Times of the day (goizean, arratsaldean, gauean)

The parts of the day in Basque work with two key suffixes: -(e)an (“in/at”) and -(e)ko (“of”) depending on how you use them. The good thing is that they combine regularly with all the words.

The base words

Basque	English
goiza	the morning
eguerdia	midday
arratsaldea	the afternoon
iluntzea	dusk
gaua	the night

”In the morning / in the afternoon” — locative -(e)an

To say when (at what time of day) something happens, add -(e)an to the root:

When	Basque
in the morning	goizean
at midday	eguerdian
in the afternoon	arratsaldean
at dusk	iluntzean
at night	gauean

Goizean kafea hartzen dut. — In the morning I have coffee.

Arratsaldean lagunekin egoten naiz. — In the afternoon I’m with friends.

Gauean lo egiten dut. — At night I sleep.

”Of the morning / of the afternoon” — suffix -ko

To specify what time of day, you place the word with -ko before the time:

Exact time	Basque
8 in the morning	goizeko zortziak
12 at midday	eguerdiko hamabiak
5 in the afternoon	arratsaldeko bostak
9 at night	gaueko bederatziak

Goizeko zazpietan esnatzen naiz. — I wake up at seven in the morning.

Arratsaldeko hirurak dira. — It’s three in the afternoon.

Basic time markers

You’ll come across these every day:

Basque	English
gaur	today
atzo	yesterday
bihar	tomorrow (the next day)
etzi	the day after tomorrow
orain	now
gero	later, after
lehen	before

Note: be careful with bihar (‘tomorrow’, the next day) and goiza (‘the morning’). Spanish uses the same word (mañana) for both, but Basque does not.

Combining everything

Bihar goizean lanera joango naiz. — Tomorrow morning I will go to work.

Atzo arratsaldean zinemara joan ginen. — Yesterday afternoon we went to the cinema.

Gaur gaueko hamarretan afalduko dut. — Tonight at ten I will have dinner.

Cultural note: The Basque Country is famous for its iluntze — that time around dusk when groups of friends (cuadrillas) go out for a poteo (a round of small drinks). It’s not the afternoon or the night: it’s a time of day with its own identity.