Spelling Loanwords

Level 2

Basque spells borrowed words the way they sound in Basque: kafea (coffee), zinema (cinema), bideoa (video), telefonoa (telephone), txokolatea (chocolate).

How It Works

The main changes.

  • c before a, o, u → k: kafea, kolorea, kultura.
  • c before e, i → z: zinema, zentroa, zientzia.
  • qu → k: kimika, paketea.
  • v → b: bideoa, bisita, unibertsitatea.
  • ph → f and th → t: telefonoa, filosofia, matematika.
  • ch (as in chocolate) → tx: txokolatea.

Common endings. Words ending in -dad or -ty end in -tate: unibertsitatea, kalitatea. Words ending in -ción or -tion end in -zio: informazioa, nazioa.

The letter g. New loanwords are written with g, and in careful Basque it is always said like the g in go: geografia, magia. Some older loans use j instead: jendea. Look up any word you are unsure about in a dictionary. See The Letters h and j.

Then add the endings. A respelled word takes Basque endings like any other: kafe + -a = kafea, zinema + -ra = zinemara. See The Definite Article -a.

What keeps its spelling. Foreign names keep their letters: Cáceres, Quebec. A few international terms do too, such as campus and corpus.

Examples (6)

  1. Kafe bat, mesedez.

    A coffee, please.

    Spanish café is written with k: kafe.

  2. Zinemara goaz.

    We are going to the cinema.

    c before i becomes z: zinema.

  3. Unibertsitatean ikasten du.

    She studies at the university.

    v becomes b, and -dad becomes -tate.

  4. Bideo bat ikusi dut.

    I have watched a video.

  5. Txokolate beroa nahi dut.

    I want hot chocolate.

    ch becomes tx.

  6. Telefono berria erosi dut.

    I have bought a new phone.

    ph becomes f.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping c before e or i.

    Cinemara goaz.
    Zinemara goaz.

    Before e and i, the sound of c is written z in Basque: zinema.

  • Keeping v.

    Video bat ikusi dut.
    Bideo bat ikusi dut.

    Basque has no v in ordinary words; write b.

  • Copying the Spanish ending -dad.

    Unibersidadean ikasten du.
    Unibertsitatean ikasten du.

    The Basque form is unibertsitate. Words that end in -dad in Spanish end in -tate in Basque.

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Spelling LoanwordsLevel 2

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Loanword spelling follows the alphabet.

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