Parts 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/in the”) depending on what you use them for. The good news is that they combine regularly with every word.

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 point of the 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 am with friends.

Gauean lo egiten dut. — At night I sleep.

”In the morning / in the afternoon” (as part of a clock time) — suffix -ko

To specify what time of day, you put the word with -ko in front of the hour:

Exact time	Basque
8 in the morning	goizeko zortziak
12 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 is three in the afternoon.

Basic time markers

These will come up every day:

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

Watch out: be careful with bihar (the next day, “tomorrow”) and goiza (the morning, until midday). In Spanish the same word is used; in Basque it is not.

Putting it all together

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: Euskal Herria is famous for its iluntze — that dusk hour when the cuadrillas (groups of friends) go out for poteo (a round of small drinks). It is neither the afternoon nor the night: it is a part of the day with its own identity.