behin / bitan / hirutan

Once, Twice, Three Times

Level 3

behin (once), bitan or birritan (twice), hirutan (three times): Astean bitan joaten naiz igerilekura. (I go to the pool twice a week.)

How It Works

1. The words.

  • behin: once
  • bitan or birritan: twice
  • hirutan: three times
  • any number + aldiz: bi aldiz, hiru aldiz, hamar aldiz

Also useful: askotan (often), gutxitan (rarely) and Zenbat aldiz? (How many times?)

2. How often. Put the time word in the inessive -n with the article: egunean behin (once a day), astean bitan (twice a week), hilean behin (once a month), urtean hiru aldiz (three times a year). "Once every four years" is lau urtetik behin.

3. behin for the past. behin also means "once, one time in the past": Behin Parisen egon nintzen. Behin batean means "one day, once upon a time".

4. Handy phrases. behin baino gehiagotan (more than once), behin eta berriz (again and again), beste behin (once more). "For the first time" is lehen aldiz, from the ordinal numbers.

Tip: For "every day" or "every week", use -ero: egunero, astero.

Examples (6)

  1. Astean bitan joaten naiz igerilekura.

    I go to the pool twice a week.

  2. Behin Parisen egon nintzen.

    I was in Paris once.

  3. Amona hilean behin ikusten dut.

    I see my grandmother once a month.

  4. Egunean hiru aldiz jaten dut.

    I eat three times a day.

  5. Birritan deitu dizut.

    I have called you twice.

    deitu takes a receiver, so the auxiliary is dizut.

  6. Behin baino gehiagotan esan dizut!

    I have told you more than once!

Common Mistakes

  • Using a plain number to say how many times.

    Astean bi joaten naiz.
    Astean bitan joaten naiz.

    For "times", use bitan, birritan or bi aldiz. A plain bi means "two" of something.

  • Saying "one time" with bat and aldiz.

    Bat aldiz Parisen egon nintzen.
    Behin Parisen egon nintzen.

    For "once", Basque uses behin. With other numbers, the number comes before aldiz: bi aldiz.

How It Connects

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

behin / bitan / hirutanLevel 3Once, Twice, Three Times

Learn This First

Once and twice build on numbers and the inessive.

Words in This Pattern

behinbirritanaldi