Basque to Estonian: one each is a distribution rule, not a total of one
Find the recipient of the distribution
A Basque instruction with a distributive numeral can allocate an amount to every recipient. Translating it into Estonian as a bare total can leave a group with too few supplies. Before checking the number alone, identify who receives the amount and whether it applies separately to each person, household or team.
Laka’s grammar describes Basque distributives formed with -na, including bina for two each and seina for six each. Bana, one each, follows its noun, while seina follows the placement of the cardinal from which it is formed. The suffix belongs with the quantity being distributed; it is not an optional decorative ending.
The Estonian explanatory dictionary defines igaüks in terms of each individual taken separately. Its example Igaüks sai ühe õuna describes everyone receiving one apple. Other examples concern a room for each household and twelve pieces in each pile. The relevant unit can therefore differ from one instruction to another.
A team allocation and an individual allocation produce different totals
Imagine a Basque organiser distributing pencils at a training event. There are four teams of three participants. Giving two pencils to each participant requires twenty-four pencils, while giving two to each team requires eight. This original planning example shows why preserving two without identifying its distribution unit is insufficient.
If the source names teams, keep the team reference in the Estonian instruction. If it names individual participants, retain that instead. Do not infer an individual allocation merely because the event involves people, or a team allocation merely because the participants happen to sit together. The instruction itself determines which groups matter.
An instruction can also allocate a single shared item to a household. The dictionary’s household-and-room example illustrates that each need not mean each human occupant. In a workshop accommodation list, one room for each household and one room for each person would make very different reservations.
Do not confuse recipients with people doing the distributing
A distribution message may identify volunteers who hand out supplies as well as participants who receive them. Those roles should remain separate. Two volunteers each carrying a box does not establish how many pencils every participant will receive. The carried quantity and the eventual allocation belong to different stages of the event.
Keep any stated total separate from the per-recipient amount. If twenty-four pencils are available for twelve people, an equal allocation of two each follows arithmetically, but the translation should not invent an equal-sharing instruction when the source only reports the stock. Some pencils may be reserved for demonstrations or replacement.
Laka also discusses restrictions on Basque distributive phrases, including their inability to appear as subjects in the illustrated construction. That is another reason to interpret the full sentence instead of moving the distributive ending to whichever person seems most prominent. An ending associated with distributed objects does not simply describe the number of organisers.
Before sending the Estonian supply list, identify the distributed item, the amount per unit and the recipient unit. Then verify any overall total independently. This preserves the practical allocation rule while avoiding an accidental change from one per team to one for everyone together, or from available stock to a promise about equal shares.
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