poltsa
“poltsa” — bag in Basque. Noun, level A1, topic — shopping and money. Both a handbag and a plastic bag: poltsa plastikoa. They ask: Poltsarik nahi? — 'want a bag?' In a live sentence: “Poltsa bat behar dut” — I need a bag. One of 94 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Basque course.
In short
| Written in Basque | poltsa |
| Translation | bag |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Both a handbag and a plastic bag: poltsa plastikoa. They ask: Poltsarik nahi? — 'want a bag?'
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.
- Poltsa bat behar dutI need a bag
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- zenbat balio du?how much is it?Literally 'how much does it value?'. For several things the verb agrees with the goods: zenbat balio dute?
- euroaeuroEuro + the article. After a number the article vanishes: bi euro — two euros, not euroak
- dendashopA native word, not the Spanish tienda. Denda txiki — a little shop: the country is fond of those
- azokamarketA covered market, a native word. Merkatua is from Spanish: both are in use, azoka is the people's one
- mahai-langamarket counterLiterally 'table-board': mahaia 'table' + langa 'plank'. The market counter is built that way in the very language
- saltzaileasellerFrom saldu — 'to sell': saltzaile is 'the selling one'. A woman seller is also saltzailea: Basque doesn't mark gender
- erosleabuyerFrom erosi — 'to buy': erosle is 'the buying one'. Buyers together are erosleak
- pisuascaleFrom pisatu — 'to weigh'. The same word means 'pressure': atmosfera-pisua — atmospheric pressure
- kiloakilogramThe short form of kilogramo. Ordered without the article: kilo bat laranja — a kilogram of oranges
- erdiahalfErdi kilo — half a kilo; the same word means 'middle': heren erdia — the middle of the way
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “bag” in Basque?
Both a handbag and a plastic bag: poltsa plastikoa. They ask: Poltsarik nahi? — 'want a bag?'
- How do you say “buyer” in Basque?
From erosi — 'to buy': erosle is 'the buying one'. Buyers together are erosleak
- How do you say “shop” in Basque?
A native word, not the Spanish tienda. Denda txiki — a little shop: the country is fond of those
- How do you say “half” in Basque?
Erdi kilo — half a kilo; the same word means 'middle': heren erdia — the middle of the way
- How do you say “seller” in Basque?
From saldu — 'to sell': saltzaile is 'the selling one'. A woman seller is also saltzailea: Basque doesn't mark gender
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 “bag” in Basque?
«poltsa». In a live sentence: “Poltsa bat behar dut” — I need a bag. Noun, level A1, from the set “shopping and money”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Both a handbag and a plastic bag: poltsa plastikoa. They ask: Poltsarik nahi? — 'want a bag?' A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.