpon.* – "I need help." |
| 97 | *okazi* | to happen | I | *Kio okazis?* – "What happened?" |
| 99 | *trovi* | to find | T | *Mi trovis mian ŝlosilon.* – "I found my key." |
| 101 | *doni* | to give | T | *Li donas floron al ŝi.* – "He gives her a flower." |
| 110 | *helpi* | to help | T/I | *Ĉu vi povas helpi min?* – "Can you help me?" |
| 111 | *aĉeti* | to buy | T | *Ŝi aĉetis novan libron.* – "She bought a new book." |
| 112 | *resti* | to stay, to remain | I | *Mi restas hejme hodiaŭ.* – "I am staying at home today." |
| 120 | *peti* | to ask for, to request | T/I | *Li petis panon.* – "He asked for bread." |
| 121 | *kompreni* | to understand | T | *Mi ne komprenas la demandon.* – "I don't understand the question." |
| 124 | *bonvoli* | to be so kind as to (*bonvolu* "please") | I | *Bonvolu atendi minuton.* – "Please wait a minute." |
| 126 | *labori* | to work | I | *Li laboras en banko.* – "He works in a bank." |
| 129 | *vivi* | to live, to be alive | I | *La avo ankoraŭ vivas.* – "Grandfather is still alive." |
| 131 | *atendi* | to wait (for) | T | *Mi atendas la buson.* – "I am waiting for the bus." |
| 135 | *rigardi* | to look at, to watch | T | *Ni rigardas filmon.* – "We are watching a film." |
| 136 | *provi* | to try | T | *Provu denove!* – "Try again!" |
| 137 | *lerni* | to learn | T | *Mi lernas Esperanton.* – "I am learning Esperanto." |
| 140 | *legi* | to read | T | *Ŝi legas gazeton.* – "She is reading a newspaper." |
| 144 | *aŭdi* | to hear | T | *Mi aŭdas muzikon.* – "I hear music." |
| 145 | *ami* | to love | T | *Li amas sian familion.* – "He loves his family." |
| 146 | *loĝi* | to live, to dwell | T/I | *Ni loĝas en malgranda urbo.* – "We live in a small town." |
| 148 | *deziri* | to wish, to desire | T | *Mi deziras al vi feliĉon.* – "I wish you happiness." |
| 151 | *senti* | to feel | T | *Li sentis doloron en la piedo.* – "He felt pain in his foot." |
| 160 | *lasi* | to let, to leave | T | *Lasu min paroli!* – "Let me speak!" |
| 161 | *koni* | to know (a person or place) | T | *Ĉu vi konas tiun viron?* – "Do you know that man?" |
| 163 | *ŝajni* | to seem | I | *Ŝajnas, ke pluvos.* – "It seems that it will rain." |
| 166 | *uzi* | to use | T | *Mi uzas komputilon.* – "I use a computer." |
| 169 | *preni* | to take | T | *Li prenis sian ĉapelon.* – "He took his hat." |
| 170 | *opinii* | to be of the opinion | T | *Kion vi opinias pri tio?* – "What do you think about that?" |
| 172 | *ludi* | to play | T/I | *La infanoj ludas en la ĝardeno.* – "The children are playing in the garden." |
| 177 | *alveni* | to arrive | I | *La trajno alvenis je la tria.* – "The train arrived at three o'clock." |
| 179 | *ekzisti* | to exist | I | *Tiu vorto ne ekzistas.* – "That word doesn't exist." |
| 182 | *morti* | to die | I | *La floroj mortis.* – "The flowers died." |
| 183 | *skribi* | to write | T | *Mi skribas leteron.* – "I am writing a letter." |
| 186 | *sukcesi* | to succeed, to manage | I | *Mi sukcesis trovi la hotelon.* – "I managed to find the hotel." |
| 188 | *demandi* | to ask (a question) | T | *Li demandis, kie estas la stacidomo.* – "He asked where the station is." |
| 190 | *foriri* | to go away, to leave | I | *Ŝi foriris sen vorto.* – "She left without a word." |
| 191 | *forgesi* | to forget | T/I | *Mi forgesis lian nomon.* – "I forgot his name." |
| 192 | *trinki* | to drink | T | *Li trinkas akvon.* – "He is drinking water." |
| 194 | *rajti* | to be allowed to | I | *Ĉu mi rajtas eniri?* – "May I come in?" |
| 200 | *aspekti* | to look, to appear | I | *Ŝi aspektas feliĉa.* – "She looks happy." |
| 203 | *iĝi* | to become | I | *Li iĝis kuracisto.* – "He became a doctor." |
| 204 | *viziti* | to visit | T | *Ni vizitos la avinon dimanĉe.* – "We will visit grandmother on Sunday." |
| 205 | *kapabli* | to be capable of | T | *Ŝi kapablas solvi tiun problemon.* – "She is able to solve that problem." |
| 206 | *perdi* | to lose | T | *Mi perdis mian ombrelon.* – "I lost my umbrella." |
| 207 | *ricevi* | to receive, to get | T | *Ŝi ricevis leteron de amiko.* – "She received a letter from a friend." |
| 209 | *reveni* | to come back | I | *Li revenos je la sesa.* – "He will be back at six." |
| 212 | *timi* | to fear, to be afraid of | T | *La infano timas la hundon.* – "The child is afraid of the dog." |
| 215 | *dormi* | to sleep | I | *La bebo dormas.* – "The baby is sleeping." |
| 219 | *ĉesi* | to stop, to cease | I | *La pluvo ĉesis.* – "The rain stopped." |
| 220 | *plaĉi* | to please, to be liked by | I | *Tiu libro plaĉas al mi.* – "I like that book." |
| 222 | *esperi* | to hope | T/I | *Mi esperas, ke vi venos.* – "I hope you will come." |
| 224 | *komenci* | to begin, to start | T | *Ni komencas la lecionon.* – "We are starting the lesson." |
| 231 | *renkonti* | to meet | T | *Mi renkontis ŝin en la urbo.* – "I met her in town." |
| 236 | *necesi* | to be necessary | – | *Ne necesas rapidi.* – "There is no need to hurry." |
| 239 | *serĉi* | to look for | T | *Mi serĉas mian telefonon.* – "I am looking for my phone." |
| 240 | *studi* | to study | T | *Ŝi studas medicinon.* – "She studies medicine." |
| 243 | *meti* | to put | T | *Metu la libron sur la tablon.* – "Put the book on the table." |
| 244 | *montri* | to show | T | *Ŝi montris al ni la vojon.* – "She showed us the way." |
| 249 | *memori* | to remember | T/I | *Mi memoras tiun tagon.* – "I remember that day." |
| 250 | *ebli* | to be possible | – | *Ĉu eblas pagi per karto?* – "Is it possible to pay by card?" |
| 258 | *atingi* | to reach | T/I | *Ni atingis la supron de la monto.* – "We reached the top of the mountain." |
| 259 | *troviĝi* | to be located, to be found | I | *La banko troviĝas apud la stacidomo.* – "The bank is next to the station." |
| 260 | *aŭskulti* | to listen (to) | T | *Ni aŭskultas radion.* – "We are listening to the radio." |
| 264 | *scipovi* | to know how to | T | *Ŝi scipovas naĝi.* – "She knows how to swim." |
| 267 | *decidi* | to decide | T | *Ni decidis resti hejme.* – "We decided to stay at home." |
| 270 | *eliri* | to go out | T/I | *Li eliris el la ĉambro.* – "He went out of the room." |
| 271 | *respondi* | to answer | T/I | *Ŝi respondis al mia letero.* – "She answered my letter." |
| 282 | *fariĝi* | to become | I | *La vetero fariĝis malvarma.* – "The weather turned cold." |
| 287 | *sidi* | to sit | I | *La kato sidas sur la seĝo.* – "The cat is sitting on the chair." |
| 288 | *pagi* | to pay | T | *Mi pagis dek eŭrojn.* – "I paid ten euros." |
| 289 | *eniri* | to go in, to enter | T/I | *Bonvolu eniri.* – "Please come in." |
| 291 | *ŝanĝi* | to change | T | *Mi ŝanĝis mian opinion.* – "I changed my mind." |
| 302 | *gravi* | to matter, to be important | I | *Tio ne gravas.* – "That doesn't matter." |
| 308 | *rakonti* | to tell (a story) | T | *La avino rakontas fabelon.* – "Grandmother is telling a fairy tale." |
| 309 | *forlasi* | to leave, to abandon | T | *Li forlasis la urbon.* – "He left the town." |
| 311 | *akcepti* | to accept | T | *Ŝi akceptis la donacon.* – "She accepted the gift." |
| 313 | *kanti* | to sing | T | *Ŝi kantas belan kanton.* – "She is singing a beautiful song." |
| 314 | *pasigi* | to spend (time) | T | *Ni pasigis la feriojn ĉe la maro.* – "We spent the holidays by the sea." |
| 316 | *sendi* | to send | T | *Mi sendis mesaĝon al li.* – "I sent him a message." |
| 319 | *malfermi* | to open | T | *Bonvolu malfermi la fenestron.* – "Please open the window." |
| 320 | *manki* | to be missing, to lack | I | *Al mi mankas tempo.* – "I am short of time." |
| 321 | *naĝi* | to swim | I | *Ni naĝas en la maro.* – "We are swimming in the sea." |
| 325 | *igi* | to make, to cause | T | *Tio igis ŝin ridi.* – "That made her laugh." |
| 326 | *mortigi* | to kill | T | *La malvarmo mortigis la florojn.* – "The cold killed the flowers." |

Of the 100 verbs, 57 are marked T, 27 I and 14 T/I, and ReVo gives no label for *necesi* and *ebli*. Three notes on the labels:

- **Modal verbs count as transitive.** After *povi*, *voli* and *devi*, the infinitive is the direct object (PMEG), and ReVo says so for *devi*. Of the three, only *voli* also takes an ordinary noun object: *Mi volas kafon.*
- **Suffix verbs follow the suffix.** ReVo has no label for *troviĝi* and *fariĝi*; we show I because a verb with *-iĝ-* never takes an object. *Pasigi*, *igi* and *mortigi* with *-ig-* always do.
- **Compounds can differ from their base.** *Alveni*, *reveni* and *foriri* are *veni* and *iri* with a preposition or prefix (see [prefixes](https://esperantopedia.org/grammar/prefixes/)) and stay intransitive. ReVo labels *eliri* and *eniri* T/I, because the place can be an object (*eniri la ĉambron*, an example in ReVo) or follow a preposition (*eniri en la ĉambron*).

## Pairs like komenci and komenciĝi

English "start", "end" and "change" work with or without an object. Esperanto splits them: *komenci* takes an object, *komenciĝi* does not. Six pairs from the list are below. The full rule, with more than 30 pairs, is on [-ig- and -iĝ-](https://esperantopedia.org/grammar/transitivity/).

| Pair (rank) | Change | Example |
|---|---|---|
| *komenci* (224) → *komenciĝi* (534) | T → I | *Ni komencis la lecionon.* – "We started the lesson." / *La leciono komenciĝis.* – "The lesson started." |
| *fini* (339) → *finiĝi* (467) | T → I | *Ŝi finis la laboron.* – "She finished the work." / *La laboro finiĝis.* – "The work ended." |
| *trovi* (99) → *troviĝi* (259) | T → I | *Mi trovis la libron.* – "I found the book." / *La libro troviĝas sur la breto.* – "The book is on the shelf." |
| *fari* (27) → *fariĝi* (282) | T → I | *Mi faris teon.* – "I made tea." / *La teo fariĝis malvarma.* – "The tea went cold." |
| *ŝanĝi* (291) → *ŝanĝiĝi* (637) | T → I | *Mi ŝanĝis la planon.* – "I changed the plan." / *La plano ŝanĝiĝis.* – "The plan changed." |
| *morti* (182) → *mortigi* (326) | I → T | *La floroj mortis.* – "The flowers died." / *La malvarmo mortigis la florojn.* – "The cold killed the flowers." |

A bare *La leciono komencis* is a mistake; say *La leciono komenciĝis*. The two suffixes are also verbs: *iĝi* "to become" and *igi* "to cause", as in *Tio igis ŝin ridi.* – "That made her laugh."

## Esti, havi, povi, voli and devi with an infinitive

When a second verb follows, it stays in the infinitive, without "to" and without a preposition.

| Verb | With an infinitive | Example |
|---|---|---|
| *esti* | The infinitive can be the subject | *Paroli Esperanton estas agrable.* – "Speaking Esperanto is pleasant." |
| *havi* | Not used for obligation; "have to" is *devi* | *Mi devas iri.* – "I have to go." |
| *povi* | Ability or permission | *Ŝi povas legi.* – "She can read." |
| *voli* | Wish | *Mi volas dormi.* – "I want to sleep." |
| *devi* | Necessity | *Ni devas atendi.* – "We have to wait." |

With *povi*, *voli* and *devi*, the person who can, wants or must is also the person who does the action (PMEG). If the doer is someone else, use a *ke* clause: *Mi volas, ke vi venu.* – "I want you to come." Many other verbs in the table take an infinitive too: *ŝati*, *bezoni*, *deziri*, *provi*, *komenci*, *lerni*, *decidi*, *scipovi* and *sukcesi*.

## How we counted

We counted on 8 October 2026 in our file [esperanto-1000-common-words.csv](/downloads/esperanto-1000-common-words.csv). It comes from 822,296 Tatoeba sentences with 5,831,657 words, and every verb form counts under its infinitive; the method is on the [common words](https://esperantopedia.org/learn/common-words/) page.

- **313 of the 1,000 entries are verbs** (31.3%). Their `per_million` values add up to 175,641 per million, so verbs are **17.6% of all words** in the corpus.
- **19 of the 100 most common words are verbs**, and 88 of the first 300.
- **The 100 most frequent verbs** sit at ranks 3 to 326 of the list. Their `per_million` values add up to 141,900, which is **14.2% of all words** and 80.8% of all verb occurrences covered by the list.
- **The first 10, 20 and 50 verbs** make up 8.1%, 9.7% and 12.1% of all words. *Esti* alone makes up 4.1%.

The word classes come from the endings: an entry ending in *-i* counts as a verb, and a derived form is counted separately, so *komenci* and *komenciĝi* are two verbs. Tatoeba holds short, written, often translated sentences; novels or speech would give another order, as the list on [Vocabulary](https://esperantopedia.org/learn/vocabulary/) shows.

## Common questions

### What are the most common verbs in Esperanto?

In our list the ten most frequent verbs are *esti*, *povi*, *havi*, *fari*, *diri*, *voli*, *scii*, *devi*, *iri* and *ŝati*. Together they make up 8.1% of all words in the Tatoeba corpus; *esti* alone makes up 4.1%.

### How many Esperanto verbs do I need to know?

The 20 most frequent verbs cover 9.7% of all words in our corpus, the 50 most frequent cover 12.1% and the 100 most frequent cover 14.2%. Every verb takes the same endings, so each new verb costs you only its root. For the other word classes, see the [1,000-word list](https://esperantopedia.org/learn/common-words/).

### Are there irregular verbs in Esperanto?

No. All verbs, including *esti* "to be", use the endings *-i*, *-as*, *-is*, *-os*, *-us* and *-u*, and the form does not change for person or number: *mi iras, ili iras*.

### How do I know if an Esperanto verb takes an object?

Look it up in ReVo, which marks verbs as transitive, intransitive or both. You can also ask "what?" or "whom?" after the verb. A verb with *-ig-* always takes an object, and a verb with *-iĝ-* never does; see [-ig- and -iĝ-](https://esperantopedia.org/grammar/transitivity/).

### How do you say "I have to" in Esperanto?

Use *devi*: *Mi devas iri.* – "I have to go." The verb *havi* means "to possess" (*Mi havas libron*) and is not used for obligation.

## Sources

- Esperantopedia: [1000 most common Esperanto words](/downloads/esperanto-1000-common-words.csv) (CSV, rank, part of speech, English meaning, frequency per million), counted on 8 October 2026; method on [this page](https://esperantopedia.org/learn/common-words/)
- [Tatoeba: downloads](https://tatoeba.org/en/downloads) – Esperanto sentences, downloaded 7 October 2026; licence [CC BY 2.0 FR](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/fr/)
- [Reta Vortaro](https://reta-vortaro.de/) (ReVo): [abbreviations *tr*, *ntr*, *x*](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/dok/mallongigoj.html); entries such as [esti](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/est.html), [povi](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/pov.html), [devi](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/dev.html), [paroli](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/parol.html), [komenci](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/komenc.html) and [troviĝi](https://reta-vortaro.de/revo/art/trov.html), read on 8 October 2026
- PMEG: [I-verboj kune kun povi, devi kaj voli](https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/i-verboj/aliaj_frazroloj/kun_povi_devi_voli.html), [I-verboj kiel subjekto](https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/i-verboj/subjekto.html), [I-verboj kune kun aliaj verboj](https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/i-verboj/aliaj_frazroloj/kun_aliaj_verboj.html), [IĜ-verboj](https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/verboj_frazroloj/igh.html)
- [Wiktionary: Esperanto lemmas](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Esperanto_lemmas) (CC BY-SA 4.0) and [ESPDIC](http://www.denisowski.org/Esperanto/ESPDIC/espdic_readme.html) by Paul Denisowski (CC BY 3.0), the sources of the English meanings in the list