- Official language in
- Spain
- Also spoken in
- France
- Script
- Latin
Where it's spoken
Basque (Euskara) holds official status specifically within Spain's Basque Autonomous Community. Article 6 of the region's Statute of Autonomy states that Basque, described there as the Basque People's own language, has official character together with Castilian (Spanish), that every inhabitant has the right to know and use both languages, and that the region's public institutions must guarantee the use of both. Basque is also spoken across the border in France, where the French Ministry of Culture lists it among the "langues de France" — languages traditionally spoken in part of the country's territory — even though French alone holds the constitutional status of official language there.
Sources
- Ley Orgánica 3/1979, de 18 de diciembre, de Estatuto de Autonomía para el País Vasco (Boletín Oficial del Estado) — Artículo 6
- Ministère de la Culture (France) — "Langues de France" — Office public de la langue basque; official status of French vs. regional languages
Script & pronunciation
Basque is written in the Latin alphabet, per Unicode's own locale data, which maps the Basque language code to the Latin script. In this app, the romanization field for Basque cards is not a pronunciation guide — it repeats the same Latin-letter spelling as the text field and only adds hyphens between syllables. The card for "Eskerrik asko" ("thank you very much"), for example, gives the romanization "Es-ker-rik as-ko": the same letters as the text, split syllable by syllable. Some categories carry no romanization at all: this app's collection of Basque signage phrases, meant to be matched against a real sign rather than read aloud, has none.
Sources
- Unicode CLDR — Supplemental Data, likelySubtags.xml — eu → eu_Latn_ES
Grammar essentials
In this app's example sentences, grammatical meaning can be added by attaching an ending directly to a noun stem: in "Etxera noa orain" ("I am going home now"), the card's own grammar note breaks down "etxera" as the noun "etxe" — glossed by the Elhuyar Basque dictionary as "house" — plus the ending "-ra," turning it into "homeward." Negation works differently: the Elhuyar dictionary lists ez as Basque's basic negative adverb, meaning "no," and in several of this app's example sentences it stands at the very start of the sentence, immediately before the verb, as in "Ez dut ulertzen" ("I don't understand") and "Ez daukat txanpon nahikorik." ("I don't have enough change."). The related word ezin ("cannot") behaves the same way, as in "Ezin dut euskaraz hitz egin" ("I can't speak Basque").
Sources
- Elhuyar Hiztegia (Basque–English dictionary), entry "ez" — Part of speech: adverb; "no"
- Elhuyar Hiztegia (Basque–English dictionary), entry "etxe" — "house, building"
Politeness & etiquette
Basque has a dedicated word for "please," mesedez, listed as such in the Elhuyar Basque dictionary, and this app's example sentences regularly place it after the request, as in "Itxaron, mesedez" ("Please wait") and "Lagundu, mesedez" ("Please help me"). Basque also has a small family of set phrases for giving thanks built on the noun esker ("gratitude"): the Elhuyar dictionary lists eskerrik asko, mila esker, and esker mila together as ways to say "thank you (very much)," and this app's card for eskerrik asko notes that mila esker — literally "a thousand thanks" — is also commonly used.
Sources
- Elhuyar Hiztegia (Basque–English dictionary), entry "mesedez" — "please"
- Elhuyar Hiztegia (Basque–English dictionary), entry "esker" — "eskerrik asko; mila esker; esker mila; esker(rik) anitz" = "thank you (very much)"