The Town Where I Live

Level 4

To say the town where I live, put the normal relative clause before the noun: bizi naizen herria. The same works for times: jaio nintzen urtea (the year I was born).

How It Works

How it works. Start from a sentence with a place or time phrase and build a relative clause -(e)n on it. The phrase disappears together with its case ending:

  • Herri horretan bizi naiz → bizi naizen herria (the town where I live)
  • Urte hartan jaio nintzen → jaio nintzen urtea (the year I was born)
  • Egun hartan elkar ezagutu genuen → elkar ezagutu genuen eguna (the day we met)
  • Hondartza horretara joaten gara → joaten garen hondartza (the beach we go to)

Which nouns work best. This works most easily when the noun itself is a place or a time: herria, etxea, lekua, bulegoa, eguna, urtea, garaia, ordua. The noun makes it clear which role the missing phrase had.

The head noun takes its own ending. The noun after the clause takes the ending that the main sentence needs: Jaio nintzen urtean, elur asko egin zuen (In the year I was born, it snowed a lot). Joaten garen hondartzara noa (I am going to the beach we go to).

A variant with -ko. Some writers, mostly western and central, add -ko to the relative verb, especially for times: etorri zineneko eguna (the day you came). The plain -(e)n form is always correct.

Do not use non as the word for where. Copying where from English or donde from Spanish gives a sentence Basque does not use. The ordinary relative is the natural choice: bizi naizen herria. A relative non exists only in some formal and older texts, together with bait-.

Examples (6)

  1. Bizi naizen herria oso txikia da.

    The town where I live is very small.

  2. Jaio nintzen urtean, elur asko egin zuen.

    In the year I was born, it snowed a lot.

    urtean: the head noun takes the inessive that the main sentence needs.

  3. Ez dut inoiz ahaztuko elkar ezagutu genuen eguna.

    I will never forget the day we met.

  4. Lan egiten dudan bulegoa hirugarren solairuan dago.

    The office where I work is on the third floor.

    dut becomes dudan in a relative clause.

  5. Gazte nintzen garaian, ez zegoen telefono mugikorrik.

    Back when I was young, there were no mobile phones.

  6. Oporretan joaten garen hondartzara noa.

    I am going to the beach we go to on holiday.

    The missing phrase had -ra (to), and the head noun also takes -ra here.

Common Mistakes

  • Using non as a relative word, as in English where.

    Herria non bizi naiz oso txikia da.
    Bizi naizen herria oso txikia da.

    Basque does not build this kind of relative clause with non. Put the clause before the noun and add -(e)n to its verb.

  • Giving the head noun the wrong ending.

    Jaio nintzen urtea, elur asko egin zuen.
    Jaio nintzen urtean, elur asko egin zuen.

    The head noun takes the ending that the main sentence needs. The snow fell in that year, so the noun needs -n: urtean.

How It Connects

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

The Town Where I LiveLevel 4

Learn This First

Relatives about places and times build on relatives and when.