Plural and possessives
The plural is -ak at the end: ogia → ogiak. But after a possessive word the article disappears: nire ogia — my bread, literally "my bread-without-the-article". For example: “nire seme-alabak” — my children. A rule from the Basque course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The plural is -ak at the end: ogia → ogiak. But after a possessive word the article disappears: nire ogia — my bread, literally "my bread-without-the-article".
Possessives stand BEFORE the word: nire — my, zure — your, haren — his/her. Basque has no gender: "nire laguna" is my friend (male) and my friend (female) in the same phrase.
Table
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| house | etxea | etxeak |
| my house | nire etxea | nire etxeak |
| key | giltza | giltzak |
| my key | nire giltza | nire giltzak |
By example
- nire seme-alabakmy children
- geure sukaldia txikia daour kitchen is small
- zure giltzak dirathey are your keys
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
Plural and possessives: how does it work in Basque?
The plural is -ak at the end: ogia → ogiak. But after a possessive word the article disappears: nire ogia — my bread, literally "my bread-without-the-article".
What does it look like in an example sentence Basque?
“nire seme-alabak” — my children. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.