LingoflyCongratulations: Zorionak and -(r)engatik
"Zorionak!" is the all-purpose congratulation: for a birthday and for a new home alike. Word for word it is "happinesses", in the plural. For example: “Zorionak urteberriarengatik!” — Happy New Year! A rule from the Basque course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
"Zorionak!" is the all-purpose congratulation: for a birthday and for a new home alike. Word for word it is "happinesses", in the plural.
What you congratulate someone on takes the suffix -(r)engatik — "for, on the occasion of": etxe berriarengatik — on the new home. A shorter form drops the -ren-: etxe berriagatik.
For a holiday a ready-made wish is common: Urte berri on! — Happy New Year, literally "good new year".
Table
| the occasion | the phrase |
|---|---|
| birthday | Zorionak zure urtebetetzean! |
| new home | Zorionak etxe berriarengatik! |
| New Year | Urte berri on! |
By example
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
Congratulations: how does it work in Basque?
"Zorionak!" is the all-purpose congratulation: for a birthday and for a new home alike. Word for word it is "happinesses", in the plural.
What does it look like in a Basque example sentence?
“Zorionak urteberriarengatik!” — Happy New Year! A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.