The rooms of the house

We start with the most basic part of any home: the rooms. The general word for “room” is gela, and most of the names of the rooms are built by combining a root with -gela.

Core vocabulary

Basque	English
etxea	the house
pisua	the flat (a home in a building)
gela	room
sukaldea	kitchen
logela	bedroom
komuna	bathroom
egongela	living room
sarrera	entrance
korridorea / pasabidea	hallway
balkoia	balcony
terraza	terrace

How some names are formed

Basque is very transparent with these words. If you look at how they are put together, you will remember them better:

• logela → lo (sleep) + gela (room) = “sleep room” → bedroom
• egongela → egon (to stay) + gela = “staying room” → living room
• sukaldea → su (fire) + aldea (area) = “fire area” → kitchen

Komuna and bainugela are synonyms: komuna is the everyday word, while bainugela (literally “bath room”) is somewhat more formal.

Building: floor and lift

Basque	English
solairua	floor (1st, 2nd…)
igogailua	lift / elevator
eskailera	staircase
ataria	building entrance / portal

To say which floor you live on:

• Hirugarren solairuan bizi naiz. — I live on the third floor.
• Etxeak igogailua du. — The house has a lift.

Useful questions

• Zenbat gela ditu zure etxeak? — How many rooms does your house have?
• Zenbat logela ditu? — How many bedrooms does it have?
• Non dago sukaldea? — Where is the kitchen?
• Etxeak badu balkoirik? — Does the house have a balcony?

Cultural note: in Navarra and the Basque-Castilian area it is common to say pisua for the urban home and etxea for the family/village house. In daily life they are used interchangeably without any problem.