egiten da

How Things Are Done

Level 3

Nola esaten da euskaraz? (How do you say it in Basque?) The verb esan normally takes du, but with da the sentence has no doer and speaks in general.

How It Works

What it does. Sometimes you want to say how things are generally done, without saying who does them. Basque does this with a verb that normally takes du, such as egin, esan, saldu or hitz egin, and gives it the auxiliary of izan instead:

  • With a named doer: Anek euskaraz hitz egiten du. (Ane speaks Basque.) Ane takes -k and the verb takes du.
  • With no doer: Hemen euskaraz hitz egiten da. (Basque is spoken here. / People speak Basque here.)

English translates this with you, one, people, they, or a passive: Nola esaten da euskaraz? (How do you say it in Basque?) Hori ez da horrela egiten. (That is not done like that.)

No doer, no -k. Because nobody is named as the doer, there is no ergative -k. The thing that is done becomes the subject of da, so the verb agrees with it:

  • Denda honetan ogia saltzen da. (Bread is sold in this shop.)
  • Denda honetan liburuak saltzen dira. (Books are sold in this shop.)

Any tense. The pattern works with every tense of izan: egiten zen (used to be done), egingo da (will be done), egin da (has been done). For example: Garai batean ogia etxean egiten zen. (Bread used to be made at home.)

Signs and rules. The pattern is common on signs: Hemen ez da erretzen. (No smoking here.) To say that something can be done in general, the potential form is used: Hori egin daiteke (That can be done); see impersonal potential daiteke.

Not the same as a change of state. Atea ireki da (The door has opened) describes something that happens to the door. The general statement Hemen ateak goizean irekitzen dira (The doors are opened in the morning here) talks about what people do. See anticausative: atea ireki da.

Examples (6)

  1. Nola esaten da hau euskaraz?

    How do you say this in Basque?

    esan normally takes du; with da the question is general.

  2. Hemen euskaraz hitz egiten da.

    Basque is spoken here.

  3. Hori ez da horrela egiten.

    That isn't done like that.

    Negation works as usual: ez comes before da.

  4. Denda honetan liburu zaharrak saltzen dira.

    Old books are sold in this shop.

    The verb agrees with liburu zaharrak, so it is plural: dira.

  5. Ospitalean ez da erretzen.

    There is no smoking in the hospital.

  6. Garai batean ogia etxean egiten zen.

    Bread used to be made at home.

    The past form zen gives a general statement about the past.

Common Mistakes

  • Using du when you mean a general "you" or "people".

    Nola esaten du euskaraz?
    Nola esaten da euskaraz?

    With du, the question means "How does he or she say it in Basque?", about one person. For the general question "How do you say it?", use da.

  • Keeping the verb singular with a plural thing.

    Denda honetan liburuak saltzen da.
    Denda honetan liburuak saltzen dira.

    In this pattern the thing that is done is the subject, so the auxiliary agrees with it: liburuak needs dira.

How It Connects

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

egiten daLevel 3How Things Are Done

Learn This First

Impersonal da needs the habitual and ergative alignment.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

izan