1ST LESSON: EUSKALDUNA NAIZ

NOR ZARA? ZER ZARA?
(Who are you? What are you?)

1. "IZAN" ADITZA ("to be"; "etre"; "ser")

This basic synthetic verb is also one of the most common auxiliary verbs in basque.

INDICATIVE

Person          Pronoun 	Present 		Past

1	         Ni      	Naiz    		Nintzen
2 (Informal)     Hi      	Haiz    		Hintzen
2 (Normal)       Zu     	Zara    		Zinen
3                Hura    	Da      		Zen
1 Plural         Gu      	Gara    		Ginen
2 Plural         Zuek    	Zarete			Zineten
3 Plural         Haiek   	Dira    		Ziren

2. NOR-ZER KASUA (nominative case)

In basque, nominal expressions (nouns, noun + adjective, nominalized verbs...) take different functions depending on their suffix. Examples with "neska" (girl) and "mutil" (boy):

neska, mutila (subject intransitive)
neskak, mutilak (subject intr. plural)
neskak, mutilak (subject transitive sing.)
neskek, mutilek (subject transitive plural)
neskari, mutilari (dative: "to" the girl, "to" the boy)
neskaren, mutilaren (genitive: "girl's", "boy's")
etc.

Today, we will just see the first case, the nominative, NOR-ZER.

It can take three main forms:

indefinite : - (neska, mutil) [no suffix added]
singular : - a (neska, mutila)
plural : -ak (neskak, mutilak)

(Note: a+a=a; a+ak=ak)

The indefinite form is used, generally speaking, with quantifiers; with demonstrative adjectives; in questions; in pronouns; in proper nouns...

(Zein mutil? Hainbat mutil; mutil asko; mutil hori; bost mutil...)

Sufixes go at the end of the nominal syntagm:

gizon-a (noun);
gizon handi-a (noun+adjective);
gizon handi ederr-a (noun+adjective+adjective)
gizon handi hori (noun+adjective+demonstrative)

Examples:

Euskalduna naiz baina kanpoan bizi naiz.
Nire arreba neska ederra da.
Bere ahizpa ezkondu da.
Gure aita langilea da.
Berdeak dira Euskal Herriko mendiak.
Ilunak dira Nafarroako basoak.
Haur ilemotz hori nire semea da.
Gizon-emakume handiak gara Bizkaikoak.
Hi ez haiz sukaldean egon.
Zenbait emakume etorri dira etxera.
Gu Mirenen adiskideak gara.

3- EXERCISES (present tense):

Nire osaba........... etorri dira etxera.
Zu egongelan egon ............ goizean.
Guraso............... ez dira etxean.
Zenbait guraso.............. haserre dira.
Pozik ............ gazteak.
Zuek, zaharrak, ez ................. lodiak.
Hi ume horren aita .................?
Nor.............. bainugelan?
Logelan egon..............ume bihurri hoiek?
Ederra da nire amonaren egongela..............
Osaba eta izeba.............. Ameriketan bizi dira.
Zuen irakasle.................. bizkaitarra da.
Eguzki...............sortaldetik irtetzen da.
Euskara eta gaztelania gure hizkuntzak..............
Sagardotegi...............asko zabaldu dira Donostian.
Aitona...............itsasoan ibili da urte asko.

4- VOCABULARY

Adiskide: friend.
Ahizpa: a girl's sister
Aita: father
Aitona: grandfather
Alaba: daughter
Amerik(etan): in the Americas
Amona(ren): grandmother('s)
Arreba: a boy's sister
Asko: many
Baina: but (conj.)
Bainugela(n): (In) the bathroom
Baso: forest.
Berde: green
Bihurri: mischievous
Bizi (+ izan): to live
Bizkai(ko): (of/from)
Bizkaia: Biscay
Bizkaitar: someone from Biscay
Bost: five
Donostia: San Sebastian (capital of Gipuzkoa)
Eder: beautiful
Egon: to be (stay)
Egongela: living room
Eguzki: sun
Emakume: woman
Etorri: to come
Etxe: home.
Euskal Herri(ko): (of/from) Euskal Herria
Euskalduna: basque person
Euskara: basque language
Ezkondu: to marry
Gazte: young
Gaztelania: spanish (castillian) language
Gizon: man
Goiz(ean): (in) the morning
Guraso: parents.
Gure: our
Hainbat: many
Handi: big
Haserre: angry.
Hau/Hori/Hura: This/That/That (further) [demonstratives]
Hauek/Hoiek/Haiek: These/Those/Those (further)
Haur: kid
Hegoalde: South
Hizkuntza: language
Ibili: to walk, to go to wander, to travel, to move
Ilemotz: somebody having a short hair
Ilun: dark
Iparralde: North
Irakasle: teacher
Irte(tzen): to leave, to show up (progressive aspect)
Itsaso: sea
Izeba: aunt
Kanpoan: abroad
Langile: worker; industrious.
Lodi: obese
Logela(n): (In) the bedroom
Mendi: mountain
Miren: person name, Mary.
Nafarroa: Navarre
Neska: girl (mutila: boy)
Nire: my (zure: your; gure: our; bere: his-her; etc.)
Nor: Who
Osaba: uncle
Pozik: happy
Sagardotegi: a place to drink or make cider
Sartalde: West
Seme: son
Sortalde(tik): (from) the east
Sukalde: kitchen
Ume horren aita: That child's father
Ume: child
Urte: year
Zabaldu: to open
Zahar: old
Zein: Which
Zer: What
Zenbait: some
Zuen: your (plural)

Note: This is a first attempt of a basque course. We will continue it depending on the results and our possibilities. Exercises will be corrected in the next lesson. You may ask questions on the newsgroup, but we can't garantee any answer. Maybe others can also help you. If you have any suggestions, please write us to We are not linguists, please be kind with our ignorance.

Thanks,

Maria S. Santisteban

This page is part of Buber's Basque Page and is maintained by Blas Uberuaga. Please report any problems or suggestions to Blas. Eskerrik asko!