zaitzaket / nazazu

Can I Help You?

Level 4

Lagun zaitzaket? means "Can I help you?" and Barka nazazu means "Forgive me". The forms show that the object is you or me.

How It Works

In Me and You as Objects, the auxiliary changes when the object is you, the person you are talking to, or me, the speaker. The potential and the command do the same.

"Can" forms (see Can: The Potential Forms):

  • zaitzaket: I can ... you. Lagun zaitzaket? (Can I help you?)
  • zaitzake: he or she can ... you.
  • nazake: he or she can ... me.
  • nazakezu: you can ... me.
  • gaitzake: he or she can ... us.

Commands to zu (see Commands With zaitez and ezazu):

  • nazazu: ... me! Barka nazazu (Forgive me).
  • gaitzazu: ... us! Eraman gaitzazu (Take us).
  • To zuek, add -e: nazazue, gaitzazue.

The main verb is the radical, as in all these forms: lagun, barka, utz.

Offers, not requests. Lagun zaitzaket? and Zertan lagun zaitzaket? offer your help. To ask someone for a favour, the Academy prefers the future or the conditional: Lagunduko didazu?, Lagunduko zenidake?. Some speakers use lagundu with a receiver, so lagunduko dizut is heard as well as lagunduko zaitut.

Barka iezadazu, with a receiver, is also a common way to say "forgive me". See Commands With a Receiver.

Examples (6)

  1. Lagun zaitzaket?

    Can I help you?

  2. Zertan lagun zaitzaket?

    How can I help you?

    Word by Word: In what can I help you?

    A common question in shops and offices.

  3. Autoz eraman zaitzaket.

    I can take you by car.

  4. Barka nazazu.

    Forgive me.

  5. Entzun nazazu, mesedez.

    Please listen to me.

  6. Utz nazazu bakean!

    Leave me alone!

Common Mistakes

  • Using the "it" form when the object is you.

    Lagun dezaket?
    Lagun zaitzaket?

    dezaket has a third-person object: "Can I help him?". To offer help to the person you are talking to, use zaitzaket.

  • Using the ordinary present instead of a command.

    Eraman nau etxera.
    Eraman nazazu etxera.

    Eraman nau means "He has taken me home". To ask someone to take you, use the command nazazu.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

zaitzaket / nazazuLevel 4Can I Help You?

Learn This First

These forms combine the potential, commands and me/you objects.

Words in This Pattern

ezan