hi (hitanoa)

1. Two ways to say "you". zu is neutral and used everywhere; it is the one to use in public, at school and in writing. hi is intimate. It has its own endings: hik, hiri, hire, hirekin. For more than one person, both use zuek. See the personal pronouns.

2. Who uses it. It is heard between close friends, siblings and people of the same age, in many towns more among men. It is not used with strangers or in formal settings. Habits differ from town to town, and many speakers never use it at all.

3. Toka and noka. Talking hika to a man is called toka, and to a woman noka. Many verb forms end in -k for a man and -n for a woman: Hik egin duk / Hik egin dun (You have done it). See the hi verb forms.

4. The listener shows up everywhere. In hitano, a main-clause verb marks the listener even when the sentence is not about them:

• Mattin joan da. → Mattin joan duk (to a man) / Mattin joan dun (to a woman). (Mattin has gone.)
• Bihar etorriko naiz. → Bihar etorriko nauk / naun. (I will come tomorrow.)

Questions and subordinate clauses keep the ordinary forms. This is covered in allocutive toka and noka.

5. Signs to listen for. haiz, hago, hator, hoa, and endings in -k or -n such as duk, dun, zegok. Toka is heard more often than noka.

Tip: Keep using zu. It is never wrong, and it is what standard Basque teaches for everyone.