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Telling a friend about a begun job — repairing the terrace in Basque. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Zer berri? Entzun dut terraza konpontzen hasi zaretela.» — What is new? I heard you have started fixing the terrace; «Bai, asteburuan hasi ginen. Astelehenean berriz ekin diogu lanari, material guztiekin.» — Yes, we began on the weekend. On Monday we resumed the work, with all the materials. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: telling a friend about a begun job — repairing the terrace. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Yes, we began on the weekend. On Monday we resumed the work, with all the materials.
- What have you already done? This work takes a lot of time.
- When do you think you will finish? Grandpa's birthday is soon.
- Amaiera aldera gaude: asteburuan amaitzea espero dugu, nola edo hala. Gero festara gonbidatuko zaitugu.We are near the end: we hope to finish on the weekend, at any cost. Then we invite you to the party.
Lines one by one
| Basque | Translation |
|---|---|
| Zer berri? Entzun dut terraza konpontzen hasi zaretela. | What is new? I heard you have started fixing the terrace. |
| Bai, asteburuan hasi ginen. Astelehenean berriz ekin diogu lanari, material guztiekin. | Yes, we began on the weekend. On Monday we resumed the work, with all the materials. |
| Zer egin duzue orain arte? Lan honek denbora asko behar du. | What have you already done? This work takes a lot of time. |
| Zoru berria jarri dugu eta zutabeak konpondu. Baina euria hasi zen, eta lana luze joan da. | We laid a new floor and fixed the posts. But it started to rain, and the job dragged on. |
| Noiz amaituko duzuela uste duzue? Aitonaren urtebetetzea laster da. | When do you think you will finish? Grandpa's birthday is soon. |
| Amaiera aldera gaude: asteburuan amaitzea espero dugu, nola edo hala. Gero festara gonbidatuko zaitugu. | We are near the end: we hope to finish on the weekend, at any cost. Then we invite you to the party. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Basque in this situation?
“Zer berri? Entzun dut terraza konpontzen hasi zaretela.” — What is new? I heard you have started fixing the terrace. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.