Traveling to the Basque Country is an incredible and culturally rich experience.

Learning a few basic words in Basque will make your trip significantly better.

Locals deeply appreciate it when visitors make an effort to speak their language.

Basque, or Euskara, is a language isolate that’s completely unrelated to Spanish or French.

I’ll show you the most essential vocabulary you need for your journey.

You’ll find that memorizing these basic words in small chunks will rapidly improve your confidence before you fly.

You can practice all of these travel phrases on Talk In Basque before your trip begins.

Greetings and polite expressions

The most important words you can learn are basic greetings.

Saying hello and thank you in Basque will instantly bring a smile to a local’s face.

While Euskara Batua (unified Basque) is understood everywhere, you might hear slight regional variations.

For example, agur is the standard word for goodbye, but in some coastal towns, you might hear people say aio.

Similarly, eskerrik asko means thank you, but locals frequently shorten it to eskerrik or use mila esker (a thousand thanks).

Here’s how you might greet a shop owner when walking inside:

Getting around and directions

Navigating the streets of Bilbao or San Sebastián is much easier when you recognize local signs.

Most street signs are bilingual, but rural areas often use Basque exclusively.

The phrase non dago…? (where is…?) is the most helpful tool you’ll have.

You just place the thing you’re looking for right after those two words.

You can use these words to ask for simple directions:

Eating and drinking at a pintxo bar

The Basque Country is famous for its incredible food and lively pintxo bars.

When you approach the bar, you’ll want to know how to order drinks to pair with your food.

The word bat means “one”, and in Basque, numbers almost always come after the noun.

Therefore, “one beer” becomes garagardo bat.

Here’s a common exchange you’ll have at a local tavern:

Numbers and shopping

You’ll frequently need basic numbers to pay for items or ask for prices.

Asking zenbat da? (how much is it?) will help you navigate markets and bakeries.

Basque counting is based on a base-20 system, much like traditional French, but you only need the basics for a short trip.

You can easily combine your numbers with the vocabulary from the previous sections.