small question

[Ponteto]

For a paper I'm comparing Basque and German (an ergative-absolutive language vs. a nominative-accusative language). I have a nice Basque grammar book but I need some simple declarative sentences featuring the ergative case, and some simple declerative sentences featuring the absolutive case. The example sentences in the book are too complex, that is why I am asking here.

For example, a sentence like 'I eat an apple' would feature the ergative case in Basque, right? So I'm asking for these kind of simple sentences, so I can compare them with their German counterparts. Thank you in advance!

[Zoroa]

Exactly.

The absolutive case encompasses:

1. The subject of an intransitive verb
2. The direct complement of a transitive verb

The ergative case is used for subjects of transitive verbs.

So your example is correct.

I eat an apple:

German: Ich esse ein Apfel

Ich is nominative
ein Apfel is accusative

Euskara: Nik sagarra jaten dut

Nik: ergative case (the k marker)
sagarra: absolutive case (simple form of the noun sagar + article "a")

Hope it helps

Zoroa

[Ponteto]

Thank you very much!