semaforoaren ondoan
“semaforoaren ondoan” — next to the traffic light in Basque. Phrase, level A2, topic — the city and its places. Literally 'by the traffic light': semaforoa (a loan, admitted) + ondoan — 'beside'. The orientation phrase for giving directions. In a live sentence: “Zubia semaforoaren ondoan dago, ez da galdu behar” — The bridge is next to the traffic light, you can't miss it. One of 198 words in the set “the city and its places” in the Basque course.
In short
| Written in Basque | semaforoaren ondoan |
| Translation | next to the traffic light |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally 'by the traffic light': semaforoa (a loan, admitted) + ondoan — 'beside'. The orientation phrase for giving directions
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.
- Zubia semaforoaren ondoan dago, ez da galdu beharThe bridge is next to the traffic light, you can't miss it
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- jatetxearestaurantJatetxe + a. As with the neighbors, people more often go to a taberna: morning coffee, lunch and evening wine all happen there
- hiriacityHiri + a. Hiribildu — 'town', literally 'round city': old towns grew in a ring
- kaleastreetKale Nagusia — 'big street': the main street of nearly every town in the country; addresses write it out in full
- 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
- farmaziapharmacyLook for the green cross on the sign. The night-duty one is guardiako farmazia — the list hangs on every door
- bankuabankBanku + a: the two u's fuse into one. The same word means 'bench', as elsewhere too
- geltokiastationGeltoki + a, and the two i's fuse into one. Both the metro station and the train station: one word for both
- semaforoatraffic lightA loan from Greek through the neighbors, like ours. The red light here is gorria — stop and wait
- bizikletabicycleA loan from the French bicyclette through the neighbors. The country rides them along the whole sea
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “next to the traffic light” in Basque?
Literally 'by the traffic light': semaforoa (a loan, admitted) + ondoan — 'beside'. The orientation phrase for giving directions
- How do you say “bank” in Basque?
Banku + a: the two u's fuse into one. The same word means 'bench', as elsewhere too
- How do you say “street” in Basque?
Kale Nagusia — 'big street': the main street of nearly every town in the country; addresses write it out in full
- How do you say “bicycle” in Basque?
A loan from the French bicyclette through the neighbors. The country rides them along the whole sea
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Basque?
Look for the green cross on the sign. The night-duty one is guardiako farmazia — the list hangs on every door
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 “next to the traffic light” in Basque?
«semaforoaren ondoan». In a live sentence: “Zubia semaforoaren ondoan dago, ez da galdu behar” — The bridge is next to the traffic light, you can't miss it. Phrase, level A2, from the set “the city and its places”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally 'by the traffic light': semaforoa (a loan, admitted) + ondoan — 'beside'. The orientation phrase for giving directions. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.