ezker
“ezker” — left in Basque. Noun, level A1, topic — asking the way. Ezkerrerantz — 'to the left'. The political 'left' is ezkerra: the same word, heard more often on election night. In a live sentence: “Biratu ezkerretara semaforoan” — Turn left at the traffic light. One of 18 words in the set “asking the way” in the Basque course.
In short
| Written in Basque | ezker |
| Translation | left |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Ezkerrerantz — 'to the left'. The political 'left' is ezkerra: the same word, heard more often on election night
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.
- Biratu ezkerretara semaforoanTurn left at the traffic light
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- non dago?where is it?Literally 'where is it situated?' — through egon, the place verb. 'What is it?' is asked differently: Zer da? — through izan. The two 'be's split the work here too
- eskuinrightEskuinetara — 'to the right'. The same eskuin in eskuin-esku — 'right hand', the one you offer and shake
- zuzenstraightBoth 'straight' and 'fair': bide zuzena is the straight road and the righteous path in one
- gertucloseGertu — close; ...tik gertu — near something: etxetik gertu — not far from the house
- urrunfarUrrun — far; ...tik urrun — far from something. Partner of gertu
- hemenhereHemen — here by me. The h is silent but mandatory in writing: emen is a mistake
- hanthereThe far 'there'. The nearer 'over there' is hor: three steps, like English 'here — there — way over there'
- aurre aurreanfacing each otherLiterally 'front-to-front': aurrea — 'front', doubled for mutuality. Aurre aurrean daude — they stand facing each other, like two shop windows
- atzeanbehind (place)From atzera — 'backward', the same kin as the rearview mirror and atzera egin. Behind here is the place left at the back
- kalean zeharalong the streetLiterally 'through the street': zehar — 'through, along'. Walking along here is walking the street like a tunnel: start to end
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “left” in Basque?
Ezkerrerantz — 'to the left'. The political 'left' is ezkerra: the same word, heard more often on election night
- How do you say “there” in Basque?
The far 'there'. The nearer 'over there' is hor: three steps, like English 'here — there — way over there'
- How do you say “straight” in Basque?
Both 'straight' and 'fair': bide zuzena is the straight road and the righteous path in one
- How do you say “along the street” in Basque?
Literally 'through the street': zehar — 'through, along'. Walking along here is walking the street like a tunnel: start to end
- How do you say “here” in Basque?
Hemen — here by me. The h is silent but mandatory in writing: emen is a mistake
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 “left” in Basque?
«ezker». In a live sentence: “Biratu ezkerretara semaforoan” — Turn left at the traffic light. Noun, level A1, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Ezkerrerantz — 'to the left'. The political 'left' is ezkerra: the same word, heard more often on election night. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.