The verb

Verb

A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...

 is one of the most complex parts of Basque grammar

Basque grammar

This article provides a grammar sketch of the Basque language, the language of the Basque people of the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, which borders the Bay of Biscay in western Europe...

. It is sometimes represented as a difficult challenge for learners of the language, and many Basque grammars devote most of their pages to lists or tables of verb paradigms. This article does not give a full list of verb forms; its purpose is to explain the nature and structure of the system.

Verb stems

One of the remarkable characteristics of the Basque verb is the fact that only a very few verbs can be conjugated

Grammatical conjugation

In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...

 synthetically (i.e. have morphological

Morphology (linguistics)

In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...

 finite

Finite verb

A finite verb is a verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs. Finite verbs can form independent clauses, which can stand on their own as complete sentences....

 forms); the rest only have non-finite

Non-finite verb

In linguistics, a non-finite verb is a verb form that is not limited by a subject and, more generally, is not fully inflected by categories that are marked inflectionally in language, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, and person...

 forms, which can enter into a wide variety of compound

Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...

 tense structures (consisting of a non-finite verb form combined with a finite auxiliary

Auxiliary verb

In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...

) and are conjugated in this way (periphrastically). Thus for example 'I come' is nator (a synthetic finite form), but 'I arrive' is iristen naiz (a periphrastic form, literally 'arriving I-am').

Synthetically conjugated verbs like 'come' can also be conjugated periphrastically (etortzen naiz). In some such cases the synthetic/periphrastic contrast is semantic (e.g. nator and etortzen naiz are not generally interchangeable); in others the contrast is more a matter of style or register, or else of diachrony

Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...

 (some synthetic forms of conjugation are archaic or obsolete). A few synthetic forms occurring in twentieth-century Basque literature are even a posteriori extrapolations or back-formations of historically unattested forms, created for stylistic, poetic or puristic purposes.

Traditionally Basque verbs are cited using a non-finite form conventionally referred to as the participle

Participle

In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...

 (although not all its uses are really participial). Other non-finite forms can be derived

Derivation (linguistics)

In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine...

 from the participle, as will be seen in a later section. When the verb possesses synthetic finite forms, these are based on an ultimate stem (called the "basic stem" here) which is normally also present in the participle. For example, the verb etorri 'come' has the basic stem -tor- from which are derived both the participle etorri (with the non-finite prefix e- and the participle suffix

Suffix

In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...

 -i) and the finite present stem -ator- and non-present stem -etor-.

The participle is generally obtained from the basic stem by prefixing e- or i- (there is no rule; if the stem begins with a vowel, j- is prefixed instead), and suffixing -i (to stems ending in a consonant) or -n (to stems ending in a vowel). Occasionally there is no suffix. The verbal noun stem, another non-finite form, is obtained by replacing the suffixes -i and -n (and also -tu or -du, see below) of the participle by either -tze or -te. A third non-finite form which we shall call the "short stem" is obtained from the participle by omitting any of these suffixes except -n, which is retained in the short stem in those verbs whose participle has it.

Some primary verb stems having finite forms

FINITE			NON-FINITE			Meaning
Basic stem (root)	Present stem	Non-present stem	Participle	Verbal noun	Short stem
-tor-	-ator-	-etor-	e-torr-i	e-tor-tze	e-tor	'come'
-bil-	-abil-	-ebil-	i-bil-i	i-bil-tze	i-bil	'go about'
-kar-	-akar-	-ekar-	e-karr-i	e-kar-tze	e-kar	'bring'
-uka- (< -duka-)	-auka-	-euka-	e-duki	e-duki-tze	e-duki	'hold, have'
(irregular: see below)			i-za-n	i-za-te	i-za-n	'be', auxiliary
-go-	-ago-	-ego-	e-go-n	e-go-te	e-go-n	'stay, be'
-oa-	-oa-	-i(h)oa-	j-oa-n	j-oa-te	j-oa-n	'go'
-rama-	-arama-	-erama-	e-rama-n	e-rama-te	e-rama-n	'take'
-(a)ki-	-aki-	-eki- (dial. -aki-)	j-aki-n	j-aki-te	j-aki-n	'know'

A larger number of Basque verbs have no finite forms, but their non-finite forms follow the same pattern described above (they show an e-/i-/j- prefix, and the participle ends in -i, -n or occasionally zero.

Some primary verb stems without finite forms

Participle	Verbal noun	Short stem	Meaning
e-baki	e-baki-tze	e-baki	'cut'
e-da-n	e-da-te	e-da-n	'drink'
e-gos-i	e-gos-te	e-gos	'boil'
e-ho	e-ho-tze	e-ho	'grind'
e-ror-i	e-ror-tze	e-ror	'fall'
e-ros-i	e-ros-te	e-ros	'buy'
e-uts-i	e-us-te	e-uts	'take hold (of)'
e-zarr-i	e-zar-tze	e-zar	'put, place'
e-go-(n)	e-go-te/tze	e-go-(n)	'go up, rise'
i-kas-i	i-kas-te	i-kas	'learn'
i-pin-i	i-pin-tze	i-pin	'put'
i-reki	i-reki-tze	i-reki	'open'
i-tzal-i	i-tzal-tze	i-tzal	'go/put out (light, fire)'
i-tzul-i	i-tzul-tze	i-tzul	'return'
j-aits-i	j-ais-te	j-aits	'go down'
j-a-n	j-a-te	j-a-n	'eat'
j-antz-i	j-anz-te	j-antz	'dress'
j-arr-i	j-ar-tze	j-ar	'put'
j-i-n	j-i-te	j-i-n	'come'
j-o	j-o-tze	j-o	'strike'

There is also another large group of verbs which again have only non-finite forms, in which the non-finite stem is unanalysable (as a verb, at least), thus there is no e-/i-/j- prefix. In most cases the participle of such verbs has the suffix -tu (-du if the stem ends in n or l). Occasionally we find zero or -i instead. This is replaced by -tze or -te in the verbal noun, and by nothing in the short stem. The stems of these secondary verbs may be (1) a nominal or other non-verbal stem (e.g. poz-tu, garbi-tu...), (2) a phrase (e.g. ohera-tu), (3) a Latin or Romance verbal stem (e.g. barka-tu, kanta-tu...) or (4) an unanalysable (primary) verb stem (e.g. har-tu).

Some secondary verb stems

Participle	Verbal noun	Short stem	Meaning	Lexical source
afal-du	afal-tze	afal	'eat supper'	afari 'supper'
alda-tu	alda-tze	alda	'change'	alde 'difference'
garbi-tu	garbi-tze	garbi	'clean'	garbi 'clean (adj.)'
ohera-tu	ohera-tze	ohera	'go/put to bed'	ohe-ra 'to bed'
poz-tu	poz-te	poz	'be/become happy'	poz 'happiness, joy'
baina-tu	baina-tze	baina	'bathe'	Spanish baña- 'bathe'
barka-tu	barka-tze	barka	'forgive'	Latin parc- 'spare'
begira-tu	begira-tze	begira	'look after, look at, observe'	Latin vigila- 'watch'
kanta-tu	kanta-tze	kanta	'sing'	Spanish canta- 'sing'
gal-du	gal-tze	gal	'lose'
har-tu	har-tze	har	'take'
ken-du	ken-tze	ken	'take away, remove'
sal-du	sal-tze	sal	'sell'
sar-tu	sar-tze	sar	'enter'
atera	atera-tze	atera	'take out, go out'	ate-ra 'to (the) door'
bota	bota-tze	bota	'throw'	Spanish bota- 'throw'
hil	hil-tze	hil	'die, kill'
has-i	has-te	has	'begin'

Izan ('be')

The verb 'to be', the most common verb in the language, is irregular and shows some stem allomorphy in its finite forms. Its participle is izan.

Egon

Another verb, egon, is used in western dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

s (and in writing) as a second verb 'to be' in a way similar to estar in Spanish.

Izan ('have')

The verb 'to have', also extremely common, also shows irregularities in its finite conjugation. In western and central dialects and in standard Basque, 'izan' is used as its participle, i.e. the same participle as for 'to be'; the two meanings are disambiguated by the context. Given that Basque verbs are conventionally cited in their participle form, this presents a problem for metalinguistic terminology, since "the verb izan" is ambiguous.

Ukan/*Edun

Eastern dialects avoid this ambiguity by using ukan as the participle of 'to have', reserving izan for 'to be', and some grammarians employ izan and ukan in this way for convenience, but this could create confusion since most Basque speakers do not actually employ ukan (or even know it as a metalinguistic term). Other grammarians refer to 'to have' as *edun, which is a hypothetical, unattested form derived from the finite stem -du-; again, the problem is that *edun does not exist in real Basque usage.

To avoid such problems, this article simply refers to "the verb 'to be'" and "the verb 'to have'".

*Edin, *Ezan

The two standard aorist

Aorist

Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...

 auxiliaries (see below) lack any non-finite forms, and so also have no obvious citation forms. As with *edun, some grammars construct hypothetical participles based on the finite stems, referring to *edin (the intransitive

Intransitive verb

In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....

 aorist auxiliary) and *ezan (the transitive

Transitive verb

In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...

 aorist auxiliary).

Eduki

There is another verb which also means 'have', at least in western dialects, namely eduki. As a lexical verb (rather than an auxiliary), many speakers and writers frequently use this verb. (This is somewhat reminiscent of, though not entirely parallel to, the Spanish distribution of haber and tener.)

Esan

The verb 'to say', esan possesses finite forms which have a different stem, -io- (e.g. diot 'I say'). Some grammarians treat these as different defective verb

Defective verb

In linguistics, a defective verb is a verb which is missing e.g. a past tense, or cannot be used in some other way that normal verbs come. Formally, it is a verb with an incomplete conjugation. Defective verbs cannot be conjugated in certain tenses, aspects, or moods.-Arabic:In Arabic, defective...

s, while others consider them a single word with stem allomorphy.

Tense structure and stem forms

Synthetic (single-word) conjugation involves the following finite "tenses":

The simple "tenses"

	(Non-potential)	Potential	Imperative
Present	Present	Present potential	Imperative
Past	Past	Past potential
Hypothetic	Hypothetic	Hypothetic potential

Finite verbs have a basic finite stem which is either an unanalysable lexical root (e.g. -bil- 'go about, move (intr.)') or such a root preceded by the causative

Causative

In linguistics, a causative is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event....

/intensive

Intensive

In grammar, an intensive word form is one which denotes stronger or more forceful action relative to the root on which the intensive is built. Intensives are usually lexical formations, but there may be a regular process for forming intensives from a root...

 prefix -ra- (e.g. -rabil- 'cause to move, use'). From regular basic stems two tense stems are derived as follows: the present stem with prefix -a- and the non-present stem with prefix -e-, e.g. -abil- and -ebil- are the regular present and non-present stems of -bil-, -arabil- and -erabil- are the corresponding tense stems of -rabil-, and so on. The present stem is used in the present tense, the present potential tense and the non-third-person

Grammatical person

Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...

 imperative

Imperative mood

The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...

, e.g. present d-abil 'he/she/it goes about', present potential d-abil-ke 'he/she/it may go about', second person imperative h-abil! 'go about!'. The non-present stem is used in the past and hypothetic tenses (non-potential and potential), and in third-person imperative forms, e.g. z-ebil-en 'he/she/it went about', ba-l-ebil 'if he/she/it went about', z-ebil-ke-en 'he/she/it might or would have gone about', l-ebil-ke 'he/she/it might or would go about', b-ebil! 'let him/her/it go about!' (not in common use).

Non-present stems are further characterised by prefixes containing an n whenever the primary index (defined below) is non-third-person, e.g. z-ebil-en 'he went about' but n-enbil-en 'I went about', h-enbil-en 'you went about'; l-erabil-ke 'he would use it' but n-inderabil-ke 'he would use me'.

The suffix -(e)n is a marker of the past tenses, and -ke of the potential tenses (the past potential has both: -ke-en). The hypothetic non-potential tense usually occurs with the subordinator prefix ba- 'if', which will therefore be shown in examples; use of ba- is not restricted to the hypothetic, however (e.g. ba-dabil 'if he goes about', etc.). Apart from the tense markers mentioned, third person prefixes distinguish between present, past, hypothetic and imperative tenses, as will be seen below.

Synopses of two verbs are given in the following table as illustrations. The verb 'to be' (izan) is irregular but in extremely frequent use, since it also serves as an important auxiliary. The verb ibili 'go about, move, etc.' (root -bil-) is regularly conjugated, although not all its synthetic forms are in widespread use. This synoptic table shows third person forms.

Synopsis of simple "tenses"

	izan 'to be'			ibili 'to go about'
	Non-potential	Potential	Imperative	Non-potential	Potential	Imperative
Present	da 'is'	dateke 'may be'	biz (archaic) 'let (it) be!'	dabil 'goes about'	dabilke	bebil
Past	zen 'was'	zatekeen 'would have been'		zebilen	zebilkeen
Hypothetic	ba-litz 'if X were'	litzateke 'would be'		ba-lebil	lebilke

Primary person indices

All conjugating verb stems (unless defective) can take the following set of person-indexing prefixes: n- (first person singular), h- (second person singular informal), g- (first person plural

Plural

In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

), z- (second person singular formal and second person plural). With intransitive verb

Intransitive verb

In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....

s, these prefixes index the subject

Subject (grammar)

The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...

; with transitives

Transitive verb

In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...

, they index the direct object. For convenience, we shall refer to this as the set of 'primary person indices'.

FIRST AND SECOND PERSON PRIMARY INDICES

PERSON	PRONOUN	PREFIX
1 singular	ni	n-
2 singular informal	hi	h-
1 plural	gu	g-
2 singular polite/plural	zu/zuek	z-

The following table shows some examples of how these prefixes combine with verb stems to produce a wide range of finite verb forms.

First and second person primary indices (examples)

		Intransitive		Transitive
		'to be'	ibili 'to go about'	'to have'	ekarri 'to bring'
Present	ni	n-aiz 'brings me'
	hi	h-aiz	h-abil	h-au	h-akar
	gu	g-ara	g-abiltza	g-aitu	g-akartza
	zu	z-ara	z-abiltza	z-aitu	z-akartza
Past	ni	n-intz-en 'I was'	n-enbil-en	n-indu-en	n-indekarr-en
	hi	h-intz-en	h-enbil-en	h-indu-en	h-indekarr-en
	gu	g-in-en	g-enbiltza-n	g-intu-en	g-indekartza-n
	zu	z-in-en	z-enbiltza-n	z-intu-en	z-indekartza-n
Hypothetic	ni	ba-n-intz 'if I were'	ba-n-enbil	ba-n-indu	ba-n-indekar
	hi	ba-h-intz	ba-h-enbil	ba-h-indu	ba-h-indekar
	gu	ba-g-ina	ba-g-enbiltza	ba-g-intu	ba-g-indekartza
	zu	ba-z-ina	ba-z-enbiltza	ba-z-intu	ba-z-indekartza

Third-person forms

Third person verbs (here the 'person' again refers to the subject in intransitive verbs but the object in transitives) also take a prefix, which is invariable for number

Grammatical number

In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....

 (singular or plural) but varies for tense, as follows: d- is used in the present tense, z- in the past, l- in the hypothetic and b- in third-person imperative forms (generally archaic or literary).

THIRD PERSON PREFIXES

TENSE	AFFIX
Present	d-
Past	z-
Hypothetic	l-
Imperative	b-

Some illustrative examples follow.

Third-person verb forms

		Intransitive		Transitive
		'to be'	ibili 'to go about'	'to have'	ekarri 'to bring'
Present	Singular	d-a 'was'	z-ebil-en	z-uen	z-ekarr-en
	Plural	z-ir-en	z-ebiltza-n	z-itu-en	z-ekartza-n
Hypothetic	Singular	ba-l-itz	ba-l-ebil	ba-l-u	ba-l-ekar
	Plural	ba-l-ira	ba-l-ebiltza	ba-l-itu	ba-l-ekartza

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Third-person imperative
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Imperative
! Singular
| b-iz (archaic)
'let him/her/it be'
| b-ebil (rare)
| b-eu (obsolete)
| b-ekar (literary)
|-
! Plural
| b-ira (obsolete)

Plural marking

Plural number is marked in finite verbs in various ways, depending on the arguments

Verb argument

In linguistics, a verb argument is a phrase that appears in a syntactic relationship with the verb in a clause. In English, for example, the two most important arguments are the subject and the direct object....

 whose plurality is being indexed. One set of plural forms are 'primary', that is, once again they refer to either the 'intransitive subject' or the 'transitive object' (the absolutive case

Absolutive case

The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...

 agreement). The form of primary plural marking varies irregularly according to the verb stem, and may involve miscellaneous stem changes or the placement of a plural marker immediately adjacent to the singular stem (-z, -zki, -tza, it-, -te). Singular and plural forms of some finite verb stems are shown in the following table.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some singular and plural finite stems (present tense forms)
! colspan=3 align="center"|Intransitive
! colspan=3 align="center"|Transitive
|-
! align="center"|Singular subject
! align="center"|Plural subject
! align="center"|Meaning
! align="center"|Singular object
! align="center"|Plural object
! align="center"|Meaning
|-
| -a-iz, -a-∅
| -a-ra (< *-a-ira), -∅-ira
(verbal root change)
| 'be'
| -a-u, -∅-u
| -a-it-u, -∅-it-u
| 'have'
|-
| -a-go
| -a-u-de (< *-a-go-te)
| 'stay, be'
| -a-u-ka
| -a-u-z-ka
| 'hold, have'
|-
| -a-bil
| -a-bil-tza
| 'go about, move'
| -a-kar
| -a-kar-tza
| 'bring'
|-
| -oa
| -oa-z
| 'go'
| -a-ra-ma / -a-r-oa
(both from *-a-ra-oa,
with causative infix -ra-)
| -a-ra-ma-tza / -a-r-oa-z
| 'take'
|-
| -a-tor
| -a-to-z (< *-a-tor-z)
| 'come'
| -a-ki
| -a-ki-zki
| 'know'
|}

Primary plural marking occurs whenever the indexed argument (subject or direct object) is plural. The second person singular polite (pronoun zu) is also treated as plural for this purpose (because originally it was a second person plural), although syntactically and semantically singular. To index the second person plural (pronoun zuek), in addition to the markers corresponding to zu a further ('secondary') plural marker -te is suffixed.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Plural marking associated with primary arguments
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 align="center"|(PRESENT)
! colspan=2 align="center"|Intransitive
! colspan=2 align="center"|Transitive
|-
! align="center"|'to be'
! align="center"|i-bil-i 'to go about'
! align="center"|'to have'
! align="center"|e-karr-i 'to bring'
|-
! rowspan=3 align="center"|Singular
! ni
| n-a-iz
| n-a-bil
| n-a-u
| n-a-kar
|-
! hi
| h-a-iz
| h-a-bil
| h-a-u
| h-a-kar
|-
! hura
| d-a-∅
| d-a-bil
| d-∅-u
| d-a-kar
|-
! rowspan=4 align="center"|Plural
! gu
| g-a-ra (< *g-a-ira)
| g-a-bil-tza
| g-a-it-u
| g-a-kar-tza
|-
! zu
| z-a-ra (< *z-a-ira)
| z-a-bil-tza
| z-a-it-u
| z-a-kar-tza
|-
! zuek
| z-a-re-te (< *z-a-ira-te)
| z-a-bil-tza-te
| z-a-it-u-z-te (*)
| z-a-kar-tza-te
|-
! haiek
| d-∅-ira
| d-a-bil-tza
| d-∅-it-u
| d-a-kar-tza
|}

Note: The second -z- in zaituzte is not here a plural marker, but merely an epenthetic

Epenthesis

In phonology, epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word. Epenthesis may be divided into two types: excrescence, for the addition of a consonant, and anaptyxis for the addition of a vowel....

 sound inserted euphonically in order to avoid the phonetic sequence tute which Basque abhors (this happens in other similar cases, as well, such as dituzte for *ditute).

Ergative person and number suffixes

The ergative

Ergative case

The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...

 case

Grammatical case

In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...

 is the case of subjects of transitive verbs. Such arguments are indexed in a different way from 'primary' arguments. Person of the ergative marker may be indexed in one of two ways: using suffixes or prefixes. The ergative-index plural marker is always a suffix (-te). The ergative person suffixes are as follows; those for the first and second person singular end in -a whenever another suffix morpheme

Morpheme

In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...

 follows them. The absence of an ergative suffix in transitive verbs (except those discussed in the next section) implies a third-person subject.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ ERGATIVE SUFFIXES
! rowspan=2 align="center"|PERSON
! rowspan=2 align="center"|PRONOUN
! colspan=2 align="center"|SUFFIX
|-
! align="center"|(word-final)
! align="center"|(non-word-final)
|-
! 1 singular
! nik
| -t
| -da-
|-
! 2 singular informal masculine
! rowspan= 2 | hik
| -k
| -a-
|-
! 2 singular informal feminine
| -n(a)
| -na-
|-
! 3 singular
! hark
| colspan=2 | —
|-
! 1 plural
! guk
| colspan=2 | -gu(-)
|-
! 2 singular polite
! zuk
| colspan=2 | -zu(-)
|-
! 2 plural
! zuek
| colspan=2 | -zue(-)
|-
! 3 plural
! haiek
| colspan=2 | -te(-)
|}

A few sample paradigms follow.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Ergative suffixes (examples)
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 align="center"|
! colspan=3 align="center"|'to have'
! colspan=1 align="center"|ekarri 'to bring'
|-
! align="center"|'(I...) have him/her/it'
! align="center"|'(I...) have them'
! align="center"|'(you...) have me'
! align="center"|'(I...) bring him/her/it'
|-
! rowspan=8 align="center"|Present
! nik
| d-u-t
| d-itu-t
| —
| d-akar-t
|-
! hik male
| d-u-k
| d-itu-k
| n-au-k
| d-akar-k
|-
! hik female
| d-u-n
| d-itu-n
| n-au-n
| d-akar-na
|-
! hark
| d-u
| d-itu
| n-au
| d-akar
|-
! guk
| d-u-gu
| d-itu-gu
| —
| d-akar-gu
|-
! zuk
| d-u-zu
| d-itu-zu
| n-au-zu
| d-akar-zu
|-
! zuek
| d-u-zu-e
| d-itu-zu-e
| n-au-zu-e
| d-akar-zu-e
|-
! haiek
| d-u-te
| d-ituz-te
| n-au-te
| d-akar-te
|-
! rowspan=8 align="center"|Past
! nik
| colspan=2 rowspan=3 | (See following section)
| —
| rowspan=3 | (See following section)
|-
! hik male
| n-indu-a-n
|-
! hik female
| n-indu-na-n
|-
! hark
| z-u-en
| z-itu-en
| n-indu-en
| z-ekarr-en
|-
! guk
| colspan=2 rowspan=3 | (See following section)
| —
| rowspan=3 | (See following section)
|-
! zuk
| n-indu-zu-n
|-
! zuek
| n-indu-zu-e-n
|-
! haiek
| z-u-te-n
| z-ituz-te-n
| n-indu-te-n
| z-ekar-te-n
|}

Ergative person prefixes

Instead of the ergative suffixes, ergative prefixes are used to index first or second person ergative arguments if the tense is non-present and the direct object is third person (see the gaps in the previous table). The ergative prefixes are identical to the primary prefixes in the singular, but in the plural -en- is added to the primary prefix forms:

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ ERGATIVE PREFIXES
! align="center"|PERSON
! align="center"|PRONOUN
! align="center"|PREFIX
|-
! 1 singular
! nik
| n-
|-
! 2 singular informal
! hik
| h-
|-
! 1 plural
! guk
| gen-
|-
! 2 singular polite/plural
! zuk/zuek
| zen-
|}

The ergative plural suffix -te only occurs when required (a) to indicate the third person plural, or (b) to indicate the (real) second person plural.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Ergative prefixes (examples)
! rowspan=2 align="center"|
! colspan=4 align="center"|'to have'
! colspan=1 align="center"|ekarri 'to bring'
|-
! align="center"|'(I) had him/her/it' (past)
! align="center"|'(I) had them' (past)
! align="center"|'if (I) had him/her/it' (hypothetic)
! align="center"|'(I) would have him/her/it' (hypothetic potential)
! align="center"|'(I) brought him/her/it' (past)
|-
! nik
| n-u-en
| n-itu-en
| ba-n-u
| n-u-ke
| n-ekarr-en
|-
! hik
| h-u-en
| h-itu-en
| ba-h-u
| h-u-ke
| h-ekarr-en
|-
! hark
| z-u-en
| z-itu-en
| ba-l-u
| l-u-ke
| z-ekarr-en
|-
! guk
| gen-u-en
| gen-itu-en
| ba-gen-u
| gen-u-ke
| gen-ekarr-en
|-
! zuk
| zen-u-en
| zen-itu-en
| ba-zen-u
| zen-u-ke
| zen-ekarr-en
|-
! zuek
| zen-u-te-n
| zen-ituz-te-n
| ba-zen-u-te
| zen-u-ke-te
| zen-ekar-te-n
|-
! haiek
| z-u-te-n
| z-ituz-te-n
| ba-l-u-te
| l-u-ke-te
| z-ekar-te-n
|}

Dative argument indices

Finite verbs that have an argument in the dative case also index the dative argument using the following set of dative suffixes (which are identical in form to the ergative suffixes except in the third person):

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ DATIVE SUFFIXES
! rowspan=2 align="center"|PERSON
! rowspan=2 align="center"|PRONOUN
! colspan=2 align="center"|SUFFIX
|-
! align="center"|(word-final)
! align="center"|(non-word-final)
|-
! 1 singular
! niri
| -t
| -da-
|-
! 2 singular informal masculine
! rowspan= 2 | hiri
| -k
| -a-
|-
! 2 singular informal feminine
| -n (-na)
| -na-
|-
! 3 singular
! hari
| colspan=2 | -o(-)
|-
! 1 plural
! guri
| colspan=2 | -gu(-)
|-
! 2 singular polite
! zuri
| colspan=2 | -zu(-)
|-
! 2 plural
! zuei
| colspan=2 | -zue(-)
|-
! 3 plural
! haiei
| colspan=2 | -e(-)
|}

Both intransitive and transitive verbs may take dative indices, and the mechanism for incorporating these is the same in either case. Dative suffixes immediately follow the verb stem, preceding other suffixes such as the ergative suffixes (thus in d-i-da-zu 'you have it to me', -da- is the dative suffix and -zu is the ergative suffix) or the potential suffix -ke (as well as the past suffix -(e) n, which is always word-final).

Only the primary plural marker, if present, and the dative-argument marker precede the dative suffix. The dative-argument marker, whose regular form is -ki-, is added to basic verb stems to indicate that these are taking a dative argument. With -ki-, the primary plural marker always takes the form of -z- immediately preceding -ki-. A few verb stems have an irregular dative-argument form.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some dative-argument verb stem forms
! colspan=4 align="center"|Intransitive
! colspan=4 align="center"|Transitive
|-
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Basic stem (present)
! colspan=2 align="center"|Dative stem
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Meaning
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Basic stem
! colspan=2 align="center"|Dative stem
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Meaning
|-
! align="center"|Sing. subject
! align="center"|Plur. subject
! align="center"|Sing. dir. obj.
! align="center"|Plur. dir. obj.
|-
| -aiz, -a
| zai-
| zaizki-
| 'be'
| -au, -u
| -i-
| -izki-
| 'have'
|-
| -ago
| -agoki-
| -agozki-
| 'stay, be'
| -akar
| -akarki-
| -akarzki-
| 'bring'
|-
| -abil
| -abilki-
| -abilzki-
| 'go about, move'
| -arama
| -aramaki-
| -aramazki-
| 'take'
|-
| -oa
| -oaki-
| -oazki-
| 'go'
|-
| -ator
| -atorki-
| -atozki-
| 'come'
|}

The most commonly used dative verb forms are those of the irregular verbs 'to be' and 'to have' which are in constant use as tense auxiliaries, when these verbs have no lexical meaning of their own. This is the reason why many of the glosses given below sound odd (e.g. dit 'he has it to me'); an example of a more natural-sounding use of this form as an auxiliary would be eman dit 'he has given it to me'. Nevertheless, the following table serves to clarify the morphological structure of dative-argument verb forms.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Dative-argument forms (examples)
! rowspan=2 align="center"|INTRANSITIVE VERBS
! colspan=3 align="center"|'to be'
! colspan=2 align="center"|etorri 'to come'
|-
! align="center"|'he/she/it is to (me...)'
! align="center"|'they are to (me...)'
! align="center"|'he/she/it was to (me...)'
! align="center"|'he/she/it comes to (me...)'
! align="center"|'I come to (him/her/it...)'
|-
! niri
| zai-t
| zaizki-t
| z-itzai-da-n
| d-atorki-t
| —
|-
! hari
| zai-o
| zaizki-t
| z-itzai-o-n
| d-atorki-o
| n-atorki-o
|-
! guri
| zai-gu
| zaizki-gu
| z-itzai-gu-n
| d-atorki-gu
| —
|-
! haiei
| zai-e
| zaizki-e
| z-itzai-e-n
| d-atorki-e
| n-atorki-e
|-
! rowspan=2 align="center"|TRANSITIVE VERBS
! colspan=4 align="center"|'to have'
! align="center"|ekarri 'to bring'
|-
! align="center"|'he/she/it has him/her/it to (me...)'
! align="center"|'you have him/her/it to (me...)'
! align="center"|'he/she/it has them to (me...)'
! align="center"|'he/she/it had him/her/it to (me...)'
! align="center"|'he/she/it brings him/her/it to (me...)'
|-
! niri
| d-i-t
| d-i-da-zu
| d-izki-t
| z-i-da-n
| d-akarki-t
|-
! hari
| d-i-o
| d-i-o-zu
| d-izki-o
| z-i-o-n
| d-akarki-o
|-
! guri
| d-i-gu
| d-i-gu-zu
| d-izki-gu
| z-i-gu-n
| d-akarki-gu
|-
! haiei
| d-i-e
| d-i-e-zu
| d-izki-e
| z-i-e-n
| d-akarki-e
|}

Familiar forms and allocutive indices (hika)

In colloquial Basque, an informal relationship and social solidarity between the speaker and a single interlocutor are expressed by employing a special mode of speech often referred to in Basque as either hika or hitano (both derived from hi, the informal second-person pronoun; in other places the same phenomenon is named toka and noka for male and female interlocutors respectively). The obligatory grammatical characteristics of this mode are:

• The personal pronoun
  Personal pronoun
  Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...
  
   hi is used (rather than the polite second person singular pronoun zu).
• All finite verb forms that index a second-person argument take (as one would expect) the corresponding hi forms, e.g. haiz 'you are' (rather than zara), duk or dun 'you have it' (rather than duzu), etc.:

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Familiar second-person forms (examples)
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Meaning
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Polite
! colspan=2 align="center"|Familiar
|-
! align="center"|male
! align="center"|female
|-
! 'you are'
! zara
| colspan=2 | haiz
|-
! 'you were'
! zinen
| colspan=2 | hintzen
|-
! 'you come'
! zatoz
| colspan=2 | hator
|-
! 'you have it'
! duzu
| duk
| dun
|-
! 'you have them'
! dituzu
| dituk
| ditun
|-
! 'you had it'
! zenuen
| colspan=2 | huen
|-
! 'you know it'
! dakizu
| dakik
| dakin
|-
! 'it is to you'
! zaizu
| zaik
| zain
|-
! 'he has it to you'
! dizu
| dik
| din
|-
! 'he has them to you'
! dizkizu
| dizkik
| dizkin
|-
! 'I have it to you'
! dizut
| diat
| dinat
|-
! 'he had it to you'
! zizun
| zian
| zinan
|-
! 'I had it to you'
! nizun
| nian
| ninan
|}

• Obligatorily in independent declarative clauses with finite verb forms not indexing a true second-person argument, an additional second-person index is incorporated. This is known as the allocutive construction, and we may refer to these second-person indices which do not refer to a syntactic argument of the verb as 'allocutive indices'.

The allocutive index may be incorporated in three different manners depending on the verb and the verb form in question. The first of these is only found with forms of the verb 'to be' (izan) without a dative argument, and consists of replacing 'be' with 'have': the subject of 'be' is indexed in the normal manner of a direct object (thus it remains 'primary'), while the ergative indices (normally referring to the subject) take on allocutive value, as in the following examples:

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Familiar allocutive forms: first type (examples)
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Meaning
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Polite
! colspan=2 align="center"|Familiar
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Also means...
|-
! align="center"|male
! align="center"|female
|-
! 'he/she/it is'
! da
| duk
| dun
| 'you have him/her/it'
|-
! 'he/she/it was'
! zen
| huan
| hunan
| cf. huen 'you had him/her/it'
|-
! 'I am'
! naiz
| nauk
| naun
| 'you have me'
|-
! 'we are'
! gara
| gaituk
| gaitun
| 'you have us'
|-
! 'they are'
! dira
| dituk
| ditun
| 'you have them'
|}

The second manner is limited to the verb 'have' itself, again without a dative argument. Such forms of 'to have' are replaced by the corresponding forms also employed when the verb has a dative argument, and the dative indices fulfill the allocutive function, as in the following examples:

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Familiar allocutive forms: second type (examples)
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Meaning
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Polite
! colspan=2 align="center"|Familiar
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Also means...
|-
! align="center"|male
! align="center"|female
|-
! 'he/she/it has it'
! du
| dik
| din
| 'he/she/it has it to you'
|-
! 'I have it'
! dut
| diat
| dinat
| 'I have it to you'
|-
! 'we have it'
! dugu
| diagu
| dinagu
| 'we have it to you'
|-
! 'he/she/it has them'
! ditu
| dituk
| ditun
| 'he/she/it has them to you'
|-
! 'I have them'
! ditut
| dizkiat
| dizkinat
| 'I have them to you'
|-
! 'he/she/it had it'
! nuen
| nian
| ninan
| 'he/she/it had it to you'
|-
! 'I had it'
! nuen
| nian
| ninan
| 'I had it to you'
|}

In all other verb forms, the procedure is as follows: (1) an additional second-person suffix (-k / -a- for males, -n / -na- for females, the same as in the dative and ergative suffixes) is added (after a dative suffix but before an ergative one); (2) sometimes (there is considerable dialectal variation on this point), the third-person present-tense primary prefix d- changes to z- and/or the present-tense stem formant -a- changes to -ia- or -e- in the allocutive forms. e.g.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Familiar allocutive forms: third type (examples)
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Meaning
! rowspan=2 align="center"|Polite
! colspan=2 align="center"|Familiar
|-
! align="center"|male
! align="center"|female
|-
! 'he/she/it comes'
! dator
| zetorrek
| zetorren
|-
! 'I come'
! nator
| netorrek
| netorren
|-
! 'he/she/it knows'
! daki
| zekik
| zekin
|-
! 'I know it'
! dakit
| zekiat
| zekinat
|-
! 'it is to it'
! zaio
| zaiok
| zaion
|-
! 'it is to me'
! zait
| zaidak
| zaidan
|-
! 'it has it to it'
! dio
| ziok
| zion
|-
! 'it has it to me'
! dit
| zidak
| zidan
|}

Eastern Basque dialects extend the allocutive system to the more polite form of address, zu (known as zuka or zutano), or the affectionate variant xu. The rules are similar. Such dialects have three levels of address: allocutive hi (with a male/female distinction) is the most intimate, allocutive zu or xu is polite but friendly, and the absence of allocutive constructions is the most neutral or formal. But most dialects lack the middle level.

Compound tense stem forms

Compound tense forms consist of a non-finite verb form (the compound tense stem) and a finite auxiliary form. We shall begin by looking at the non-finite stems. Each verb has four: the perfect, future, imperfect and short stems. The perfect stem is identical to the participle (see above). The future stem is obtained from the participle by adding -ko (-go after n). The imperfect stem is the verbal noun (see above) plus the suffix -n. The form of the short stem was discussed above. Some examples follow.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Compound tense stems (examples)
! align="center"|Perfect stem
! align="center"|Future stem
! align="center"|Imperfect stem
! align="center"|Short stem
! align="center"|Meaning
|-
| hartu
| hartuko
| hartzen
| har
| 'take'
|-
| garbitu
| garbituko
| garbitzen
| garbi
| 'clean'
|-
| kendu
| kenduko
| kentzen
| ken
| 'take away, remove'
|-
| poztu
| poztuko
| pozten
| poz
| 'be/become happy'
|-
| ibili
| ibiliko
| ibiltzen
| ibil
| 'go about'
|-
| ikusi
| ikusiko
| ikusten
| ikus
| 'see'
|-
| iritsi
| iritsiko
| iristen
| irits
| 'arrive'
|-
| ireki
| irekiko
| irekitzen
| ireki
| 'open'
|-
| bete
| beteko
| betetzen
| bete
| 'fill'
|-
| jo
| joko
| jotzen
| jo
| 'strike'
|-
| hil
| hilko
| hiltzen
| hil
| 'die, kill'
|-
| egin
| egingo
| egiten
| egin
| 'make, do'
|-
| eman
| emango
| ematen
| eman
| 'give'
|-
| esan
| esango
| esaten
| esan
| 'say'
|}

Compound tense auxiliaries

By combining the four compound tense stems with various auxiliaries, one obtains four groups of compound tense, sometimes referred to in Basque grammar as "aspects

Grammatical aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...

", which we shall call Imperfect, Perfect, Future and Aorist

Aorist

Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...

 (= "aspect"-less) respectively.

The choice of auxiliary depends on the "aspect" and also on whether the verb is intransitive or transitive. Except in the aorist, the auxiliary for intransitives is the verb 'to be', while that for transitives is the verb 'to have'. In the Aorist a different pair of auxiliaries is used, one for intransitives and another for transitives. Since neither of the latter is used other than as an auxiliary, and neither has a participle (or other non-finite form) to provide a convenient citation form, we shall simply refer to them as the (intransitive and transitive) aorist auxiliaries.

The auxiliaries adopt all the argument indices (for subject, direct object and/or indirect object as the case may be, as well as the allocutive where applicable) that correspond to the verb within its clause.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Compound tense patterns
! align="center"|"ASPECT"
! align="center"|TENSE STEM
! align="center"|INTRANSITIVE
! align="center"|TRANSITIVE
|-
! align="center"|IMPERFECT
| IMPERFECT +
| 'to be'
| 'to have'
|-
! align="center"|PERFECT
| PERFECT +
| 'to be'
| 'to have'
|-
! align="center"|FUTURE
| FUTURE +
| 'to be'
| 'to have'
|-
! align="center"|AORIST
| SHORT +
| Intransitive Aorist Auxiliary
| Transitive Aorist Auxiliary
|}

The above diagram illustrates the patterns with auxiliaries in the present tense. However, the same auxiliaries may be used in a wide variety of tenses, not only in the present. The following two tables lay out synoptically the possible auxiliary/tense combinations for intransitive and transitive auxiliaries respectively.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Tenses of the intransitive auxiliaries (sample forms)
! align="center"|
! colspan=2 align="center"|'Be' auxiliary
! colspan=3 align="center"|Aorist Auxiliary
|-
! align="center"|
! align="center"|Non-potential
! align="center"|Potential
! align="center"|Non-potential
! align="center"|Potential
! align="center"|Imperative
|-
! Present
| naiz
| naizateke (literary)
| nadi-n
| naiteke
| hadi
|-
! Past
| nintzen
| nintzatekeen (literary)
| nendi-n
| nintekeen
| rowspan=2 |
|-
! Hypothetic
| banintz
| nintzateke
| banendi (literary)
| ninteke
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Tenses of the transitive auxiliaries (sample forms)
! align="center"|
! colspan=2 align="center"|'Have' auxiliary
! colspan=3 align="center"|Aorist Auxiliary
|-
! align="center"|
! align="center"|Non-potential
! align="center"|Potential
! align="center"|Non-potential
! align="center"|Potential
! align="center"|Imperative
|-
! Present
| dut
| duket (literary)
| dezada-n
| dezaket
| ezak
|-
! Past
| nuen
| nukeen (literary)
| neza-n
| nezakeen
| rowspan=2|
|-
! Hypothetic
| banu
| nuke
| baneza (literary)
| nezake
|}

Simple and compound tenses

The following are the most usual Basque tenses. By considering both simple and compound tenses as part of a single list, one can better see how the whole system fits together and compare the tenses with each other.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some simple and compound tenses
! align="center"|Tense
! align="center"|Form
! align="center"|Examples
! align="center"|Observations
|-
! Present simple
| SYNTHETIC PRESENT
|

• naiz 'I am'
• nator 'I am coming'
• daukat 'I have (it)'
• dakit 'I know'

| Only those few verbs that can be conjugated synthetically have this tense. With stative verbs (e.g. izan 'be' or 'have', egon, eduki, jakin...) it expresses present state, e.g. da 'is'. With dynamic verbs (e.g. etorri, joan, ibili, ekarri, eraman...) it most often expresses ongoing action at the time of speaking, e.g. dator 'is coming', but note also badator 'if (X) comes', datorrenean 'when (X) comes' etc.
|-
! Present habitual

Habitual aspect

In linguistics, the aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state. As its name suggests, the habitual aspect specifies an action as occurring habitually: the subject performs the action usually, ordinarily, or customarily...

| IMPERFECT STEM + present of 'be'/'have'
|

• izaten naiz 'I am (habitually)'
• etortzen naiz 'I come (habitually)'
• ikusten dut 'I see'
• kantatzen dut 'I sing'

| With dynamic verbs or verbs possessing synthetic conjugation, this tense usually expresses habitual action within the present time frame, e.g. kantatzen dut, etortzen naiz.... With stative verbs lacking a simple present, this tense also expresses a present state, e.g. ikusten dut 'I (can) see', ezagutzen dut 'I am acquainted with'. The habitual sense can also be absent in kantatzen badu 'if he sings', etortzen denean 'when he comes' (= datorrenean), etc.
|-
! Future
| FUTURE STEM + present of 'be'/'have'
|

• izango naiz 'I will be'
• etorriko naiz 'I will come'
• erosiko ditut 'I will buy them'

| This is the basic future tense for all verbs. It can also convey conjecture, most obviously with stative verbs when it is clear that no future reference is expressed, e.g. izango da for 'probably is': Egia izango da 'It is probably true.' In illocutionary contexts this tense is equivalent to English modal

Linguistic modality

In linguistics, modality is what allows speakers to evaluate a proposition relative to a set of other propositions.In standard formal approaches to modality, an utterance expressing modality can always roughly be paraphrased to fit the following template:...

 'shall' or 'will', e.g. Kantatuko dut? 'Shall/Should I sing?', Lagunduko didazu? 'Will/Would/Could you help me (please)?'
|-
! Simple past
| SYNTHETIC PAST
|

• nintzen 'I was'
• neukan 'I had (it)'
• nekien 'I knew'

| Limited to verbs that can be conjugated synthetically, with which it expresses a past state or ongoing action.
|-
! Past habitual
| IMPERFECT STEM + past of 'be'/'have'
|

• izaten nintzen 'I used to be'
• etortzen nintzen 'I used to come'
• ikusten nuen 'I saw, I could see'

| With dynamic verbs and stative ones with synthetic conjugation, expresses habitual action in the past (etortzen nintzen, izaten nintzen). With stative verbs, past state (ikusten nuen).
|-
! Near past
| PERFECT STEM + present of 'be'/'have'
|

• etorri naiz 'I came, I have come'
• ikusi dut 'I saw, I have seen'

| Originally this tense expressed perfect in a present time-frame, e.g. ikusi dut 'I have seen (at some time in the past)'. Also used as a perfective past tense within the "current" time unit, usually interpreted as the day of speaking: ikusi dut 'I saw (usually understood: at some time today)'.
|-
! Remote past
| PERFECT STEM + past of 'be'/'have'
|

• etorri nintzen 'I came, I had come'
• ikusi nuen 'I saw, I had seen'

| Originally this expressed a pluperfect, i.e. perfect in a past time-frame, e.g. ikusi nuen 'I had seen'. Also used as a perfective past tense within a past time unit, which must be earlier than the day of speaking: ikusi nuen 'I saw (yesterday, three years ago...)'.
|-
! Future-in-the-past
| FUTURE STEM + past of 'be'/'have'
|

• etorriko nintzen 'I would come (in indirect speech), I would have come (in conditional sentences)'
• ikusiko nuen 'I would see, I would have seen'

| (a) Future action in past time frame: Etorriko zela esan zuen 'He said he would come'. (b) Consequence of an unfulfilled hypothesis, e.g. Jakin izan balu, etorriko zen 'If he had known, he would have come'. (c) Conjecture about past action, e.g. Gure aurretik etorriko zen 'He probably came/must have come before us.'
|-
! Hypothetic
| FUTURE STEM + hypothetic of 'be'/'have'
|

• etorriko banintz 'if I came, if I were to come'
• ikusiko banu 'if I saw, if I were to see'

| Hypothetical if-clauses.
|-
! Conditional
| FUTURE STEM + hypothetic potential of 'be'/'have'
|

• etorriko nintzateke 'I would come'
• ikusiko nuke 'I would see'

| Consequence to a hypothetical premise (explicit or implied).
|-
! Present subjunctive
| SHORT STEM + present of aorist auxiliary
|

• etor nadin 'that I may come'
• ikus dezadan 'that I may see'

| Complement

Complement (linguistics)

In grammar the term complement is used with different meanings. The primary meaning is a word, phrase or clause that is necessary in a sentence to complete its meaning. We find complements that function as an argument and complements that exist within arguments.Both complements and modifiers add...

 clauses and purpose clauses. More common in literary than colloquial style.
|-
! Present potential
| SHORT STEM + present potential of aorist auxiliary
|

• etor naiteke 'I can come'
• ikus dezaket 'I can see'

| Possibility or ability.
|-
! Simple imperative
| SYNTHETIC IMPERATIVE
|

• zatoz! 'come!'
• emaidazu! 'give me!'

| rowspan=3|Imperative.
|-
! Compound imperative
| SHORT STEM + imperative of aorist auxiliary
|

• etor zaitez! 'come!'
• egin ezazu! 'do it!'

|-
! Non-finite imperative
| SHORT (or PERFECT) STEM
|

• etor(ri)! 'come!'
• eman! 'give!'

|}

More periphrastic constructions

Some other constructions that commonly express a range of aspectual

Grammatical aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...

 or modal

Linguistic modality

In linguistics, modality is what allows speakers to evaluate a proposition relative to a set of other propositions.In standard formal approaches to modality, an utterance expressing modality can always roughly be paraphrased to fit the following template:...

 notions show a greater degree of periphrasis than those considered so far. A brief selection of some of the most important of these are shown in the following table:

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some periphrastic constructions
! align="center"|Sense
! align="center"|Form
! align="center"|Examples
|-
! Progressive aspect ('be doing something')
| -tzen/-ten + ari DA
|

• ikasten ari naiz 'I am learning'
• garbitzen ari ziren 'they were cleaning'

|-
! Volition ('want to do something')
| -tu/-i/-n (etc.) + nahi DU
|

• ikasi nahi dut 'I want to learn'
• joan nahi zuen 'he wanted to go'
• ikusi nahi zaitut 'I want to see you'

|-
! Necessity/obligation ('must/have to/need to do something')
| -tu/-i/-n (etc.) + behar DU
|

• joan behar dut 'I have to go'
• jan behar dituzu 'you must eat them'
• ikasi beharko dugu 'we will have to learn'

|-
! Ability ('can/be able to do something')
| -tu/-i/-n (etc.) or -tzen/-ten + ahal DA/DU
|

• ikasi/ikasten ahal dut 'I can learn'
• etorri ahal izango zara 'you will be able to come'

|}

Non-finite verb forms

Basque verbs have a fairly wide range of non-finite forms. Morphologically these can all be derived via suffixation from the three non-finite forms presented at the beginning of this article: the participle, the verbal noun and the short stem. Apart from the short stem (which has a rather limited set of functions), all other forms are built on either the participle or the verbal noun.

The participle and derived forms

The participle and some other non-finite forms derived therefrom are as follows. To avoid repetition, mention will not be made of the use of the participle as a perfect stem in the formation of periphrastic tenses (see above).

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some non-finite forms based on the participle
! align="center"|Form
! align="center"|E.g.
! align="center"|Use
! align="center"|Examples
|-
! rowspan=3|Participle
| rowspan=3|

• etorri
• edan
• garbitu
• ireki, etc. (see above)

| verbal adjective
|

• ate ireki bat 'an open door'
• ate irekiak 'open doors'
• Atea irekia dago. 'The door is open.'

|-
| unmarked non-finite form (chain clauses, modal complement, citation form...)
|

• Ura edan eta ardoa utziko dugu. 'We'll drink the water and leave the wine.'
  [wine drink.PARTICIPLE and wine leave.FUTURE AUXILIARY]
• Mahaia garbitu behar dugu. 'We must clean the table.'
  [table clean.PARTICIPLE must AUXILIARY]
• "Come" hitzak "etorri" esan nahi du. 'The word "come" means "etorri".'
  [come word.ERGATIVE "come.PARTICIPLE" say.PARTICIPLE want AUXILIARY]

|-
| colspan=2 |commonly replaces the short stem in all uses (western colloquial)
|-
! rowspan=2|Participle + -(r)ik / Participle + -ta (da)
| rowspan=2|

• egosirik / egosita
• jakinik / jakinda
• garbiturik / garbituta
• beterik / beteta

| stative adverbial participle
|

• Hau jakinik/jakinda, ez nion sinetsi. 'Knowing this, I did not believe him.'
  [this know.PARTICIPLE-ik/ta...]

|-
| participial predicate
|

• Haragia egosirik/egosita dago. 'The meat is boiled.'
  [meat boil.PARTICIPLE-ik/ta is]

|-
! Participle + -tako (dako)
|

• ikusitako
• egindako
• hartutako
• hildako

| adjectival (= non-finite relative

Relative clause

A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...

)
|

• Zuk ikusitako gizona itsua da. 'The man you saw (= seen by you) is blind.'
  [you.ERGATIVE see.PARTICIPLE-tako man blind is]

|-
! Participle + -(e)z
|

• ikusiz
• edanez
• hartuz
• ateraz

| dynamic adverbial participle
|

• Dirua hartuz, joan zen. 'Taking the money, he went.'
  [money take.PARTICIPLE-z...]

|}

The verbal noun and derived forms

The verbal noun and some other non-finite forms derived therefrom are as follows. Again, to avoid repetition, mention will not be made of the use of the -t(z)en form as an imperfect stem in the formation of periphrastic tenses (see above).

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some non-finite forms based on the verbal noun
! align="center"|Form
! align="center"|E.g.
! align="center"|Use
! align="center"|Examples
|-
! rowspan=2|Verbal noun + determiner
| rowspan=2|

• ikaste(a)
• edate(a)
• oheratze(a)
• irekitze(a)

| verbal noun
|

• Berandu oheratzea txarra da. 'Going to bed late is bad.'
  [late go.to.bed.VN.ARTICLE bad.ARTICLE is]
• Euskara ikasteak asko lagunduko dizu. 'Learning Basque will help you a lot.'
  [Basque learn.VN.ARTICLE.ERGATIVE much help.FUTURE AUXILIARY]

|-
| complement clause
|

• Nire lagunak nik euskara ikastea nahi du. 'My friend wants me to learn Basque.'
  [my friend.ARTICLE.ERGATIVE I/me.ERGATIVE Basque learn.VN.ARTICLE want AUXILIARY]
• Ardoa edatea erabaki dugu. 'We have decided to drink wine.'
  [wine drink.VN.ARTICLE decide.PARTICIPLE AUXILIARY]

|-
! rowspan=3|Verbal noun + -ko
| rowspan=3|

• ikasteko
• joateko
• garbitzeko
• irekitzeko

| purpose adverbial
|

• Liburu bat erosiko dut euskara ikasteko. 'I will buy a book in order to learn Basque.' [...Basque learn.VN-ko]

|-
| complement clause
|

• Irakasleak etxera joateko esan dit. 'The teacher told me to go home.'
  [...go.VN-ko say.PARTICIPLE AUXILIARY]

|-
| adjectival
|

• botilak irekitzeko tresna bat 'a tool for opening bottles (with)', 'a bottle-opener'
  [bottle.PLURAL.ARTICLE open.VN-ko tool one]

|-
! Verbal noun + -ra
|

• ikastera
• joatera
• garbitzera
• irekitzera

| complement of verbs of movement
|

• Hau esatera etorri naiz. 'I have come to say this.'
  [this say.VN-ra come.PARTICIPLE AUXILIARY]

|-
! Verbal noun + -n
|

• ikusten
• joaten
• garbitzen
• irekitzen

| complement clause
|

• Leihoak irekitzen hasi zen. 'He started opening the windows.'
  [window.PLURAL.ARTICLE open.VN-n begin.PARTICIPLE AUXILIARY]
• Joaten utziko diogu. 'We'll let him go.'
  [go.VN-n let.FUTURE AUXILIARY]

|-
! Verbal noun + -an
|

• ikustean
• joatean
• garbitzean
• irekitzean

| time clause
|

• Zu ikustean, gogoratu naiz. 'When I saw you (On seeing you), I remembered.'
  [you see.VN-an, remember.PARTICIPLE AUXILIARY]

|}

Compound verbs

Basque has a fairly large number of compound verbs of a type also known as light verb

Light verb

In linguistics, a light verb is a verb participating in complex predication that has little semantic content of its own, but provides through inflection some details on the event semantics, such as aspect, mood, or tense...

 constructions, consisting of two parts. The first component is a lexical element which is often (but not always) an undeclined noun. The second is a common verb which contributes less semantic content to the construction but is the part that is conjugated, thus lending to the whole its verbal character. Details of conjugation depend on the light verb used, which may be one that has synthetic finite forms (e.g. izan), or a verb without synthetic finite forms (e.g. egin or hartu).

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Some compound verbs (light verb constructions)
! align="center"|Light verb
! align="center"|Examples
! align="center"|Meaning
! align="center"|Meaning of first component
|-
! rowspan=2|izan 'be'
| bizi izan
| 'live'
| 'alive'
|-
| ari izan
| 'be doing something'
|
|-
! rowspan=4|izan 'have'
| maite izan
| 'love'
| 'dear'
|-
| uste izan
| 'believe, think'
| 'opinion'
|-
| nahi izan
| 'want'
| 'desire'
|-
| behar izan
| 'need'
| 'necessity'
|-
! rowspan=8|egin 'make, do'
| lan egin
| 'work'
| 'work (n.)'
|-
| hitz egin
| 'speak'
| 'word'
|-
| lo egin
| 'sleep'
| 'sleep (n.)'
|-
| amets egin
| 'dream'
| 'dream (n.)'
|-
| barre egin
| 'laugh'
| 'laughter'
|-
| negar egin
| 'weep'
| 'weeping'
|-
| dantza egin
| 'dance'
| 'dancing' < French dance, Spanish danza...
|-
| kosk egin
| 'bite'
| (onomatopea)
|}

In synthetically conjugated light-verb constructions such as bizi naiz 'I live' or maite dut 'I love', care must be taken not to confuse the light verb (naiz, dut...) with tense auxiliaries; bizi naiz and maite dut are simple present forms, for example. The modal verbs nahi izan and behar izan are also of this kind. In the periphrastic tenses of compound verbs with izan, some contractions occur, e.g. in the future of bizi izan 'live', where we would expect bizi izango naiz for 'I will live', biziko naiz is more common, with -ko attached directly onto the lexical component bizi as if this were a verb.

Compound verbs, especially those with the light verb egin, offer an alternative way (besides direct derivation with -tu, as seen above) for incorporating new verbs into the language, either through the incorporation of onomatopoeic words (kosk 'bite', oka 'vomit', hurrup 'sip', klik 'click'...) or of loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s (dantza 'dance', salto 'jump' etc.) as lexical components.

Verbal particles

A small set of modal

Linguistic modality

In linguistics, modality is what allows speakers to evaluate a proposition relative to a set of other propositions.In standard formal approaches to modality, an utterance expressing modality can always roughly be paraphrased to fit the following template:...

 particle

Grammatical particle

In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...

s, including al, ote and omen only occur immediately preceding finite forms (i.e. in front of a synthetic finite form or the synthetic part of an auxiliary verb

Auxiliary verb

In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...

).

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Modal particles
! align="center"|Particle
! align="center"|Function
! align="center"|Examples
|-
! al
| yes/no questions
| Etorriko al da? 'Will he come?'
|-
! ote
| tentative questions, 'I wonder...'
| Etorriko ote da? 'I wonder if he will come.'
|-
! omen
| hearsay
| Etorriko omen da. 'I have heard/They say that he will come.'
|}

The only exception is that ote and omen are sometimes used in isolation where the ellipsis of a verb is understood. E.g. Egia ote? 'I wonder if it's true' is easily recognised by speakers to be an ellipsis of Egia ote da? Or if someone says Badator 'She's coming.' and someone else responds Omen! 'Supposedly!', this is as much as to say that the first utterance should incorporate omen, i.e. Ba omen dator 'Supposedly she is coming.'

Another set of preverbal particles consists of the affirmative particle ba- (by modern convention joined to a following finite verb form) and the negator ez. These are compatible with the modal particles, which they precede (e.g. ba omen dator in the preceding paragraph; ez al dakizu? 'don't you know?', etc.); apart from this, they too immediately precede the finite verb form.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Emphasis/negation particles
! align="center"|Particle
! align="center"|Function
! align="center"|Examples
|-
! ba
| affirmative emphasis
| Badator. 'He is coming.'
|-
! ez
| negation
| Ez da etorriko. 'He won't come.'
|}

Subordinator affixes

The forms of verbs cited throughout the general presentation of the finite verb system are normally those that occur in main clauses. (However, certain forms, such as the non-potential hypothetic, e.g. -litz, or the subjunctive, e.g. etor dadi-, never occur in such main-clause forms and these are therefore cited in subordinate forms such as balitz, etor dadin etc.)

In subordinate clauses, the finite verb takes a subordinator affix, i.e. a suffix or prefix which establishes (to some extent) the kind of subordination. Basically there are four such affixes, two suffixes and two prefixes, and one (and only one) of these is found in every subordinate form.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Basic subordinator morphemes
! align="center"|Subordinator
! align="center"|Form
! align="center"|Uses
|-
! -(e)n
| suffix
| relative clause

Relative clause

A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...

s, indirect questions, other uses
|-
! -(e)la
| suffix
| indirect statements, circumstantial clauses
|-
! ba-
| prefix
| conditions
|-
! bai(t)-
| prefix
| explanations
|}

Both of the suffixes, however, may take further suffixes (mostly nominal declension suffixes) which serve to further specify the type of subordination. The following table provides a brief overview of some of the main uses and forms.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Subordinator affixes
!
! width=10% align="center"|Affix
! align="center"|Function
! align="center"|Examples
|-
! rowspan=13 align="center"|Suffixed to finite forms:
! rowspan=4 align="center"| -(e)n
| indirect question
| Ez dakit nor den. 'I don't know who he/she is.' (Cf. Nor da? 'Who is he/she?')
|-
| relative clause
| Hor dabilen gizona nire aita da. 'The man who is walking there is my father.' (Cf. Hor dabil gizona. 'The man is walking there.')
|-
| complement or purpose clause (with subjunctive)
|

• Nahiago dut etor dadin. 'I prefer him to come.' (= 'that he may come')
• Gutun hau idatzi dut irakur dezazun. 'I have written this letter in order for you to read it.'

|-
| first-person optative
|
Edan dezagun! 'Let us drink!'
|-
! -(e)nik
| negation-polarity complement clause
|
Ez dut esan etorriko denik. 'I didn't say (that) he is going to come.'
|-
! -(e)nean
| time clause, 'when'
|
Etortzen denean esango diot. 'When she comes I will tell her.'
|-
! -(e)nez
| manner, 'as'
|

• Lehen esan dudanez, bihar etorriko da. 'As I said before, he will come tomorrow.'
• Nik dakidanez, hori ez da egia. 'As far as I know, that is not true.'

|-
! rowspan=4 align="center"| -(e)la
| indirect statement
|
Uste dut etorriko dela. 'I think she will come.'
|-
| circumstance clause
|
Kaletik zetorrela hauxe kantatu zuen. 'As she came (walking) along the street, this is what she sang.'
|-
| complement clause (with subjunctive)
|
Hona etor dadila esango diot. 'I will tell him to come here.'
|-
| third-person optative
|
Berak jan dezala! 'Let him eat it!'
|-
! -(e)larik
| time/circumstance clause ('while, when')
|
Ondo pasako duzu euskara ikasten ari zarelarik. 'You will have a good time while/when (you are) learning Basque.'
|-
! -(e)lako
| reason clause, 'because'
|
Zuk deitu didazulako etorri naiz. 'I have come because you called me.'
|-
! rowspan=3 align="center"|Prefixed to finite forms:
! align="center"| ba-
| condition clause
|
Euskara ikasten baduzu, euskaldunak ulertuko dituzu. 'If you learn the Basque language, you will understand the Basques.'
|-
! rowspan=2 align="center"| bai(t)-
| explanatory or reason clause
|
Ez baituzu euskara ikasi, ez dituzu euskaldunak ulertzen. 'Since you haven't learnt Basque, you don't understand the Basques.'
|}