Active–stative alignment

Active-stative alignment is like when you play a game of hide-and-seek with your friends. Sometimes you count and look for your friends (this is called active), and sometimes you hide and wait for your friends to find you (this is called stative).

In languages that use active-stative alignment, the way words are used changes depending on whether they are the one doing the action (like counting and looking for your friends) or the one the action is being done to (like waiting to be found by your friends).

For example, in some languages, the word for "I" might be used differently depending on whether the person is actively doing something, like "I am playing", or passively experiencing something, like "I am cold".

This might seem a little confusing, but think of it like when your mom asks you if you want ice cream. If you say "Yes, please!", you are actively choosing to have ice cream. But if your mom says "You have ice cream on your face", you are experiencing the ice cream without really doing anything about it.

So, in languages that use active-stative alignment, words can change their form or meaning depending on whether the person is actively doing something or passively experiencing something, kind of like playing hide-and-seek with your friends!