inguruko norbait interesatuta egon ezkero
gida gisa erabili ahal izateko
hasiera baten - i'm not sure why baten is in noren?
Now i'm stuck trying to translate a thought into Basque, how would you say "the city I went to"? "Joan nintzen hiria"? That doesn't feel quite right.
"Argi piztutak berdeak dira." Or would a phrase like "piztuta dauden argiak (politak dira)" fit better?
Now, -a ending attached to a verb (izana, joana)
As Lowena says, it is a not so easy to master it. The basics does sound clear, but when this playful particle deploys its full potential it might be difficult to keep track of...
In this case, I think you are mixing two different uses of the -a. In the sentence:
"Ez zuen nahi izan bere koadroa Espainian erakutsia izaterik."
the use of the -a is rather neutral, meaning that there is no alternative to build the sentence if you want that the subordinate sentence is in the passive voice. There is no, lets say, "linguistic plus", no hidden detail. The speaker is just narrating objectively
In the other sentence,
Asko ikusia naiz, geroztik, nire bizitza luzean.
I have seen a lot, since then, in my long life.
there is some "extra". I'll try to explain: the neutral way of building this sentence would be:
"asko ikusi dut, geroztik, nire bizitza luzean"
The construction "asko ikusia naiz" is correct (and follows the lines Lowena described), but it sounds archaic, and would not be used for everyday life situations: "ogia erosia naiz", well it's probably correct, but that's not the way you tell your mother that you just came home with bread for the day. You'd use "ogia erosi dut".
Sounds obscure? guess so... hm.. if I was to translate into English the spin that this naughty -a is bringing into the sentence, I'd probably go for something like: "I'm a guy that..."
Asko ikusia naiz, geroztik, nire bizitza luzean.
... I'm a guy that has seen a lot of things in his long life...
Not exactly, though... my english translation would be an extreme form of the intent of the Basque sentence. What I mean is that the construction :
Asko ikusia naiz, geroztik, nire bizitza luzean.
puts the accent on "I" (the subject of naiz), so the speaker wants the attention on himself, while
Asko ikusi dut, geroztik, nire bizitza luzean.
is more neutral, and the weight of the sentence can be focused on "asko".
hope it helped...
Thanks, I remember asking the question about ikusia before, my main question was about the placement of izan. "ikusia izan behar duzu" vs "ikusia behar izan duzi". Is it similar to "tienes que haber visto" vs "has tenido que ver"?
Hobe zenuke ohetik jaiki, dutxatu eta probetxugarria zaizun zerbait egingo bazenu.
Is "hobe zenuke" a phrase meaning something like "you would be better (off)"? I'm not sure why some verbs don't have the ko/go suffix, does only the last verb need it? "you'd do better if you got out of bed, showered, and did something good for you"
And here, what is "egingo" doing?
zer pentsatuko zenuke besteak zuri gauza bera egingo balizu?
..what would you think if someone else.. made the thing theirs? (took that thing from you?)
And I don't understand what the use of "ere" means here:
sosik ez zaizu falta, gastatu ere, ez duzu asko gastatzen eta!
..you're not short on cash, ..., since you don't spend much!
arabarra wrote:And here, what is "egingo" doing?
zer pentsatuko zenuke besteak zuri gauza bera egingo balizu?
..what would you think if someone else.. made the thing theirs? (took that thing from you?)
"egingo" is just doing its job
You need it to construct condicional sentences:
..what would you think if someone else would make the same thing to you?
(not "made the thing theirs", by the way: it's "gauza bera", not "gauza berea")
"zure lagunak zaren bezala maite zaitu"
What is "zaren"? At first I thought it was some variation of zure, but now I wonder if it's not just zara with the -en ending: "your friend, like you (are?), loves you." I would've expected zuk.
And another sentence:
"Bizitza ez da gelditu gabe lanean jardutea?"
The gabe here is throwing me off, I think the basic meaning of the sentence is along the lines of "life won't stop if you don't work", but I can't piece it together. My literal translation as I understand it is "Life isn't without stopping working".
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