Baldintza — introduction to the conditional

The conditional (baldintza) in Basque has several forms. In A2, we’ll stick to the two most useful ones:

Real condition (probable future): if it rains tomorrow, I won’t go.
Unreal condition (hypothesis): if I had money, I would buy a house.

This lesson is an introduction: it’s enough to recognize the forms and produce simple sentences. The B1 unit will delve deeper into it.

Type 1: real condition — ba- + present

For hypotheses about the probable future or the present, Basque uses the prefix ba- on the present tense auxiliary.

ba- + present auxiliary, … + future

English	Basque
If it rains, I won’t go	Euria egiten badu, ez naiz joango
If you have time, come	Astia baduzu, etorri
If you want, call me	Nahi baduzu, deitu niri
If I’m rich someday…	Aberatsa banaiz* noizbait…*

Forms with ba- (present)

Verb	Without ba-	With ba-
naiz	I am	banaiz (if I am)
zara	you are	bazara (if you are)
da	is	bada (if it is)
gara	we are	bagara (if we are)
dut	I have it	badut (if I have it)
du	he/she has it	badu (if he/she has it)
dute	they have it	badute (if they have it)

Careful! Ba- also has an affirmative use: bai, badator = “yes, he/she is coming”. The context is what disambiguates it: if the sentence has a second part (“…then…”), it’s a conditional.

Type 2: unreal condition — banintz / banu

For unreal or very unlikely hypotheses (“if I were…”, “if I had…”), Basque uses dedicated forms:

izan forms in the unreal conditional

Pronoun	Form	English
ni	banintz	if I were
zu	bazina	if you were
hura	balitz	if he/she/it were
gu	bagina	if we were
zuek	bazinete	if you (pl.) were
haiek	balira	if they were

ukan forms in the unreal conditional

Pronoun	Form	English
nik	banu	if I had it
zuk	bazenu	if you had it
hark	balu	if he/she had it
guk	bagenu	if we had it
haiek	balute	if they had it

Memorize these six first: banintz, balitz, banu, balu, bagenu, balute. They are the ones that appear in any unreal conditional sentence.

The consequence: -ko/-go + nuke / nintzateke

The “would buy / would go / would be” is formed with -ko/-go (the same marker as the future) + a special auxiliary:

NOR-NORK conditional (“I would [verb] it”)

Pronoun	Form	English
nik	nuke	I would — it
zuk	zenuke	you would — it
hark	luke	he/she would — it
guk	genuke	we would — it
haiek	lukete	they would — it

NOR conditional (“I would —”, intransitive)

Pronoun	Form	English
ni	nintzateke	I would —
zu	zinateke	you would —
hura	litzateke	he/she would — / would be
gu	ginateke	we would —
haiek	lirateke	they would —

Model sentence

baldintza + ondorioa

Diru asko banu, etxe bat erosiko nuke. — If I had a lot of money, I would buy a house.

Lurralde berri batean bizi banintz, beste hizkuntza bat ikasiko nuke. — If I lived in a new country, I would learn another language.

Anboto hemen balitz, lasaiago egongo ginateke. — If Anboto were here, we would be calmer.

Aberatsak balira, mundu osoa bisitatuko lukete. — If they were rich, they would visit the whole world.

Comparison of the two types

Type	”if"	"then”
Real (probable future)	ba- + present: baduzu, bada	future: -ko/-go + naiz/dut (joango naiz, erosiko dut)
Unreal (hypothesis)	ba- + conditional: banu, balitz	conditional: -ko/-go + nuke/nintzateke

Contrasting examples

Real: Astia baduzu, lagunduko dizut. — If you have time, I will help you.
Unreal: Astia bazenu, lagunduko zenidake. — If you had time, you would help me.

Very useful set phrases

English	Basque
Would you like…?	Nahi zenuke…?
I would like…	Gustatuko litzaidake…
It would be nice…	Polita litzateke…
I would gladly go	Gustura joango nintzateke
I would think about it	Pentsatuko nuke

Mini-dialogue

— Olatz, nahi zenuke zinemara joan?

— Bai, gustatuko litzaidake, baina astia banu… Lan asko daukat astean.

— Lasai. Bihar etortzen bazara, sarrera bat erosiko dizut.

Teaching note: the baldintza is one of the points where A2 opens the door to B1. At the official A2 level, it’s enough to recognize it and produce simple sentences of the type banintz… -ko nuke. The full conjugation of the conditional is covered in B1.