Lingoflyhaurra
- haurrachild
“haurra” — child in Basque. Noun, level A1, topic — people and family. Haur + a, and the r doubles at the seam: haurra. Children are haurrak; the playroom is haurrentzako — literally 'for children'. In a live sentence: “Bi haur dituzte, mutil bat eta neska bat” — They have two children, a boy and a girl. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 234 words in the set “people and family” in the Basque course.
In short
| Written in Basque | haurra |
| Translation | child |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Haur + a, and the r doubles at the seam: haurra. Children are haurrak; the playroom is haurrentzako — literally 'for children'
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.
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- lagunafriendFrom lagun — 'friend' and 'helper' alike: laguntza, 'help', comes from it. A casual acquaintance is ezagun
- familiafamilyFamily, the same word as in Spanish. A surname is «abizena»: you can hear «izen», name, inside it
- amamomA neutral word. The affectionate one is amatxo. Grandma is amona: the same ama at the front
- aitadadThe affectionate one is aitatxo. Grandpa is aitona: the same aita at the front, symmetric with ama/amona
- semeasonIn the basics haurra was 'child'; semea is a son exactly. A daughter is alaba. Seme-alabak — children in general, literally 'sons-daughters'
- pertsonapersonThe counting unit for people: bi pertsona — two people, not bi gizon. A neutral word instead of 'man and woman'
- gizonamanA man, and more broadly a person. «Gizaki», a human being, shares the root. Plural «gizonak»
- emakumeawomanFrom eme — 'female' plus a native tail. A long, honest word of its own
- gazteayoung manGazte — 'young' in general: gaztea is a young man, neska gaztea a young woman. About wine too: ardo gaztea
- neskayoung womanNeska is both 'girl' and a teenage girl, the same word. A boy is mutila
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “child” in Basque?
Haur + a, and the r doubles at the seam: haurra. Children are haurrak; the playroom is haurrentzako — literally 'for children'
- How do you say “man” in Basque?
A man, and more broadly a person. «Gizaki», a human being, shares the root. Plural «gizonak»
- How do you say “mom” in Basque?
A neutral word. The affectionate one is amatxo. Grandma is amona: the same ama at the front
- How do you say “young woman” in Basque?
Neska is both 'girl' and a teenage girl, the same word. A boy is mutila
- How do you say “person” in Basque?
The counting unit for people: bi pertsona — two people, not bi gizon. A neutral word instead of 'man and woman'
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 “child” in Basque?
«haurra». In a live sentence: “Bi haur dituzte, mutil bat eta neska bat” — They have two children, a boy and a girl. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Haur + a, and the r doubles at the seam: haurra. Children are haurrak; the playroom is haurrentzako — literally 'for children'. 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.