Lingoflyobra
- obraconstruction site
“obra” — construction site in Basque. Noun, level B1, topic — the city and its places. A loan from the Spanish obra — 'work', openly admitted. Behind the fence there's always an obra going, and the noise is part of the city. In a live sentence: “Auzo honetan obra handi bat dago: bi etxe berri” — There's a big construction site in this neighborhood: two new houses. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Basque | obra |
| Translation | construction site |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
A loan from the Spanish obra — 'work', openly admitted. Behind the fence there's always an obra going, and the noise is part of the city
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: 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
- kaleastreetKale Nagusia — 'big street': the main street of nearly every town in the Basque Country; addresses write it out in full
- dendashopAn old word of Romance origin, a relative of Spanish tienda. Denda txiki — a little shop: the Basque Country is fond of those
- azokamarketA market or fair. «Merkatua» means the same, and both are in use. «Azokara joan» — go to the market
- farmaziapharmacyLook for the green cross on the sign. The night-duty one is guardiako farmazia — the list hangs on every door
- bankuabankBanku plus -a: the article is glued to the end. The same word also means a bench, as in Spanish
- geltokiastationGeltoki plus -a. A metro station, a railway station and a bus stop: one word for all three
- 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 Basque 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 “construction site” in Basque?
A loan from the Spanish obra — 'work', openly admitted. Behind the fence there's always an obra going, and the noise is part of the city
- How do you say “bank” in Basque?
Banku plus -a: the article is glued to the end. The same word also means a bench, as in Spanish
- How do you say “street” in Basque?
Kale Nagusia — 'big street': the main street of nearly every town in the Basque Country; addresses write it out in full
- How do you say “bicycle” in Basque?
A loan from the French bicyclette through the neighbors. The Basque 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 “construction site” in Basque?
«obra». In a live sentence: “Auzo honetan obra handi bat dago: bi etxe berri” — There's a big construction site in this neighborhood: two new houses. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1, from the set “the city and its places”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A loan from the Spanish obra — 'work', openly admitted. Behind the fence there's always an obra going, and the noise is part of the city. 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.