Places around town

Before you can give directions, you need the basic vocabulary to talk about the neighbourhood (auzoa) and the town (herria). In this lesson we gather the most typical places and services.

Shops and commerce

Basque	English
taberna	bar
kafetegia	café
jatetxea	restaurant
okindegia	bakery
harategia	butcher’s
arrandegia	fishmonger’s
fruta-denda	greengrocer’s
gozoki-denda	sweet shop
merkatua / supermerkatua	market / supermarket
jantzi-denda	clothes shop
liburu-denda	bookshop
loradenda	florist’s

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

Services

Basque	English
banketxea / aurrezki-kutxa	bank / savings bank
kutxazain automatikoa	cash machine
postetxea	post office
udaletxea	town hall
osasun-etxea	health centre
ospitalea	hospital
botika / farmazia	pharmacy
ile-apaindegia	hairdresser’s
liburutegia	library
eskola / ikastola	school
euskaltegia	Basque-language school
eliza	church
kiroldegia	sports centre
parkea	park

Transport and communication

Basque	English
autobus-geltokia	bus stop
tren-geltokia	train station
aireportua	airport
gasolindegia	petrol station
aparkalekua	car park

The suffix -tegi and friends

Notice these productive suffixes: they come up again and again.

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

Cultural note: in many Basque neighbourhoods and towns the taberna and the plaza are the gathering spots par excellence, and the frontoia (fronton) is usually next to the church. A euskaltegi is precisely the school where you are learning this language.