"It hurts": -n + mina dut
Pain is built in two moves: the body part goes into the locative case -n ("in the head", "in the legs"), and the pain is "had": buruan mina dut — literally "in the head I have pain". For example: “eztarrian mina du” — His throat hurts. A rule from the Basque course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Pain is built in two moves: the body part goes into the locative case -n ("in the head", "in the legs"), and the pain is "had": buruan mina dut — literally "in the head I have pain".
Plural is ditut: hanketan minak ditut — my legs hurt. About someone else — "du": hari bularra min dit — his chest hurts.
Temperature works the same way: sukarra dut — I have a fever.
By example
- eztarrian mina duHis throat hurts
- hortzetan mina duguOur teeth hurt
- sukarra eta eztula ditutI have a fever and a cough
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
"It hurts": how does it work in Basque?
Pain is built in two moves: the body part goes into the locative case -n ("in the head", "in the legs"), and the pain is "had": buruan mina dut — literally "in the head I have pain".
What does it look like in an example sentence Basque?
“eztarrian mina du” — His throat hurts. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.