atea ireki da

Opening and Being Opened

Level 4

The same verb can say who did it or just what happened: Nik atea ireki dut (I have opened the door) and Atea ireki da (The door has opened).

How It Works

1. Two sentences, one verb. Compare:

  • Nik atea ireki dut. (I have opened the door.) There is a doer, nik, with the ergative -k, and the auxiliary is dut.
  • Atea ireki da. (The door has opened.) There is no doer, so the auxiliary is da.

This follows the main rule of nor and nork: a sentence with a nork uses ukan, and a sentence without one uses izan.

2. Common verbs that do this. ireki (open), itxi (close), apurtu and hautsi (break), piztu (light, switch on), itzali (put out, switch off), hasi (begin), bukatu and amaitu (end), aldatu (change), hoztu (cool), berotu (warm up).

3. Number agreement. Without a doer, the auxiliary agrees with the thing: Atea ireki da (one door), Ateak ireki dira (the doors).

4. All tenses. The switch works everywhere: Argia itzaltzen da (The light goes out), Argia itzali zen (The light went out), Filma hasiko da (The film will start).

5. Happened or was done? Atea ireki da can mean the door opened by itself or that someone opened it without saying who. This second meaning is the impersonal da. Context tells you which one is meant.

Tip: If you want to say who did it, you need both the -k and dut, du. If you drop the doer, drop both.

Examples (6)

  1. Nik atea ireki dut.

    I have opened the door.

    Doer nik + auxiliary dut.

  2. Atea ireki da.

    The door has opened.

    No doer, so the auxiliary is da.

  3. Haizeak leihoa itxi du.

    The wind has closed the window.

    haizea + -k is the doer.

  4. Leihoa itxi da.

    The window has closed.

  5. Edalontzia apurtu da.

    The glass has broken.

    Nobody is named, so the auxiliary is da.

  6. Argiak itzali dira.

    The lights have gone out.

    Plural thing, so the auxiliary is dira.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the doer but using izan.

    Nik atea ireki da.
    Nik atea ireki dut.

    A doer in -k always needs a form of ukan (dut, du). Without a doer, say Atea ireki da.

  • Using du when you mean it happened by itself.

    Edalontzia apurtu du.
    Edalontzia apurtu da.

    Edalontzia apurtu du means "He or she has broken the glass". To say the glass broke, use da.

  • Forgetting plural agreement.

    Ateak ireki da.
    Ateak ireki dira.

    Without a doer, ateak is the plural subject, so the auxiliary is dira.

How It Connects

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

atea ireki daLevel 4Opening and Being Opened

Learn This First

Anticausatives need ergative alignment and the perfect.

Words in This Pattern

irekiitxiapurtupiztuizanukanedun