The imperative
A command is the bare verb root: Egon! — stay!, Etorri! — come!, Jarri! — sit down!, Ireki! — open!. For example: “Itxaron minutu bat!” — Wait a minute!. A rule from the Basque course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
A command is the bare verb root: Egon! — stay!, Etorri! — come!, Jarri! — sit down!, Ireki! — open!.
The polite form adds -ez: Egon zaitez! — do sit down, Jar zaitez! — take a seat. Bete inprimakia — fill in the form — works the same way, with no ending at all.
Frequent irregulars: Zaude! — be!, Tori! — take!, Zatoz! — come here!
Table
| you (informal) | polite | |
|---|---|---|
| to wait | Itxaron! | Itxaron zaitez! |
| to come | Zatoz! | Zatozte! |
| to open | Ireki! | Ireki ezazu! |
| to be | Zaude! | Zaude! |
By example
- Itxaron minutu bat!Wait a minute!
- Kontuz, ez ukitu!Careful, do not touch!
- Itxaron hemen, mesedezWait here, please
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The imperative: how does it work in Basque?
A command is the bare verb root: Egon! — stay!, Etorri! — come!, Jarri! — sit down!, Ireki! — open!.
What does it look like in an example sentence Basque?
“Itxaron minutu bat!” — Wait a minute!. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.