Basque Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Basque grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Basque and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Basque and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Basque.

Prepositions - Basque
and eta
above gainean
under azpian
before aurretik
after ondoren
in front of aurrean
behind atzean
far from urrun
near gertu
in -(e)an
inside barru -
outside kanpo -
with -(a)rekin, -ekin
without gabe
about buruzko
between artean
but baina
for -(a)rentzat
from -(e)tik
to -(e)ra

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Basque
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] labanik gabe jaten dut
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] elizatik gertu bizi da
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] bera baino altuagoa da
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] bere txakur txikiarekin etorri zen
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] nirekin etorri ahal zaitezke?

Negation in Basque

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Basque
I understand you [affirmative form] ulertzen zaitut
I don't understand you [negation + verb] ez zaitut ulertzen
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] hau ez da hitz zuzena
don't leave me [imperative negation] ez nazazu utzi
no problem [negation + noun] problemarik gabe

Negative Sentences - Basque
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] ez dut frantsesez hitz egiten
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ez zen alemaniara joan.
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] ezin gaitu ikusi
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] ezin al du xakean jolastu?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] ez gara berandu etorriko

Questions in Basque

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Basque
how? nola?
what? zer?
who? nor?
why? zergatik?
where? non?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Basque
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] non bizi zara?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] txineraz hitz egiten al du?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] zenbat balio du honek?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] Lagundu zaitzaket?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] zein da zure izena?

Adverbs in Basque

It's time to learn the adverbs in Basque. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Basque
now orain
yesterday atzo
today gaur
tonight gaur gauean
tomorrow bihar
soon laister
quickly azkar
slowly poliki-poliki
together batera
very oso
almost ia
always beti
usually ohi
sometimes batzuetan
rarely oso gutxitan
never inoiz ez

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Basque
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] ulertzen nauzu orain?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] laguntza behar dut berehala
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] oso argia da
I will always love you [verb + adverb] beti maitatuko zaitut
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] alemana ikasi al dezakegu elkarrekin?

Pronouns in Basque

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Basque. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Basque
I ni
you zu
he hura, bera
she hura, bera
we gu
they haiek

Object Pronouns - Basque
me ni -
you zu -
him hura -, bera -
her hura -, bera -
us gu -
them horiek -, haiek -

Possessive Pronouns - Basque
my nire
your zure
his bere
her bere
our gure
their beraien

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Basque
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] zure laguna naiz
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] oso azkar hitz egiten duzu
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] hiru txakur dauzka
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] alemanez hitz egiten du
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] ez gara berandu etorriko
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] esnea eta ogia erosi dituzte

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Basque
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] zure izena esan al diezadakezu?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] dirua emango dizut
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] gutun bat idatzi zion
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] atzo bisita egin zioten
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] lagundu ahal gaitzake?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] janaria eman zien

Possessive Pronouns - Basque
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] nire izena maya da
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] zure anaia hemen bizi da
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] bere amak guretzat sukaldatzen du
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] bere zaletasuna liburuak irakurtzea da
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] gure ametsa paris bisitatzea da
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] beren etxea ez dago oso urruti

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Basque
this is my house hau nire etxea da
that restaurant is far jatetxea oso urrun dago
these apples are delicious sagar horiek zoragarriak dira
those stars are shiny izar horiek distiratsuak dira

I hope you learned a lot about the Basque grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!