Lingoflyezker
- ezkerleft
“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. You can hear how it sounds right here. 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. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. 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.
Can I hear how this sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.