basque lessons -- learn basque in <100 lessons!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:51:08 GMT

These Basque lessons are my own translations of a set of French lessons located here: Apprendre le Basque...

They are entitled "Learn Basque in Fewer Than 100 Lessons."

My own notes are in [brackets of this colour.]

Lesson 1 . Pronunciation and Orthography

In this field, there is no real difficulty in Basque : all the letters are pronounced and almost always in the same way. Therefore none of the phonemes of this type "en," "an," "on," "in," "oi," "oin" ... which French tends toward.

lan (work) is pronounced like "lon."
on (good) is pronounced like in "fawn."
min (pain) is pronounced simply "mean."
bat (a) is pronounced like "bot."
bai (yes) is pronounced like "bye."

There are not more than 36 ways to represent in writing the same sound...
- a is always pronounced ah ; e is always pronounced as our French é ...

- The g is always pronounced (in north Basque country) as our "game"
Gela (room) is pronounced as "gay la."

[but the pronunciation in the southern Basque country is like Spanish j (jota)]

- The h is is always audible and aspirated like in "heart."

- The x and [in north Basque country] the "s" are the equivalent to French "ch."
Etxe (house) is pronounced "etchay" like in "eh, Che... Guevara."

Sen (judgement, good sense) is pronounced like « shin ».
[but the southern Basque pronunciation of s is like French ç]

- The z is pronounced like ç in French.
Zuzen (honest, right) is pronounced like "sue sen."
Ez (not) is pronounced like "S."

- Just to note a small difficulty with j that is pronounced differently according to the provinces : on the Coast, as the French ye ; in Soule, as our French j or ge ; on the other frontier's coast as the Spanish j (jota).

- The u is pronounced most often like French ou... but sometimes (in Soule) as our proper u (it takes a diaresis in this province, like the German ü).

- One finds equally ñ which is pronounced... as in Spanish (gn in French).
Beñat (Bernard) is pronounced "Bane-yacht".
Lesson 2 . Common Nouns and Articles

- There is no gender in Basque! No masculine, no feminine, but if certain words designate without ambiguity a feminine being (emazte : woman - pron. like ay-moss ; neska : girl) or masculine (gizon : man - pron. like geese own ; mutil : boy). In this respect, Basque is, like English, easier than French and much easier than German.

- The mark of a definite article (the) is made by adjoining the letter a to the word :
Gizon »» gizona (the man)

- But the words which end in a don't take a second a :
Gela can be room or the room.

- The plural marker is made by adjoining ak to the word (or just k if the word already ends in a) :
Gizon »» gizonak (the men)
Gela »» gelak (the rooms)
Etxe »» etxeak (the houses)

- In order to translate the indefinite article (a, an) one simply puts bat after the noun :
Etxe (house) »» etxe bat (a house)

From now on, in each lesson, we will indicate the new words used. And for each one of them, at least to start out, their pronunciation will be given, each time possible, by the juxtaposition of French [actually English] words (or parts of words)... without giving thought to the meaning.

Vocabulary
The newly encountered words... [boring!]

Newly Encountered Words
Bai – Bat – Emazte – Etxe – Ez – Gela – Gizon – Lan – Min – Mutil – Neska – On – Sen - Zuzen
Lesson 3 . Modifying Adjective

Most often, the adjective is placed after the noun it modifies and it takes the mark of the article:

Etxe xuria [etxe xuri a], literally "house white the" for "the white house" (name of a well-known building... in Biarritz)

Etxe handiak [etxe handi ak], literally "house big the" for "the big houses"

If several adjectives modify the same noun, it is the last adjective that takes the article:
Etxe handi xuria (the big white house)

The train rule
It's the one characteristic rule of Basque (my professor called it the train rule); that of permitting this type of "traincars" sequence with a final word (the "locomotive") which takes on only itself the mark of the article, the plural, and as we will see, all kinds of other things.
Lesson 4 . Suffixes, always on about suffixes.

As has been seen, the article marker was given to the singular by attaching an a (the) or to the plural with ak (or just k, if the word already ends in a). This is our first example of a suffix.

Etxe (house) >>>> etxea (the house) and etxeak (the houses)
Herri (country/town) >>>> herria (the country/town)

Suffixes are adding to words to translate our "of" (originating from), "in," "for," "with," as well...

- Baionako [Baiona + ko] means Bayonnais (from Bayonne).
- Etxeko [etxe + ko] (literally: of the house) means familiar.
- Herriko [herri + ko] means of the country or of the village/town.
- Herriko etxea (literally: the house of the town) means town hall.
- Etxean [etxe + an] means in the house.
- Herrian [herri + an] means in the country.
- Gazteluan [gaztelu + an] means in the castle.
- Lanean [lan + ean] translates to our at work.

"In" is translated by the suffix "an" at the end of a word that ends in a "vowel" and by "ean" when the word ends in a "consonant."

And the train rule applies again in a more exemplary way:

Etxean (in the house), but...
Etxe handian (in the big house) and...
Etxe handi batean (in a big house).

Later, you'll also see how to, from a word, create other words with the adjunction of suffixes. We give a little outline of it:

- Bizi (life, living) + tegi (suffix indicating residence of) »» bizitegi (apartment)
- Bizi + dun (suffix indicating filled/empowered with) »» bizidun (living, alive)
- Bizi + tasun (suffix indicating which has the quality of) »» bizitasun (vivacity)
Lesson 5 . Introduction to Verbs

There is no infinitive in Basque and a verb's dictionary form is that of the past participle : Egin (done/made [French fait] ), Erosi (bought), Ulertu (understood), Saldu (sold), Etorri (come)... well known among natives in the expression "ongi etorri" (welcome).

Egin dut means « I've done/made » where « dut » [pronounced « doot »] takes the place of "'ve" from the verb "to have." The subject (I) is, as it often is, implicit. In the same fashion one would say...

Erosi dut (I bought),
Ulertu dut (I understood),
Saldu dut (I sold).

But the last verb (etorri) is conjugated with the verb 'to be" :
Etorri naiz means "I have come" where "naiz" takes the place of "have" of the verb "to have." [French je suis venu, using the verb être meaning "to be" as an auxiliary.]

The above verb examples are representative of the most verbs in Basque where the past participles end almost always in n, si, tu/du, or i. This ending allows, without much error, the formation of the verb to the present participle... a form which is important in the expression of the present :

- Egin (made) »» egiten (making) »» egiten dut (I make), literally « I've making »
- Erosi (bought) »» erosten (buying) »» erosten dut (I buy)
- Ulertu (understood) »» ulertzen (understanding) »» ulertzen dut (I understand)
- Saldu (sold) »» saltzen (selling) »» saltzen dut (I sell)
- Etorri (come) »» etortzen (coming) »» etortzen naiz (I come), lit. « I am coming »

In fact, all verbs are conjugated with an auxiliary of the "izan" type (to be) and/or "ukan" (to have)... and this in all tenses... and not only, as in French, with a limited number (present perfect and plusquamperfect notably).

The concept of verbs : a recap
Past participles in...	Present participles	Examples	Other examples of verbs
« n »	« ten »	egin » egiten	atzeman (found) » atzematen (finding) egon(stayed) » egoten(st)
« si »	« sten »	erosi » erosten	hasi (begun) » hasten (beginning) ikusi (seen) » ikusten (seeing)
« tu/du »	« tzen »	ulertu » ulertzen saldu » saltzen	bilatu (sought) » bilatzen (seeking) hautatu (chosen) » hautatzen (choosing)
« i »	« tzen »	etorri » etortzen	ibili (walked round) » ibiltzen (walking round) ahantzi (forgotten) » ahantzen (forgetting)

Vocabulary : Newly Encountered Words (Verbs)
Atzeman – Ahantzi – Bilatu – Egin – Egon – Erosi – Etorri – Hasi – Hautatu – Ibili – Ikusi – Saldu – Ulertu
Lesson 6 . First Conjugation of Auxiliaries

With our as yet poor vocabulary, we already know how to say...

Etxe bat dut (I have a house) literally "house one I-have" where the subject (I) is assumed as it often is in Basque ; but there is another underground reason for that, which we will dig up later. We continue the conjugation of the verb "ukan" (to have) :

Etxe bat du (he/she has a house)
Etxe bat dugu (we have a house)
Etxe bat duzu (you have a house) where the you here is an individual ("polite" you)
Etxe bat duzue (you have a house) where the you is now collective
Etxe bat dute (they have a house)

You will notice that we have not used the [French informal] "tu" form. It exists in Basque, but it is rare and has different interpretations among the ...7 corners of Basque country. We will therefore not speak of it again.

We come to the verb izan (to be).
Even with our limited vocabulary, we can nevertheless already say...

Zuzen naiz (I am honest). literally (honest am) where the subject (I) is there, though implicit.
We resume the conjugation :

Zuzen da (he/she is honest)
Zuzen gara (we are honest)
Zuzen zara (you are honest) with the polite, individual "you"
Zuzen zarete (you are honest) with the collective "you"
Zuzen dira (they are honest)

It now suffices to associate these different verb forms, "Ukan" and "Izan," to any verb, to the past participle or to the present participle, in order to conjugate it :
Etxe handi bat bilatzen dugu (we are looking for a big house),
literally "house big a searching we-have."
Ibili dira herrian (they take walks in the country),
literally "took-walks they-are in the country."

Conjugation of "Izan" and "Ukan" : recap
Different persons	Izan (to be)	Ukan (to.have)	Example sentences (We'll come back to word order later)
« I »	naiz	dut	Egoten naiz etxean (I'm staying in the house) Etxea erosi dut (I bought the house)
« He/She »	da	du	Nor etortzen da ? (who's coming ?) Etxea erosten du (he buys the house)
« We »	gara	dugu	Euskara mintzatzen dugu (we speak Basque) Euskaraz mintzatzen gara (we speak in Basque)
Individual « You »	zara	duzu	Baionan egoten zara (you stay in Bayonne) Etxe bat atzeman duzu (you found a house)
Collective « You »	zarete	duzue	Ibiltzen zarete (you all take a walk) Nola egiten duzue ? (how are you all?)
« They »	dira	dute	Gizonak ibili dira (the men are taking a walk) Hautatzen dute (they choose)

Who's
coming ?

How do you [pl.] do?

Lesson 7 . Explicit Subject : Rule of the 1st "k"

Until now, we have kept from clarifying explicitly the subject of the verbs we've conjugated. But there's a catch... and we rather have to say an "ak" :
Gizona handia da (the man is big), literally "the-man big is."
Gizonak handiak dira (the men are big). "Gizon" is in the plural (hence the suffix "ak") and the adjective "handi" (attribute) takes the plural marker as well.\

Until there, everything seems about normal... if one admits that what resembles French is the norm! [pah! ;)]
But.. to translate "the man has a house," one says :
Gizonak etxe bat du...
and there, it is no longer understood too well why this ak at the end of "Gizon" is however pretty well always in the singular! Grammarians speak of ergativity... as for us, we will speak of the rule of the first "k"... which states that one must add to the subject-word, conjugated with the verb ukan (to have), a "k" preceded most often by an "a," but not always.

Let's clarify those that are different... "k" of figure... according to the "subject" :
- Common noun, in the singular : Emazte »» Emazteak
- Common noun, in the plural : Gizonak »» Gizonek
- Proper noun, ending in a consonant : Beñat »» Beñatek
- Proper noun, ending in a vowel : Ani »» Anik

For example, one writes:
Emazteak atzeman du bizitegi bat (the woman found an apartment), literally "the woman found has apartment an."
Gizonek ikusi dute etxe handi bat (the men saw a big house).
Mikelek eta Monikak erosi dute gaztelu bat (Michael and Monica bought a castle).

Now is the time to clarify the personal pronouns (I, you...) which of course obey the rule of the first "k" :

Personal pronouns	With the rule of the 1^st « k » (with« ukan»)	Observations
Ni [knee]	Nik [neek]	I, me
Gu [goo]	Guk [gook]	We
Zu [Sue]	Zuk [suke]	Individual you
Zuek [soo-ek]	Zuek	You collective, without changing the rule of 1^st « k »

No, we have not forgotten to name the 3^rd persons (he/she/it, they).
It's just that they don't exist!... well, almost. To designate these, one says :

Hau

[ha-oo]

Honek

[ho-nek]

This one here
in place of he/she or him/her

Hauek

[ha-oo-ek]

Hauek

These ones here
in place of they or them
Whew ! Without changing the rule of the 1^st
« k » (conjugation with « ukan », avoir).

The rule of the first « k » : recap
Subject	Izan (to be)	Ukan (to have)	Example sentences
I	Ni	Nik	Nik erosi dut etxe bat (I bought a house)
He / she / it	Hau	Honek	Hau ibiltzen da Biarritzen (he took a walk to Biarritz)
We	Gu	Guk	Guk Euskara mintzatzen dugu (we speak Basque)
You individual	Zu	Zuk	Zu Baionan egoten zara (you stay in Bayonne)
You collective	Zuek	Zuek	Zuek presatuak zarete (you are all in a hurry)
They	Hauek	Hauek	Hauek hautatzen dute (they choose)

Vocabulary : Newly Encountered Words
Euskara - Minzatu - Presatu

Lesson 8 . Full Spotlight on... DOC
[I've always just called it a Direct Object. The French prefer COD, Complément d’Objet Direct]

In the sentence "I buy a house," house is a DOC (Direct Object Complement) of the verb to buy. And whether "A house" or "SOME houses," the verb conjugates in the same way. Only natural, you say! Well! in Basque, it does not quite go the same :

Etxe bat erosten dut (I buy a house)
Etxeak erosten ditut (I buy the houses)... the two letters IT have been slipped in to the auxiliary to emphasize a DOC in the plural.

The rest of the conjugation of the vebr to have follows naturally :

Du (he/she has) »»ditu
Dugu (we have) »»ditugu
Duzu (you individual have) »» dituzu
Duzue (you collective have) »»dituzue

Conjugation of « Ukan » with DOC : recap
Different persons	DOC singular	DOC plural	Sentence examples with DOC in the plural
I	dut	ditut	Leihoak zabaltzen ditut (I open the windows)
he / she	du	ditu	Bi etxeak erosten ditu (he/she buys the two houses)
we	dugu	ditugu	Haurrak ditugu (we have the kids)
you individual	duzu	dituzu	Etxeak ikusi dituzu (you've seen the houses)
you collective	duzue	dituzue	Egiten dituzue laneak ? (are you all working ?)
they	dute	dituzte	Ahantzi dituzte giltzak (they forgot their (the) keys)

new beginnings.

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:33:39 GMT

I went back a while ago and made all my previous posts private (to make way for the webcomic).
well now I think I'll keep this journal again.

I know it's been forever. but hey. i've been living my life and such.

last night I stayed up till about 5:20a. and I still woke up this morning and went to church. while I was still awake I started reading Dostoevsky's The Double. I got about two chapters in.

I definitely have two idols that are "new." they really aren't new but I never talked about them here: Simon Amstell and Stephen Fry.

I was so inspired by Stephen Fry on QI clips that I decided I want to learn for the rest of my life. he's why I picked up The Double. so I guess my next post will be much more interesting and maybe I'll talk more about the D. story I'm reading.

tonight ive got to get on Skype and participate in a discussion about Brave New World, which my family read for a family book club.

I'd really like a MacBook.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

MY WEBCOMIC

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:45:29 GMT

http://bicpen.smackjeeves.com
---
bic pen

Assassin's Creed comic

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:34:37 GMT

Please don't be upset, Jade!! I <3 you.

My Juvenile comic, words by Bjork

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:18:26 GMT

If you've never heard this song, click here: My Juvenile

chrisxhuff

basque lessons -- learn basque in <100 lessons!

new beginnings.

MY WEBCOMIC

Assassin's Creed comic

My Juvenile comic, words by Bjork