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BASQUE · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

izan.

to be

4 characters2 syllables approx.Euskara language

Meaning & usage

verb/is̻an/[i.s̻ãn]/is̻an/dialectal[i.s̻ãn]dialectal
  1. to be to be (essentially or identified as)

    auxiliary · copulative · intransitive
    Hau nire emaztea da.
  2. to be to exist; to occur

    auxiliary · intransitive
    Jaia bihar izango da.
  3. to be to be (to occupy a place)

    Navarro-Lapurdian · auxiliary · intransitive
    Baionan naiz.
  4. to be to be (in a transient fashion)

    Navarro-Lapurdian · auxiliary · copulative · intransitive
    Mahaia zikina da.
  5. to be Used to conjugate intransitive (nor) verbs.

    auxiliary · intransitive
    Zer gertatu da?
  6. to be Used to conjugate intransitive verbs with dative arguments (nor nori verbs).

    auxiliary · intransitive
    Txapela erori zaio.
    Etorri zitzaigun.
  7. Used to conjugate transitive (nor nork) verbs.

    auxiliary · transitive
    Liburua irakurri dut.
  8. Used to conjugate transitive verbs with dative arguments (nor nori nork verbs).

    auxiliary · transitive
    Liburua eman nizun.
  9. to have, to possess

    Southern · transitive
    Diru asko du.
Where this word comes from

A plausible reconstruction for the participle of the intransitive forms is Proto-Basque *eizani, while *edun can be reconstructed for the transitive ones. The verb forms in each paradigm have different etymologies: * NOR: from the participle prefix *e- + the stem -iza- (of unknown origin) + the past participle suffix -n. It has numerous suppletive stem forms. The present-tense forms have three stems: -a (third-person singular only), -aiz (with first- and second-person singular prefixes), and -ara (in first- and second-person plural forms). * NOR-NORI: the stem -(t)zai- occurs in the indicative forms. The potential and imperative forms have the suppletive stem -ki-. Forms with plural nor agreement throughout the paradigm have the suffix -zki- immediately attached the stem and preceding the nori agreement suffixes. * NOR-NORK: the stem -(d)u- forms the basis of the indicative forms. This stem also appears in the dialectal participle eduki. A verbal noun edutzea is attested from the fifteenth century, derived from either eduki or *edun. The potential and imperative forms are built on the stem -za- which becomes -tza- after a prefix ending in n. * NOR-NORI: the stem is -i- in the indicative, and -ieza- in the potential and imperative. As in the nor-nori izan paradigm, forms with plural nor (absolutive) agreement are suffixed with -zki-. This marker is attached directly to the stem and precedes other agreement suffixes.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.