azken unean
“azken unean” — at the last moment in Basque. Phrase, level B1, topic — time, days and hours. Literally 'in the last instant': une — 'instant', a loan from Latin, openly admitted. All purchases and decisions live in the azken unean. In a live sentence: “Azken unean tiketa erosi dut” — At the last moment I bought the ticket. One of 149 words in the set “time, days and hours” in the Basque course.
In short
| Written in Basque | azken unean |
| Translation | at the last moment |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally 'in the last instant': une — 'instant', a loan from Latin, openly admitted. All purchases and decisions live in the azken unean
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Azken unean tiketa erosi dutAt the last moment I bought the ticket
Nearby words: time, days and hours
Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.
- goizamorningGoiz is 'early' and 'morning'; goiza wears the article. Goiz argitu — daybreak, literally 'the morning lightens': a phrase from a song
- egundayA familiar word: egun on — good morning — comes from it. Egunero — every day, literally 'day-ly'
- gaurtodayGaur gauean — tonight, literally 'today in the night': the word is glued from gau — 'night'
- bihartomorrowFrom bi — 'two' and egun — 'day': tomorrow is the 'second day'. The day before yesterday, herenegun, counts the other way
- atzoyesterdayAtzo — yesterday, gaur — today, bihar — tomorrow: the trio that opens any schedule
- arratsaldeaeveningStretches from lunch to dark — the second half of the day and early evening in one. After dark, gaua begins
- gauanightGabon — 'good night' — comes from it: gau + on. Dinner at ten already counts as gauetan
- orduahourBoth the hour as a measure and the time on the clock: Zer ordu da? — literally 'what hour is it?' — through izan, not egon
- denboratimeTime in Basque is what you have: denbora dut — 'I have time', literally 'time I have'. People ask denbora duzu? — 'do you have time?' more often than denbora al dago?
- lehenikfirst of allFrom lehen — 'first' + -ik: 'firstly-ish'. It opens the list: Lehenik… bigarrenik… — and the listener is already building the plan
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “time, days and hours”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “at the last moment” in Basque?
Literally 'in the last instant': une — 'instant', a loan from Latin, openly admitted. All purchases and decisions live in the azken unean
- How do you say “night” in Basque?
Gabon — 'good night' — comes from it: gau + on. Dinner at ten already counts as gauetan
- How do you say “today” in Basque?
Gaur gauean — tonight, literally 'today in the night': the word is glued from gau — 'night'
- How do you say “first of all” in Basque?
From lehen — 'first' + -ik: 'firstly-ish'. It opens the list: Lehenik… bigarrenik… — and the listener is already building the plan
- How do you say “evening” in Basque?
Stretches from lunch to dark — the second half of the day and early evening in one. After dark, gaua begins
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “at the last moment” in Basque?
«azken unean». In a live sentence: “Azken unean tiketa erosi dut” — At the last moment I bought the ticket. Phrase, level B1, from the set “time, days and hours”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally 'in the last instant': une — 'instant', a loan from Latin, openly admitted. All purchases and decisions live in the azken unean. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.