Herman Boel
   full-time freelance translator & author

2. The definite article

In Basque all nouns and verbs have an immutable stem. Suffices are added to the stems. So there is no gender.
To make a word definite, it is sufficient to add the suffix -a when the word does not end with an 'a'. If it does end with an 'a', you don't have to add anything.

e.g.
the girl: neska
the boy: gizona

The plural is made with the suffix -(a)k.

the boys: gizonak
the women: emakumeak

3. The nouns

3.1 The personal pronouns

I: ni
you: zu
he/she: hura
we: gu
you (plural): zuek
they: haiek

3.2 The possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns only know one form as the plural is constructed by modifying the noun.
nire: mine
zure: your
haren: his
bere: his - his own

In Basque, the his in 'I have seen his father' and 'he has seen his (own) father' is quite different.

In the former case the word haren is used because it is not my own father. In the latter case the word bere is used because it is about the subject's own father.

gure: our
zuen: your (plural)
haien: their
beren: their - their own

3.3 The demonstrative pronouns

Hau: this
Hori: that
Hura: that (further away)

Gizon: man
Emazte: wife
Emakume: woman
Neska: girl
Mutil: boy
Ikasle: student

So, this girl could be 'neska hau', 'neska hori' and 'neska hura' depending on the location she is in.

Plural form:
Hauek: these
Horiek: those
Haiek: those (further away)

3.4 Interrogative pronouns

nor: who
zer: what
nun: where
noiz: when
nora: how
zenbat: how much
zergatik: why (reason)
zertarako: why (purpose)

nola/nolakoa: how (in what way)
noren: from whom

>nola da zure etxea?: How is your house?
>noren da etxea?: Whom does the house belong to?

3.5 The adjectives

The adjectives are always after the noun.

Tipi: small
Handi: big

This is a small man --> Gizon tipia da.

As you can see, the article is added to the adjective.

If there are several adjectives, the article is added to the last adjective in line.
e.g. Gizon handi beltza: the big black man.

Yet, this is not always the case.

If you want to say it is a small man, the adjective is attributive. So we say gizon tipia da (the article is only added to the adjective).
If you want to say the man is small, the adjective is a predicate. In Basque this will become gizona tipia da (the article is added to both the noun and the adjective).

The same happens in plural.
e.g.
They are big men: Gizon handiak dira.
The men are big: Gizonak handiak dira.

4. The verb 'to be' (izan)

(ni) naiz: I am
(zu) zara: you are
(hura) da: he/she is
(gu) gara: we are
(zuek) zarete: you are
(haiek) dira: they are

If you want to make the verb negative (not to be), add the word ez in front of the verb.

NOTE: When you conjugate the verb izan, the definite article should be added to the noun.
In an affirmative sentence the verb comes at the end of the sentence.
In a negative sentence, the verb comes after the nominal group.
e.g. I am a boy: gizona naiz - I am not a boy: ez naiz gizona

nor?: who?
zer?: what?
nun?: where?

Who is it?: nor da?
What is it?: zer da?

Bainan: but
Eta: and
Beti: always
Hemen: here
Nor da neska hori?: Who is that girl?
Neska hori ikaslea da bainan mutil hau ez da ikaslea. --> That girl is a student but this boy is not a student.

5 The verb 'to have' (ukan)

Ukan is the second auxiliary verb in Basque. There are two different conjugations, depending on whether the object is singular or plural.

NOTE: ukan works with transitive verbs (that need to have an object). The translation of dut is not I have but I have it and the translation of ditugu is not we have maar we have it.

* Subjects of the verb ukan

If the subject is a proper name, -(e)k is added to the end

>Mirentxuk; Clintonek

If the subject is a common noun, -(a)k is added in singular and -(e)k in plural.

>gizonak etxe bat du: the an has a house
>gizonek hiru etxe dituzte: the men have three houses

--> the demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns have a specific form that is used with the verb ukan.

hau > honek
hori > horrek
hu(r)a > harek

There is no change for the plural form of demonstrative pronouns.

6 The prepositions

6.1 The preposition 'in'

The preposition 'in' is always used in the same manner:

a) with proper names:

-(e)n is added at the end of the proper name.
If you know that 'Bordale' is Basque for 'Bordeaux', then 'Bordalen' means 'in Bordeaux'.
In Berlin becomes 'Berlinen'.

b) with common words:

-(a)n is added to the stem.
Mendi (mountain) thus becomes 'mendian' (on the mountain).

Note: in order to better understand this, you need to translate the Basque word in reverse order.

Mendian = mendi + a + n
mendi: mountain
-a: the
-n: on
So in reverse this results in: on the mountain

In plural -etan is added.
e.g. mendietan: on the mountains

6.2 The preposition 'of' + location

The preposition 'of' is formed in a similar way.
-(e)ko is added to the stem of the word.
Unibertsitate (university) --> the universiteit of Bordeaux becomes Bordaleko unibertsitatea.

Other example
Alkia: chair
Gela: class
So: "the chair of the class" --> gelako alkia

6.3 The preposition 'with'

In singular -(a)rekin is added; in plural -ekin is used.

e.g.
gizonarekin: with the man
gizonekin: with the men

6.4 The preposition 'of'

-(a)ren is added to the word. Note: this is only used for living objects such as people, birds, fish, ...

e.g.
gizonaren etxea: the house that belongs to the man, or: the man's house.

In case of non-living objects, -ko is added.

7 The numbers

1: bat
2: bi
3: hiru
4: lau
5: bost
6: sei
7: zazpi
8: zortzi
9: bederatzi
10: hamar
11: hamaika
12: hamabi
13: hamahiru
14: hamalau
15: hamabost
16: hamasei
17: hamazazpi
18: hemezortzi
19: hemeretzi
20: hogei

In Basque one counts per twenty, just like the French do from 60 onwards (soixante quinze = soixante plus quinze).
In short, You don't say thirty in Basque but twenty and ten.

10: hamar
20: hogei
30: hogei ta hamar (ta is the spoken contraction of eta)
40: berrogei
50: berrogei ta hamar
60: hirurogei
70: hirurogei ta hamar
80: laurogei
90: laurogai ta hamar
100: ehun
200: berrehun
300: hirurehun
400: laurehun
500: bostehun
600: seirehun
700: zazpirehun
800: zortzirehun
900: bederatzirehun
1000: mila
1998 then becomes: mila bederatzirehun ta laurogei ta hemezortzi

8 Time

8.1 The days

Egunak: the days

Astelehena: Monday
Asteartea: Tuesday
Asteazkena: Wednesday
Osteguna: Thursday
Ostirala: Friday
Larunbata: Saturday
Igandea: Sunday

8.2 The months

Urtarrila: January
Otsaila: February
Martxoa: March
Apirila: April
Maiatza: Mai
Ekaina: June
Uztaila: July
Agorrila: August
Iraila: September
Urria: October
Azaroa: November
Abendua: December

(!) In order to say Om 'in (month's name)' you need to add -n if the month ends with two vowels.
If this is not the case, the final -a is removed and -ean is added.

e.g.
Urrian: in October
Otsailean: in February

8.3 The date

Let's learn how to say "Sunday 13 December 1998".

The word order in Basque would be: year / month / day of the month / day of the week.

Special items:
-ko is added to the year.
-ren or -ean is added to the month.
-(e)an is added to the day.
-(a)rekin is added to the day of the week.

Sunday 13 December 1998 then becomes: 1998-ko anbenduaren 13-an igandearekin.
Or in spoken form:
mila bederatzirehun ta laurogei ta hemezortziko abenduaren hamahiruan igandearekin. (!)

8.4 The hour

Note: In Basque time runs as it does in English. A day is splitted in two halves of 12 hours.

Basic vocabulary:

goiz: morning
goizeko: in the morning
arratsalde: afternoon
arratsaldeko: in the afternoon
gau: night
eguerdi: noon
gauerdi: midnight
Zer ordu da?: What time is it?

In order to answer this question, we first need to learn the full form and then switch to the short form (spoken language).

ordu bata da: it is 1 o'clock (only possible form)

For all other times:
bi orduak dira > bi (ordu)ak dira > biak: it is two o'clock.

As you may have seen, the verb izan is conjugated in the third person plural (dira). This is just like in Spanish (e.g. Son las once.). Literally we don't say 'it is two o'clock' but 'they are two hours'.

hiruak: it is three o'clock
laurden: quarter
erdi: half

hiruak ta laurden: (it is) a quarter past three (litt. three hours and a quarter) (ta is the spoken contraction of eta)
biak ta erdi: (it is) half past two (litt. two hours and a half).

guti: minus
>bosteak laurden guti: a quarter to five (five hours minus a quarter).

Remark: eguerdi and gauerdi can only be used with full hours.

ze orduan da ?: At what time?

bietan (bi-etan): at 2 o'clock
seiak ta laurdenetan: at a quarter past six
seiak laurden gutitan: at a quarter to six

9 The partitive

Here we learn how to say no in there are no...

To do this we need to add -(r)ik at the end of the word.

>ogi: bread
>ez da ogirik: there is no bread
>ez da gizonik: there is no man

Note: this is only valid for negative sentences.

10 Euskal aditzak (the Basque verbs)

10.1 General

The Basque verbs are divided into three categories. There is no real infinitive: what is an infinitive in English, is a past participle in Basque.

(A) Verbs ending with -i

ikusi: to see (seen)
ibili: to run (run)
ikasi: to learn

(B) Verbs ending with -tu

mintzatu: to speak
hartu: to take
begiratu: to watch

(C) Verbs ending with -n

eman: to give
erran: to say
ukan: to have
izan: to be
joan: to go

(D) The rest

bete: to fill
erre: to burn, smoke

10.2 The perfect tense

This is the easiest tense of all.

It suffices to take the past participle and auxiliary verb and only conjugate the latter.

> ikusi dut: I have seen it
> eman ditut: I have given it to them
> ez dut ikusi: I have not seen it
> gizonek etxe bat egin dute: the men make a house

10.3 The present tense

* For the verbs from group A, remove -tu or -du and add -tzen.

> hartzen dut: I take it

* For the verbs from group B that end with -i, remove this i and add -ten.

> ikusten dut: I see it

* * For the verbs from group B that end with -ri, remove -ri and add -tzen.

> etortzen da: I come

* For the verbs from group C, remove -n and add -ten.

> erraten dut: I say it

* For the verbs from group D, simply add -tzen.

> baso bat betetzen dut: I fill a glass

10.4 The future tense

Add -ko to the past participle except if the participle ends with -n. Then you need to add -go.

e.g. etorriko dut: I will come
gordeko dut: I will hide it

10.5 Nominalisation

In Basque all verbs can be nominalised. That means that they can become nouns (equivalent of the + -ing form in English).

The verbs with a past participle ending with -n will see their -n removed and a -te added.
> erran: to say > errate: the saying

If the past participle ends with -tu or -du this suffix will change into -tze.

> hartu > hartze: the taking

Verbs with a past participle ending with -i will see the suffix change into -te if the -i is preceded by s, z or tz but will become -tze if the -i is preceded by another letter such as rr or l.
> ikusi > ikuste: the seeing
> idatzi > idatzte > idatze: the writing
but
> ibili > ibiltze: the walking

With the verbs from group D, -tze is almost always added.
> erre > erretze: the burning

Very important:

As all Basque verbs can become nouns at all times, i.e. be nominalised, they are inflected in the same way as other nouns (mendi, etxe,...).

You may ask yourself what purpose this may have. Well, this nominalisation is used for sentences such as 'smoking prohibited'.

> erretzea debekatua da: the smoking is forbidden (smoking prohibited)

10.6 to+infinitive

We have seen that verbs often use suffices. To express 'to+infinitive' it suffices to add -teko.

> To see you better: zu hobeki ikusteko

10.7 Some important verbs

* Verbs from group A

ateratu: to go away
galdu: to lose
hartu: to take
mintzatu: to speak
begiratu: to watch
gordatu: to hide
hunkitu: to touch
zikindu: to go outside
bilatu: to search
handitu: to grow
lagundu: to help

* Verbs from group B

ahantzi: to forget
erori: to fall
idatzi: to write
irauli: to return
bidali: to steer
erosi: to sell
ideki: to open
itzuli: to translate
ebaki: to cut
etorri: to come
igorri: to steer
jali: to go outside
ebatsi: to fly
ezarri: to lay
ikasi: to learn
jarraiki: to follow
edeki: to take away
hautsi: to break
ikusi: to see
jarri: to sit down
eduki: to hold
hertsi: to close
irakatsi: to teach
jautsi: to descend
egosi: to bake
hetsi: to close
rakurri: to read
jeiki: to get up (from bed)
ekarri: to carry
ibili: to ruin
irakutsi: to show
utzi: to let

* Verbs from group C

berregin: to restart
eman: to give
hauteman: to remark
jakin: to know
desegin: to break off
entzun: to understand
igan: to show
jan: to eat
edan: to drink
erantzun: to answer
iragan: to cross
jasan: to bear
egin: to make
erran: to say
iraun: to loast
joan: to go
egon: to be (somewhere)
hatxeman: to take
izan: to be
ukan: to have

* Verbs from group D

ase: to satisy one's hunger
erre: to burn
hil: to die, to kill
jaio: to be born
bete: to fill
gorde: to hide
ito: to extinguish
jo: to hit

10.8 Roundabout and synthetic forms

10.8.1 Introduction

We have seen how one can conjugate a verb with the use of an auxiliary verb. This way of conjugating is called the roundabout way.
The majority of the verbs have an equivalent consisting of a single word. That is the synthetic form.
There are also verbs that can only be conjugated in the synthetic form.

Examples of equivalent forms:

"etortzen naiz "(I run) can also be said as "nator".
"joaten da" (he goes there) can also be said as "doa".
The use of these synthetic forms makes conversation easier.

10.8.2 Some examples of the most occurring synthetic forms

IZAN (to be):
naiz
zara
da
gara
zarete
dira

ETORRI (to come):
nator
zatoz
dator
gatoz
zatozte
datoz

JOAN (to go):
noa
zoaz
doa
goaz
zoazte
doaz

UKAN (to have):
dut
duzu
du
dugu
duzue
dute

IBILI (to walk):
nabil
zabiltza
dabil
gabiltza
zabiltzate
dabiltza

EKARRI (to carry):
dakart
dakarzu
dakar
dakargu
dakarzue
dakarte

JAKIN (to know):
dakit
dakizu
daki
dakigu
dakizue
badakite

EDUKI (to hold):
daukat
daukazu
dauka
daukagu
daukazue
daukate

The verbs above have been conjugated in the present time only and in the form with a simple direct object.

We only mention the short form so that you are not surprised when you come accross them.

Do not learn this by heart. The various forms are easily mixed up. Start by being able to recognise this verb conjugation.

10.9 The two verbs for "to be"

Just like in Spanish, Basque has two verbs for 'to be': izan and egon.
Izan has already been dealt with in this course. We will now turn to egon and the circumstances in which to use which verb.
If you know Spanish, it's easy. The difference is exactly the same as with the Spanish ser and estar. Izan is used for an established fact like in 'I am French' (fransesa naiz) or in 'he is tall' (handia da). Egon is used for a temporary situation: 'I am in the house'.

EGON
nago
zaude
da
gaude
zaudete
daute

11. Vocabulary

11.1 Polite phrases

egun on: hello
arrastalde on: good afternoon
gau on: goodnight
urte on: happy year

in French Basque country: agur: halle (at arrival) and adio: see you
in spanish Basque country: kaixo en agur

nola zara?: how are you?
milesker, eskerrik asko: thank you
deusetaz: you're welcome
otoi: please
barkatu!: excuse me!
gero arte: in a minute
badoa?: how are you?
gogotik: you're welcome
zorionak: congratulations
dagizula on: enjoy your meal
xantza on: success
osasuna!: Cheers!
doluminak: my condolences
damu dut: I'm sorry
ahantzi dut: I forgot it
gose naiz: I'm hungry
egarri naiz: I'm thirsty
hoztua naiz: I'm cold
berotua naiz: I'm hot
nekatua naiz: I'm tired
presatua naiz: I'm in a hurry
banoa: I'm leaving

11.2 Gorputzeko zatiak (the body parts)

burua: the head
belahirriak: the ears
begiak: the eyes
ileak: the hair
sudurra: the nose
ahora: the mouth
eskuak: the hands
ezker: left
eskuina: right
zangoak: the legs
oinak: the feet
besoa: the arm
ukondoa: the ellbow
ukarai: the wrist
belaunak: the knees

11.3 Family members

ama: mother
aita: father
aitamak: the parents
gurasoak: ---------
anaia: brothe
arreba: sister
ahizpa: sister (of a girl)
osaba, otto: uncle
izeba: aunt
amatxi: grandmother
aitatxi: grandfather
kusiak: the cousins/nieces
alaba: daughter
seme: son
semetipi: grandson
alabatipi: granddaughter

12 Direction and origin

* To express a direction, -(a)ra is added to the noun

> etxera joaten naiz: I am going home

* To express origin, -(a)tik is added

> etxetik etortzen da: he comes from the house

* So in order to say 'from Bayonne to Anglet" you will say in Basque : Baionatik Angelura

13 The destination

Just like in English one can express the difference between speaking and speaking to someone.

Where we add the preposition 'to' in English, Basque will modify the verb.

Let's take as an example the way to say something in the third person singular, like in 'he answers him' or 'he gives it to Mikel'
The conjugated verb du changes into dio.
> erantzuten du: he replies / erantzuten dio: he replies to him.

If we know the person who undergoes the action and we wish to mention him or her, then -(r)i is added at the end of his or her name:
> "he gives it to Mikel" then becomes : ematen dio Mikeli
> "he gives it to the woman": ematen dio emakumeari

14 Translation exercise

And now it is your turn. You can practice the knowledge you have acquired.

Try to translate the text below in proper English:

Irakurgaia 1

Pello eta Paskual lagun zaharra dira. Laguna dira, bai, baina nahiko diferenteak. Pello handia da eta indarra du, Paskual, ordea, txikia da eta indar gutxi du. Pellok ez du ilerik buruan; Paskualek, berriz, ile luzea du. Pello gizon serioa da; Paskual, ordea nahiko lotsagabea da.
Paskualek erre nahi du baina ez du tabakorik
- Kaixo, laguna! Ba duzu zigarrorik? galdetzen dio Pellori.
Pellok ere ez du zigarrorik.
- Barkatu, Paskual -esaten dio- baina nik ere ez dut. Hor badute. Joan eta erosi
Paskualek ez du dirurik.

-Ezin dut erosi -esaten du- ,dirurik ere ez dut...
-Zenbat nahi duzu? -galdetzen dio lagunak nahiko haserre.
- Hamar duro bakarrik. Nahikoa izango da. Zigarro paketeak ez du gehiago balio -erantzuten dio besteak.
Pellok dirua ematen dio Paskuali, baina jenio txarra du eta honela esaten dio:
-Tori, bada, dirua. Zigarroak erosi eta ez agertu hemen gehiago!
Paskual takako-dendara joan da.
- Honek du arpegia! -esaten du Pellok
Bi minuto pasa dira eta hor da berriz gure gizona.
-Zer nahi duzu orain, -galdetzen dio Pellok oso haserre.
-Sua... -erantzuten dio Paskualek.
Benetan aurpegi gogora du Paskualek.

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