The habitual present: Erositen dut, Ordaintzen dut
The habitual action is the participle in -tzen plus the auxiliary dut (changed by person): erositen dut — I buy (usually), ordaintzen duzu — you pay, jartzen dugu — we put. What is listed — ditut: ogia eta esnea erosten ditut — bread and milk I buy. For example: “Egunero ogia erositen dut goizean” — Every day I buy bread in the morning. A rule from the Basque course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a…
How it works
The habitual action is the participle in -tzen plus the auxiliary dut (changed by person): erositen dut — I buy (usually), ordaintzen duzu — you pay, jartzen dugu — we put. What is listed — ditut: ogia eta esnea erosten ditut — bread and milk I buy.
The markers of habit stand nearby: egunero — daily, beti — always, sarri — often: Egunero ogia erosten dut — every day I buy bread. The negation is ordinary: ez dut erosten — I do not buy. A separate contraction with -n: ordaindu → ordaintzen, bilatu → bilatzen.
Table
| person | the form | the example |
|---|---|---|
| I | …tzen dut / ditut | erositen dut |
| you | …tzen duzu / dituzu | ordaintzen duzu |
| he / she | …tzen du / ditu | jartzen du |
| we / you (pl.) / they | …tzen dugu, duzue, dute | bilatzen dute |
By example
- Egunero ogia erositen dut goizeanEvery day I buy bread in the morning
- Zer ordaintzen duzu: txartelaz ala diruaz?What are you paying with: card or cash?
- Ez dut inoiz han erostenI never buy there
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 habitual present: how does it work in Basque?
The habitual action is the participle in -tzen plus the auxiliary dut (changed by person): erositen dut — I buy (usually), ordaintzen duzu — you pay, jartzen dugu — we put. What is listed — ditut: ogia eta esnea erosten ditut — bread and milk I buy.
What does it look like in an example sentence Basque?
“Egunero ogia erositen dut goizean” — Every day I buy bread in the morning. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.