Places in Town

Before you can give directions, you need the basic vocabulary to talk about the neighborhood (auzoa) and the town (herria). In this lesson, we’ll cover the most common places and services.

Shops and Commerce

Euskera	English
taberna	bar
kafetegia	café
jatetxea	restaurant
okindegia	bakery
harategia	butcher’s shop
arrandegia	fishmonger’s
fruta-denda	fruit shop
gozoki-denda	candy store
merkatua / supermerkatua	market / supermarket
jantzi-denda	clothing store
liburu-denda	bookstore
loradenda	florist’s

Many words follow the pattern product + denda (”… shop”): fruta-denda, liburu-denda, jantzi-denda. If you know the product, you know the place.

Services

Euskera	English
banketxea / aurrezki-kutxa	bank / savings bank
kutxazain automatikoa	ATM
postetxea	post office
udaletxea	town hall
osasun-etxea	health center
ospitalea	hospital
botika / farmazia	pharmacy
ile-apaindegia	hair salon
liburutegia	library
eskola / ikastola	school
euskaltegia	Basque language school
eliza	church
kiroldegia	sports center
parkea	park

Transportation and Communication

Euskera	English
autobus-geltokia	bus stop
tren-geltokia	train station
aireportua	airport
gasolindegia	gas station
aparkalekua	parking lot

The suffix -tegi and company

Notice these productive suffixes: they appear over and over again.

• -tegi → place of something: euskal·tegi (place of Basque), ile-apain·degi (place for doing hair), liburu·tegi (place of books).
• -degi / -tegi → a variant with the same idea: gasolin·degi, okin·degi.
• -etxe (“house”) → udal·etxe (house of the council), osasun·etxe (house of health), jatetxe (place for eating).

Cultural note: In many Basque neighborhoods and towns, the taberna and the plaza (square) are the quintessential meeting points, and the frontoia (pelota court) is usually next to the church. An euskaltegi is precisely the school where you are learning this language.