The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Basque words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.
The best Basque flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Basque words, like bai, ez, ni, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.
CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.
60 most common Basque words · Updated July 2026
| Basque | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| bai | yes | Bai, hori egia da. |
| ez | no | Ez, eskerrik asko. |
| ni | I | Ni Ainhoa naiz. |
| zu | you | Zu nongoa zara? |
| izen | name | Zein da zure izena? |
| nor | who | Nor da hori? |
| zer | what | Zer da hau? |
| non | where | Non dago geltokia? |
| izan | to be | Ni irakaslea naiz. |
| egun | day | Egun on! |
| etxe | house, home | Etxera noa. |
| ama | mother | Nire ama etxean dago. |
| aita | father | Aita lanera joan da. |
| haur | child | Haurra parkean dago. |
| gizon | man | Gizon hori nire aita da. |
| emakume | woman | Emakume bat sartu da. |
| lagun | friend | Hau nire laguna da. |
| ur | water | Ura edan dut. |
| ogi | bread | Ogia erosi dut. |
| jan | to eat | Sagarra jan dut. |
| edan | to drink | Zerbait edan nahi duzu? |
| eduki | to have | Auto bat daukat. |
| egon | to be (somewhere), to stay | Ni etxean nago. |
| joan | to go | Bihar Bilbora joango naiz. |
| etorri | to come | Nire lagunak etorri dira. |
| nahi izan | to want | Etxera joan nahi dut. |
| gustatu | to like, to please | Kafea gustatzen zait. |
| maite izan | to love | Maite zaitut. |
| esan | to say | Egia esan dut. |
| ikusi | to see | Zure ama ikusi dut. |
| entzun | to hear, to listen | Musika entzuten dut. |
| jakin | to know | Ez dakit. |
| ikasi | to learn, to study | Euskara ikasten ari naiz. |
| irakurri | to read | Liburu bat irakurtzen dut. |
| hitz | word | Hitz berri bat ikasi dut. |
| liburu | book | Mahai gainean liburu bat dago. |
| eskola | school | Haurrak eskolan daude. |
| lan | work, job | Lanetik nator. |
| gauza | thing | Gauza bat esango dizut. |
| esku | hand | Eskua altxatu du. |
| eman | to give | Opari bat eman dit. |
| hartu | to take | Kafe bat hartuko dut. |
| egin | to do, to make | Zer egiten duzu? |
| urte | year | Hamar urte ditut. |
| on | good | Hau ogi ona da. |
| txar | bad | Eguraldia txarra da gaur. |
| handi | big, large | Etxe handi batean bizi dira. |
| txiki | small, little | Txakur txiki bat daukat. |
| berri | new | Kotxe berri bat erosi dut. |
| zahar | old | Gizon zahar bat ikusi dut. |
| eder | beautiful | Hura emakume ederra da. |
| polit | pretty, nice | Hau lore polit bat da. |
| bat | one, a, an | Kafe bat, mesedez. |
| bi | two | Bi lagun ditut hemen. |
| eta | and | Ogia eta ura erosi ditut. |
| asko | a lot, many, much | Liburu asko ditut etxean. |
| gaur | today | Gaur ostirala da. |
| herri | town, village (also people, nation) | Herri txiki batean bizi naiz. |
| mendi | mountain | Mendira joango gara. |
| euri | rain | Euria ari du. |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Basque with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.
The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday Basque. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.
Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.
One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Best Basque books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Basque CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Basque? See the timeline →
Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Basque words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.
Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the Basque word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.
Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use Basque, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.
Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday Basque text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real Basque at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.