Personal pronouns

In standard Basque (euskara batua) there are seven personal pronouns:

Pronoun	Who	Verb “izan” (NOR)
ni	I	naiz
hi	you (informal/close)	haiz
zu	you (standard)	zara
hura / bera	he, she	da
gu	we	gara
zuek	you (plural)	zarete
haiek	they	dira

There is no gender distinction: hura works for both he and she; haiek for both. Bera is a very frequent variant of hura in everyday speech.

Hi vs zu (important)

In Basque there are two forms of “you”:

• zu → standard you. This is what is used in class, with strangers, with co-workers, with everyone in any neutral register. In A1 always use zu.
• hi → intimate you (hitano). Only among close friends, family, or in some towns as the usual register. It has its own conjugation (haiz, duk/dun with a gender marker for the listener). We do not work on it in A1.

If in doubt, use zu — it always works.

Negation

To negate, you place ez before the verb:

• Ni ez naiz Egoitz. — I am not Egoitz.
• Hau ez da nire kalea. — This is not my street.
• Gu ez gara ikasleak. — We are not students.

Full pattern

• Ni ikaslea naiz. — I am a student.
• Zu irakaslea zara. — You are a teacher.
• Hura medikua da. — He/she is a doctor.
• Gu lagunak gara. — We are friends.
• Zuek anaiak zarete. — You are brothers.
• Haiek umeak dira. — They are children.