Editing Basque language (section)

== Grammar ==
{{Main|Basque grammar}}
Basque is an [[ergative–absolutive language]]. The subject of an [[intransitive verb]] is in the [[absolutive case]] (which is unmarked), and the same case is used for the [[direct object]] of a [[transitive verb]]. The subject of the transitive verb is marked differently, with the [[ergative case]] (shown by the suffix ''-k''). This also triggers main and auxiliary verbal agreement.

The [[auxiliary verb]], which accompanies most main verbs, agrees not only with the subject, but with any direct object and the indirect object present. Among European languages, this [[polypersonal agreement]] is found only in Basque, some [[languages of the Caucasus]] (especially the [[Kartvelian languages]]), [[Mordvinic languages]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], and [[Maltese language|Maltese]] (all non-Indo-European). The ergative–absolutive alignment is also rare among European languages—occurring only in some languages of the Caucasus—but not infrequent worldwide.

Consider the phrase:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=eu
|top=''{{Audio|Eu-Martinek egunkariak erosten dizkit.oga|Martinek egunkariak erosten dizkit.}}''
|Martin-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-t
|Martin-ERG newspaper-PL.ABS buy-GER AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO[3SG_SBJ]
|"Martin buys the newspapers for me." }}

{{lang|eu|Martin-ek}} is the agent (transitive subject), so it is marked with the ergative case ending ''-k'' (with an [[epenthesis|epenthetic]] ''-e-''). {{lang|eu|Egunkariak}} has an ''-ak'' ending, which marks plural object (plural absolutive, direct object case). The verb is {{lang|eu|erosten dizkit}}, in which {{lang|eu|erosten}} is a kind of gerund ("buying") and the auxiliary {{lang|eu|dizkit}} means "he/she (does) them for me". This {{lang|eu|dizkit}} can be split like this:
* ''di-'' is used in the present tense when the verb has a subject (ergative), a direct object (absolutive), and an indirect object, and the object is him/her/it/them.
* ''-zki-'' means the absolutive (in this case the newspapers) is plural; if it were singular there would be no infix; and
* ''-t'' or ''-da-'' means "to me/for me" (indirect object).
* in this instance there is no suffix after ''-t''. A zero suffix in this position indicates that the ergative (the subject) is third person singular (he/she/it).

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=eu
|top=''{{Audio|Eu-Zuek egunkariak erosten dizkidazue.oga|Zuek egunkariak erosten dizkidazue.}}''
|Zu-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-da-zue
|you-ERG(PL) newspaper-PL buy-GER AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO-you(PL).SBJ
|"You (plural) buy the newspapers for me."}}

The auxiliary verb is composed as di-zki-da-zue and means 'you pl. (do) them for me'
* ''di-'' indicates that the main verb is transitive and in the present tense
* ''-zki-'' indicates that the direct object is plural
* ''-da-'' indicates that the indirect object is me (to me/for me; -t becomes -da- when not final)
* ''-zue'' indicates that the subject is you (plural)

The pronoun {{lang|eu|zuek}} 'you (plural)' has the same form both in the nominative or absolutive case (the subject of an intransitive sentence or direct object of a transitive sentence) and in the ergative case (the subject of a transitive sentence). In spoken Basque, the auxiliary verb is never dropped even if it is redundant, e.g. {{lang|eu|dizkidazue}} in {{lang|eu|zuek niri egunkariak erosten dizkidazue}} 'you (pl.) are buying the newspapers for me'. However, the pronouns are almost always dropped, e.g.{{lang|eu|zuek}} in {{lang|eu|egunkariak erosten dizkidazue}} 'you (pl.) are buying the newspapers for me'. The pronouns are used only to show emphasis: {{lang|eu|egunkariak zuek erosten dizkidazue}} 'it is you (pl.) who buys the newspapers for me', or {{lang|eu|egunkariak niri erosten dizkidazue}} 'it is me for whom you buy the newspapers'.

Modern Basque dialects allow for the conjugation of about fifteen verbs, called synthetic verbs, some only in literary contexts. These can be put in the present and past tenses in the indicative and subjunctive moods, in three tenses in the conditional and potential moods, and in one tense in the imperative. Each verb that can be taken intransitively has a {{lang|eu|nor}} (absolutive) paradigm and possibly a {{lang|eu|nor-nori}} (absolutive–dative) paradigm, as in the sentence {{lang|eu|Aititeri txapela erori zaio}} ({{gloss|The hat fell from grandfather['s head]}}).<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ehu.es/grammar/gram42.htm#1.4.2.2.%20%20Potential%20paradigms:%20absolut| title = (Basque) INFLECTION §1.4.2.2. Potential paradigms: absolutive and dative.}}</ref> Each verb that can be taken transitively uses those two paradigms for antipassive-voice contexts in which no agent is mentioned (Basque lacks a passive voice, and displays instead an [[antipassive voice]] paradigm), and also has a {{lang|eu|nor-nork}} (absolutive–ergative) paradigm and possibly a {{lang|eu|nor-nori-nork}} (absolutive–dative–ergative) paradigm. This last is exemplified by {{lang|eu|dizkidazue}} above. In each paradigm, each constituent noun can take on any of eight persons, five singular and three plural, with the exception of {{lang|eu|nor-nori-nork}} in which the absolutive can only be third person singular or plural. The most ubiquitous auxiliary, {{lang|eu|izan}}, can be used in any of these paradigms, depending on the nature of the main verb.

There are more persons in the singular (5) than in the [[plural]] (3) for synthetic (or filamentous) verbs because of the two familiar persons—[[T–V distinction|informal]] masculine and feminine second person singular. The pronoun ''hi'' is used for both of them, but where the masculine form of the verb uses a ''-k'', the feminine uses an ''-n.'' This is a property rarely found in Indo-European languages. The entire paradigm of the verb is further augmented by inflecting for "listener" (the [[allocutive]]) even if the verb contains no second person constituent. If the situation calls for the familiar masculine, the form is augmented and modified accordingly. Likewise for the familiar feminine.
({{lang|eu|Gizon bat etorri da}}, {{gloss|a man has come}}; {{lang|eu|gizon bat etorri duk}}, {{gloss|a man has come [you are a male close friend]}}, {{lang|eu|gizon bat etorri dun}}, {{gloss|a man has come [you are a female close friend]}}, {{lang|eu|gizon bat etorri duzu}}, {{gloss|a man has come [I talk to you (Sir / Madam)]}})<ref name="hitano">[http://www.hiru.com/es/euskara/euskara_01550.html Aspecto, tiempo y modo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202040539/http://www.hiru.com/es/euskara/euskara_01550.html |date=2 February 2007 }} in Spanish, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927011536/http://www.hiru.com/eu/euskara/euskara_01550.html Aditzen aspektua, tempusa eta modua] in Basque.</ref> This multiplies the number of possible forms by nearly three. Still, the restriction on contexts in which these forms may be used is strong, since all participants in the conversation must be friends of the same sex, and not too far apart in age. Some dialects dispense with the familiar forms entirely. Note, however, that the formal second person singular conjugates in parallel to the other plural forms, perhaps indicating that it was originally the second person plural, later came to be used as a formal singular, and then later still the modern second person plural was formulated as an innovation.

All the other verbs in Basque are called periphrastic, behaving much like a participle would in English. These have only three forms in total, called [[Grammatical aspect|aspects]]: perfect (various suffixes), habitual<ref name="ARKing">{{harvnb|King|1994|page=393}}</ref> (suffix ''-t[z]en''), and future/potential (suffix. ''-ko/-go''). Verbs of Latinate origin in Basque, as well as many other verbs, have a suffix ''-tu'' in the perfect, adapted from the Latin perfect passive ''-tus'' suffix. The synthetic verbs also have periphrastic forms, for use in perfects and in simple tenses in which they are deponent.

Within a verb phrase, the periphrastic verb comes first, followed by the auxiliary.

A Basque noun phrase is inflected in 17 different ways for case, multiplied by four ways for its definiteness and number (indefinite, definite singular, definite plural, and definite close plural: {{lang|eu|euskaldun}} [Basque speaker], {{lang|eu|euskalduna}} [the Basque speaker, a Basque speaker], {{lang|eu|euskaldunak}} [Basque speakers, the Basque speakers], and {{lang|eu|euskaldunok}} [we Basque speakers, those Basque speakers]). These first 68 forms are further modified based on other parts of the sentence, which in turn are inflected for the noun again. It has been estimated that, with two levels of [[recursion]], a Basque noun may have 458,683 inflected forms.{{sfn|Agirre|Alegria|Arregi|Artola|1992}}

{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Case
!Result
!meaning
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|Ø
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|house
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|a}}
|{{lang|eu|etxea}}
|the house
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|ak}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeak}}
|the houses
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|a + ra}}
|{{lang|eu|etxera}}
|to the house
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|ak + ra}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeetara}}
|to the houses
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|a + tik}}
|{{lang|eu|etxetik}}
|from the house
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|ak + tik}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeetatik}}
|from the houses
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|a + (r)aino}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeraino}}
|until the house
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|ak + (r)aino}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeetaraino}}
|until the houses
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|a + n}}
|{{lang|eu|etxean}}
|in the house
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|ak + n}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeetan}}
|in the houses
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|a + ko}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeko}}
|of the house (belonging to)
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|{{lang|eu|ak + ko}}
|{{lang|eu|etxeetako}}
|of the houses (belonging to)
|}

The common noun {{lang|eu|liburu}} {{gloss|book}} is declined as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
!Case/Number
!Singular
!Plural
!Undetermined
|-
| [[Absolutive]]
| {{lang|eu|liburu-a}}-Ø
| {{lang|eu|liburu-ak}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu}}-Ø
|-
| [[Ergative case|Ergative]]
| {{lang|eu|liburu-a-k}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu-e-k}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu-k}}
|-
| [[Dative]]
| {{lang|eu|liburu-a-ri}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu-e-i}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu-ri}}
|-
|Local [[genitive case|genitive]]
|{{lang|eu|liburu-ko}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ta-ko}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tako}}
|-
|Possessive [[genitive case|genitive]]
| {{lang|eu|liburu-a-ren}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu-e-n}}
| {{lang|eu|liburu-ren}}
|-
|[[Comitative case|Comitative]] (with)
|{{lang|eu|liburu-a-rekin}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-kin}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-rekin}}
|-
|[[Benefactive case|Benefactive]] (for)
|{{lang|eu|liburu-a-rentzat}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ntzat}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-rentzat}}
|-
|[[Causal case|Causal]] (because of)
|{{lang|eu|liburu-a-rengatik}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ngatik}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-rengatik}}
|-
|[[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]
|{{lang|eu|liburu-a-z}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-etaz}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-taz}}
|-
|[[Inessive]] (in, on)
|{{lang|eu|liburu-a-n}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ta-n}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tan}}
|-
|[[Ablative]] (from)
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tik}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ta-tik}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tatik}}
|-
|[[Allative case|Allative]] (where to: 'to')
|{{lang|eu|liburu-ra}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ta-ra}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tara}}
|-
|[[Directive case|Directive]] ('towards')
|{{lang|eu|liburu-rantz}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ta-rantz}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tarantz}}
|-
|[[Terminative case|Terminative]] (up to)
|{{lang|eu|liburu-raino}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-e-ta-raino}}
|{{lang|eu|liburu-taraino}}
|-
|[[Prolative]] 
|{{lang|eu|liburu-tzat}}
|
|
|-
|[[Partitive]]
|{{lang|eu|liburu-rik}}
|
|
|}

The proper name {{lang|eu|Mikel}} (Michael) is declined as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Case
!Result
!meaning
|-
|{{lang|eu|Mikel}}
|{{lang|eu|(r)en}}
|{{lang|eu|Mikelen}}
|of Mikel
|-
|{{lang|eu|Mikel}}
|{{lang|eu|(r)engana}}
|{{lang|eu|Mikelengana}}
|to Mikel
|-
|{{lang|eu|Mikel}}
|{{lang|eu|(r)ekin}}
|{{lang|eu|Mikelekin}}
|with Mikel
|}

Within a noun phrase, modifying adjectives follow the noun. As an example of a Basque noun phrase, {{lang|eu|etxe zaharrean}} {{gloss|in the old house}} is morphologically analysed as follows by Agirre et al.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |doi=10.3115/974499.974520 |chapter=XUXEN: A Spelling Checker/Corrector for Basque Based on Two-Level Morphology |chapter-url=https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/A92-1016/ |title=Proceedings of the Third Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing |pages=119–125 |year=1992 |last1=Agirre |first1=E. |last2=Alegria |first2=I. |last3=Arregi |first3=X. |last4=Artola |first4=X.|last5=De Ilarraza |first5=A. Díaz |last6=Maritxalar |first6=M. |last7=Sarasola |first7=K. |last8=Urkia |first8=M. |s2cid=1844637}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Form
!Meaning
|-
|{{lang|eu|etxe}}
|noun
|house
|-
|{{lang|eu|zahar-}}
|adjective
|old
|-
|{{lang|eu|-r-e-}}
|epenthetical elements
|n/a
|-
|{{lang|eu|-a-}}
|determinate, singular
|the
|-
|{{lang|eu|-n}}
|inessive case
|in
|}

Basic [[word order]] in syntactic construction is [[subject–object–verb]] (unlike Spanish, French or English where a [[subject–verb–object]] construction is more common). The order of the phrases within a sentence can be changed for thematic purposes, whereas the order of the words within a phrase is usually rigid. As a matter of fact, Basque phrase order is topic–focus, meaning that in neutral sentences (such as sentences to inform someone of a fact or event) the [[Topic (linguistics)|topic]] is stated first, then the [[Focus (linguistics)|focus]]. In such sentences, the verb phrase comes at the end. In brief, the focus directly precedes the verb phrase. This rule is also applied in questions, for instance, ''What is this?'' can be translated as {{lang|eu|Zer da hau?}} or {{lang|eu|Hau zer da?}}, but in both cases the question tag {{lang|eu|zer}} immediately precedes the verb {{lang|eu|da}}. This rule is so important in Basque that, even in grammatical descriptions of Basque in other languages, the Basque word {{lang|eu|galdegai}} {{gloss|focus}} is used.{{clarify|date=December 2016}}

In negative sentences, the order changes. Since the negative particle {{lang|eu|ez}} must always directly precede the auxiliary, the topic most often comes beforehand, and the rest of the sentence follows. This includes the periphrastic, if there is one: {{lang|eu|Aitak frantsesa irakasten du}}, {{gloss|Father teaches French}}, in the negative becomes {{lang|eu|Aitak ez du frantsesa irakasten}}, in which {{lang|eu|irakasten}} ({{gloss|teaching}}) is separated from its auxiliary and placed at the end.