Iragan burutua NOR-NORK — ukan in the past
This lesson extends the past tense to NOR-NORK verbs (transitive: I it, you it, he/she it). It’s the foundation for narrating all actions that have an object: I ate, I saw, I did, I said, I bought, I called…
The formula
partizipioa + nuen / zenuen / zuen / genuen / zenuten / zuten
| Pronoun | Past tense of dut | English |
|---|---|---|
| nik | nuen | I it |
| zuk | zenuen | you it |
| hark | zuen | he/she it |
| guk | genuen | we it |
| zuek | zenuten | you (pl.) it |
| haiek | zuten | they it |
The forms always end in -n, and the first letter is the person marker: n- (I), z- (you/you pl./they), g- (we).
Plural object — nituen
If the object is plural (the books, the tickets, the beers), the auxiliary changes to the -itu- series:
| Pronoun | Plural auxiliary | English |
|---|---|---|
| nik | nituen | I them |
| zuk | zenituen | you them |
| hark | zituen | he/she them |
| guk | genituen | we them |
| zuek | zenituzten | you (pl.) them |
| haiek | zituzten | they them |
Examples
| English | Basque |
|---|---|
| I ate pintxos | Pintxoak jan nituen |
| I saw a movie | Film bat ikusi nuen |
| They made dinner | Afaria egin zuten |
| What did he/she say? | Zer esan zuen? |
| We bought bread | Ogia erosi genuen |
| He/she sold the two motorcycles | Bi motoak saldu zituen |
Synthetic verbs: eduki and jakin
Two very common verbs keep their synthetic form in the past, just like in the present (daukat, dakit):
Eduki (to have, possession)
| Pronoun | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ni | neukan | I had |
| zu | zeneukan | you had |
| hura | zeukan | he/she had |
| gu | geneukan | we had |
| zuek | zeneukaten | you (pl.) had |
| haiek | zeukaten | they had |
Jakin (to know)
| Pronoun | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ni | nekien | I knew |
| zu | zenekien | you knew |
| hura | zekien | he/she knew |
| gu | genekien | we knew |
| zuek | zenekiten | you (pl.) knew |
| haiek | zekiten | they knew |
Anbotok bizikleta gorri bat zeukan umetan. — Anboto had a red bike as a child.
Ez zekien non bizi ginen. — He/she didn’t know where we lived.
Two key details of NOR-NORK in the past
1. The -k marker on the subject. Just like in the present, the subject performing the action takes the ergative case:
Garazik afaria egin zuen. — Garazi made dinner.
Landerrek sarrerak erosi zituen. — Lander bought the tickets.
2. Agreement with the object. If the object is singular → nuen / zuen; if it’s plural → nituen / zituen. It’s the same rule as in the present tense.
Negation
Atzo ez nuen filmik ikusi. — I didn’t see any movie yesterday.
Ainarak ez zuen ezer esan. — Ainara didn’t say anything.
Ez genituen sarrerak erosi. — We didn’t buy the tickets.
When the object is negated, it often appears in the partitive case: filmik, ezer, txikirik. It’s the same -rik you saw in A1.
Mini-narrative
Aurreko larunbatean Olatz eta Lander itsasora joan ziren (NOR). Hondartzan egun osoa eman zuten: igeri egin zuten, eguzkitan etzanda egon ziren eta liburu bat irakurri zuten. Iluntzean afari bat prestatu zuten eta lagunekin afaldu zuten.
Notice how NOR forms (joan ziren, egon ziren) and NOR-NORK forms (eman zuten, irakurri zuten, prestatu zuten) are mixed. The two lessons combine to build a narrative.
Note: in the next lesson, you’ll see the synthetic verbs in the past (nindoan, nentorren, nenbilen) which complete the NOR past tense.
Ejercicios
"Liburua irakurri nuen" means…
Which past tense form of "ukan" corresponds to "they it"?
I bought the tickets = Sarrerak erosi .
Lander had a red car = Landerrek auto gorri bat .