Euskara

Say it out loud

Basque is related to no other living language, so there is nothing to carry over from Spanish or French. That makes the spelling look harder than the sound is. Six letters do most of the work.

Letters	Say	In a word	Which is
x	sh as in shop	kaixo	KAI-sho hello
tx	ch as in church	txakoli	cha-ko-LEE the coastal white wine
tz	ts as in cats	bertso	BEHR-tso a sung improvised verse
ts	ts the same, but softer — tongue tip higher	hots	hots a sound
z	s a sharp s — never a z	zazpi	SAS-pee seven
s	s a whistlier s, tongue tip up	sagardoa	sa-gar-DO-ah cider
j	y or h y in the north, a throaty h in Bizkaia and in Spanish-influenced speech	jaialdi	yai-AL-dee festival
ñ	ny as in canyon; -in- often does the same	Gernika	gehr-NEE-ka the town
r	r a single tap between vowels	ogi bero	OH-ghee BEH-ro hot bread
rr	rr trilled	errioxa	eh-RREE-oh-sha Rioja
h	— silent in the south, breathed in the north	hiru	EE-roo three
g	g hard, always — never the g in gem	gazta	GAS-ta cheese
a e i o u	ah eh ee oh oo pure, every time, as in Spanish or Italian	etxea	eh-CHEH-ah the house

Vowels never slide. Basque has five and they keep their value wherever they fall.
Stress is light. Nobody will misunderstand you for putting it in the wrong place; the second syllable is a safe guess.
A final -a is often the word for "the": ogi is bread, ogia is the bread, sagardo is cider, sagardoa is the cider.
Euskara is related to no other living language. There is nothing to transfer from Spanish or French, which is why the spelling looks stranger than it sounds.

Phrasebook

Twenty-eight things worth having ready

Enough to come in, be fed, raise a glass and admit you have run out of Basque.

Coming in

Kaixo

KAI-sho

Hello

Any hour, anyone.

Egun on

eh-GOON own

Good morning

Until about one.

Arratsalde on

ah-rrat-SAL-deh own

Good afternoon

From lunch until dark.

Gabon

ga-BONE

Good evening

Also goodnight on the way out.

Ongi etorri

ON-ghee eh-TOH-rri

Welcome

What the house says to you, not the other way round. Worth knowing when you hear it.

Manners

Mesedez

meh-seh-DES

Please

Goes on the end: beste bat, mesedez.

Eskerrik asko

es-KEH-rreek AS-ko

Thank you very much

The everyday thanks.

Mila esker

MEE-la es-KEHR

A thousand thanks

Warmer. For someone who has gone to trouble.

Ez horregatik

es oh-rreh-GA-teek

You're welcome

Literally: not for that.

Barkatu

bar-KA-too

Sorry, or excuse me

Getting past someone, or getting attention.

Bai / Ez

bye / es

Yes / no

Bai sounds exactly like the English bye.

At the table

On egin!

own EH-gheen

Enjoy your meal

Said to anyone already eating as you pass their table. Literally: may it do good.

Oso goxoa

OH-so go-SHO-ah

Very good indeed

About food. The one compliment worth having ready.

Beste bat, mesedez

BES-teh bat meh-seh-DES

Another one, please

Works for the drink and the bread.

Kontua, mesedez

kon-TOO-ah meh-seh-DES

The bill, please

Zenbat da?

SEN-bat da

How much is it?

Jan eta edan

yan EH-ta EH-dan

Eat and drink

What the whole institution is for.

At the bar

Topa!

TOH-pah

Cheers!

Glasses up. The one to have ready when the Picon lands.

Osasuna!

oh-sa-SOO-nah

To your health!

Also the name of the Pamplona football club, which is why people grin.

Gora!

GO-rah

Up with —!

Gora zu! — up with you. A toast, a cheer, a shout.

Zorionak

so-ree-OH-nak

Congratulations, or happy birthday

Aupa!

OW-pah

Hey! Come on!

Greeting a friend across a room, or urging on a team.

Coming clean

Ez dakit euskaraz

es DA-keet eus-KA-ras

I don't speak Basque

Said after the first four phrases have raised expectations.

Euskaraz badakizu?

eus-KA-ras ba-da-KEE-soo

Do you speak Basque?

In an American Basque room the answer is often no, and asking is still welcome.

Berriz, mesedez

BEH-rrees meh-seh-DES

Again, please

Ask twice. Nobody minds.

Worth keeping

Adiskide onekin orduak labur

a-dees-KEE-deh oh-NEH-keen or-DOO-ak la-BOOR

With a good friend the hours are short

Carved into a bench on the Basque Block in Boise, in Euskara and English, and photographed on that page here. A diner at Louis' Basque Corner wrote it down in 2015 as well, translating it “time flies when you are among friends”.

Zazpiak bat

SAS-pee-ak bat

The seven are one

Seven provinces. On club walls from Reno to Vancouver.

Maite zaitut

MAI-teh ZAI-toot

I love you

Across a long table with strangers on both sides of you, which is how these rooms were built.

Basquisms

Words English has not got

Nine of them, and not one is a food word by accident.

And things they say

Glossary

Every word with a record of its own on this site.

Word	Said	Which means	Which is
artzain		sheep-keeper	Shepherd. The job that brought the men the boarding houses were built for.
baserri		wild place, settlement	The Basque farmhouse: house, barn, byre and family under one roof, and the unit of inheritance that sent younger sons to America.
dantza		dance	The dances — aurresku danced to greet someone, ezpata-dantza with swords, fandango at the end of the night.
etxe	ET-sheh	house	House. The Cincinnati room took it for a name.
euskara		the Basque language	The language. Related to nothing else living — not to Spanish, not to French, not to anything in the Indo-European family.
ikurriña		the flag	Red ground, white cross over a green saltire. Designed in 1894; flown over American Basque clubs since long before it was legal at home.
lauburu		four heads	Four comma-shaped heads turning around a centre. Cut into gravestones, chests, cheese rinds and pastry lids.
mus		the call that opens a new hand	The card game. Four players, two pairs, bidding in four rounds, and signals across the table that everyone can see and nobody is supposed to.
ostatua		inn, lodging	The boarding house. Every old room in this directory was one first.
pilota		ball	The handball game, played against a wall. Every Basque town has a fronton; so do Boise and Elko.
sagardotegi		cider house	A cider house: barrels along one wall, txotx called when a barrel is opened, cod omelette and a beef chop at a shared table standing up.
The Picon glass			Northern Nevada pours a Picon into a six-ounce stemmed glass. One of them you can order this afternoon. The other has a name, a town, and a trail that goes cold in 2015.
txistu		whistle	A three-holed flute played with the left hand while the right beats a drum. One musician, two instruments.
txoko	CHO-ko	corner, nook	A members' cooking society — a kitchen a group keeps and cooks in for itself.
zazpiak bat		the seven are one	Seven provinces, one people. The motto, and the name of clubs from Reno to Vancouver.

Not checked by a Basque speaker. The pronunciations are approximations written for an English ear, and the phrases were assembled by this project rather than by a speaker. Corrections are welcome and belong in data/vocab/phrases.json and pronounce.json, where the English sits beside the Basque for exactly that reason.