zer

What (Zer)

Level 1

zer means "what": Zer da hau? (What is this?) Zer nahi duzu? (What do you want?)

How It Works

zer asks about things, not people. For people, use nor.

Position. Like every question word, zer goes directly before the verb: Zer da hau? (What is this?) Zer egiten duzu? (What do you do?) Zer gertatu da? (What happened?)

zer before a noun. zer can come before a noun to ask "what" or "which kind". In Standard Basque the noun normally stays bare, without -a: Zer liburu? (What book?) Zer ordu da? (What time is it?) You already know one of these from greetings: Zer moduz? (How are you?)

zer with endings. zer takes case endings like a noun:

  • zerk: what, as the doer of a transitive verb (Zerk egin du zarata hori?, What made that noise?)
  • zertan: in what, doing what (Zertan ari zara?, What are you doing?)
  • zerekin: with what
  • zergatik: why (literally "because of what")

zer or zein? zer asks openly. When you are choosing from a known set, use zein (which).

Informal ze. In speech you will also hear ze, as in Ze ordu da? The full form zer is the safe choice in writing.

Examples (6)

  1. Zer da hau?

    What is this?

  2. Zer egiten duzu?

    What do you do?

    This often asks about someone's job.

  3. Zer nahi duzu?

    What do you want?

  4. Zer gertatu da?

    What happened?

    gertatu takes naiz/da, so zer stays without an ending.

  5. Zerk egin du zarata hori?

    What made that noise?

    egin takes dut/du, so the doer gets -k: zerk.

  6. Zer liburu irakurtzen ari zara?

    What book are you reading?

    After zer, liburu has no article.

Common Mistakes

  • Using zer to ask about a person.

    Zer etorri da? (meaning "Who has come?")
    Nor etorri da?

    Zer etorri da? asks what has come, not who. To ask about a person, use nor.

  • Putting the subject between zer and the verb.

    Zer zuk nahi duzu?
    Zer nahi duzu zuk?

    zer must stay directly before the verb. Put the subject after the verb, or leave it out.

How It Connects

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

zerLevel 1What (Zer)

Learn This First

zer questions start with izan.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

zerzer