To put on and to unfasten: jantzi / deskontatu
Clothes in Basque "are put on and end up with you": jantzi — to put on, and the bearer of the thing — "has": praka jantzi ditut — I put on the trousers, literally "trousers put-on I have". One thing — du/dut, many — ditu/ditut: jaka jantzi du — he put on the jacket, botak jantzi ditut — I put on the boots (the lesson "Shoes and small things"). Wave 2 already laid jantzi down as "clothes" — here it is the verb. For…
How it works
Clothes in Basque "are put on and end up with you": jantzi — to put on, and the bearer of the thing — "has": praka jantzi ditut — I put on the trousers, literally "trousers put-on I have". One thing — du/dut, many — ditu/ditut: jaka jantzi du — he put on the jacket, botak jantzi ditut — I put on the boots (the lesson "Shoes and small things"). Wave 2 already laid jantzi down as "clothes" — here it is the verb.
The reverse is done with the prefix: desjantzi — to undress, deslotu — to untie, deskontatu — to unbutton: botoiak deskontatu ditu — he unbuttoned the buttons. To fasten is "to do a button": botoia egin — to fasten a button (the lesson "To tie and to fasten").
Table
| the action | the form | the example |
|---|---|---|
| to put on | jantzi + dut/ditut | praka jantzi ditut |
| to fasten | botoia egin | botoia egin dut |
| to unfasten / untie | des- + verb | deskontatu, deslotu |
By example
- Praka jantzi ditut eta botoia egin dutI put on the trousers and fastened the button
- Jaka deskontatu du, bero dagoelakoHe unbuttoned the jacket, because he is hot
- Gorbata deslotu dut etxera iritsi ondorenI untied the tie after arriving home
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
To put on and to unfasten: how does it work in Basque?
Clothes in Basque "are put on and end up with you": jantzi — to put on, and the bearer of the thing — "has": praka jantzi ditut — I put on the trousers, literally "trousers put-on I have". One thing — du/dut, many — ditu/ditut: jaka jantzi du — he put on the jacket, botak jantzi ditut — I put on…
What does it look like in an example sentence Basque?
“Praka jantzi ditut eta botoia egin dut” — I put on the trousers and fastened the button. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.