An
ergative–absolutive language, also simply called an
ergative language, is a
language in which the single
argument ("
subject") of an
intransitive verb behaves like the
object of a transitive verb, and differently from the
agent ("subject") of a
transitive verb. For instance, instead of saying "she moved" and "I moved her", speakers of an ergative language would say the equivalent of "her moved" and "I moved her".