Household chores

In this lesson you’ll learn the basic verbs for talking about etxeko lanak (household chores). In Basque, verbs are usually given in the participle form (-tu, -i, -n), which is the “dictionary” form: garbitu, prestatu, jaso…

Key verbs

Euskera	English
garbitu	to clean
prestatu	to prepare
jaso	to tidy up
jantzi	to dress / to put on
atera	to take out
zabaldu	to hang out / to open
lisatu	to iron
paseatu	to walk / to stroll
erosi	to buy

Typical chores

Chore	How to say it
To make the bed	ohea jantzi
To wash the dishes	ontziak garbitu / harrikoa egin
To vacuum	xurgagailua pasa
To hang out the laundry	arropa zabaldu
To iron the clothes	arropa lisatu
To clean the bathroom	komuna garbitu
To take out the rubbish	zaborra atera
To prepare lunch	bazkaria prestatu
To do the shopping	erosketak egin
To walk the dog	txakurra paseatu

From the dictionary form to the habitual present

When an action is repeated regularly (every day, every week…), the verb changes to the form with -tzen + the auxiliary dut/duzu/du… (which you already know from ukan):

Person	Example	English
Nik	Nik etxea garbitzen dut.	I clean the house.
Zuk	Zuk arropa lisatzen duzu.	You iron the clothes.
Berak	Aitak bazkaria prestatzen du.	My father prepares lunch.
Guk	Guk erosketak egiten ditugu.	We do the shopping.

In this lesson you don’t need to master the conjugation. Just remember the pattern -tzen + dut/du for talking about your routine.

Frequency

To say how often you do a chore:

• egunero — every day
• astean behin — once a week
• astean bitan / hirutan — twice / three times a week
• noizean behin — every now and then
• inoiz ez — never

Nire etxean nik astean behin lisatzen dut, baina egunero garbitzen dut sukaldea. — In my house I iron once a week, but I clean the kitchen every day.

Asking who does what

• Nork garbitzen ditu ontziak? — Who washes the dishes?
• Nor arduratzen da arropaz? — Who takes care of the laundry?
• Zuri gustatzen zaizu sukaldatzea? — Do you like cooking?

Cultural note: surveys about how household chores are shared out are a classic in euskaltegi textbooks — and for good reason. It’s very useful vocabulary for real conversations with friends and family.