Basque verbs

The verb is one of the most complex parts of Basque grammar. 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 synthetically (i.e. have morphological finite forms); the rest only have non-finite forms, which can enter into a wide variety of compound tense structures (consisting of a non-finite verb form combined with a finite auxiliary) 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').

It should be noted that 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 (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 (although not all its uses are really participial). Other non-finite forms can be derived 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 "-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.

Defective or anomalous verb stems

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 dialects (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 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 aorist auxiliary) and *"ezan" (the transitive 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 verbs, while others consider them a single word with stem allomorphy.

ynthetic conjugation

Tense structure and stem forms

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

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

Ergative person and number suffixes

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

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.

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.

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:

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", which we shall call Imperfect, Perfect, Future and Aorist (= "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 tenses, 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.

imple 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.

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).

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.

Bibliography

(see also the bibliography in Basque grammar)

* Allières, Jacques (1983). De la formalisation du système verbal basque. Article in "Pierres Lafitte-ri omenaldia", pp. 37-39, Bilbo: Euskaltzaindia. (in French)
* Bonaparte, L-L. (1869). "Le verbe basque en tableaux." London. (in French)
* Euskaltzaindia (1973). "Aditz laguntzaile batua." (in Basque)
* Euskaltzaindia (1987). "Euskal gramatika: lehen urratsak" (volume 2). Bilbao: Euskaltzaindia. (in Basque)

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