is the Grammar of the Catalan Language .
''For general discussion of morphology (not specific to Catalan) see main article Morphology (linguistics) .''
In Catalan, Noun s referring to inanimate objects or abstract concepts can have or '''feminine''' Grammatical Gender : e.g. ''"el llibre"'' ("the book", masculine), ''"la taula"'' ("the table", feminine).
Articles take the following forms, derived from the Latin ''ille'' and ''unus'':
These are the forms used in standard and central Catalan. Dialectally and archaically, one may encounter other forms. For example, in Western Catalonia, the masculine definite articles ''lo'' and ''los'' are used instead of ''el'' and ''els''.
In the Balearic islands, the local dialect has a different origin for the definite article: the Latin determiner ''ipse'', meaning "that very" or "that same". The definite articles of the Sardinian Language are similar.
Some words that might seem to a non-Catalan-speaker to be the masculine and feminine form of the same word may have entirely different meanings. For example:
- ''"el cap"'' ("the head"), ''"la capa"'' ("the layer")
- ''"el roc"'' (an imaginary giant bird, or a small rock), ''"la roca"'' ("the rock")
- ''"el full"'' ("the paper sheet"), ''"la fulla"'' ("the leaf (of a plant)")
Sometimes there will exist two identical nouns, one masculine and one feminine:
- ''"el pols"'' ("the pulse"), ''"la pols"'' ("the powder/dust")
- ''"el llum"'' ("the lamp"), ''"la llum"'' ("the light (in abstract)")
- ''"el clau"'' ("the nail"), ''"la clau"'' ("the key")
- ''"el Pau"'' ("Paul", a male name), ''"la pau"'' ("the peace")
- ''"el nou"'' ("the nine"), ''"la nou"'' ("the nut")
Nouns for non-human animate beings can be divided into four classes:
- Masculine nouns that can refer to either the male or female of the species:
- ---''"un cocodril"'' ("a crocodile")
- ---''"un rossinyol"'' ("a nightingale").
- Feminine nouns that can refer to either the male or female of the species:
- --- ''"una guilla"'' ("a fox"),
- --- ''"una sargantana"'' (a type of lizard found in the Balearic Islands ).
- Entirely different forms for male and female:
- --- ''"un cavall"'' ("a stallion"), ''"una euga"'' ("a mare")
- --- ''"un brau"'' ("a bull"), ''"una vaca"'' ("a cow")
- Related forms with irregular endings reflecting biological gender:
- ---''"un gos"'' ("a {Link without Title} dog"), ''"una gossa"'' ("a bitch")
- ---''"un lleó"'' ("a lion"), ''"una lleona"'' ("a lioness")
Nouns referring to humans can be divided into the following groups:
- Masculine nouns:
- --- ''"un fuster"'' ("a carpenter/joiner")
- ---''"un paleta"'' ("a construction worker").
- Feminine nouns
- ---''"una pentinadora"'' ("A thread-braider")
- Nouns where the same word serves as both male and female:
- ---''"un modista"'' ("a fashion designer"), ''"una modista"'' ("a [female fashion designer")
- ---''"un dentista"'' ("a dentist"), ''"una dentista"'' ("a [female dentist")
- Forms with regular endings reflecting biological gender:
- ---''"un cuiner"'' ("a cook"), ''"una cuinera "'' ("a [female cook")
- ---''"un mestre"'' ("a teacher"), ''"una mestra"'' ("a [female teacher").
- Two entirely different forms:
- ---''"un home"'' ("a man"), ''"una dona"'' ("a woman")
- ---''"un amo"'' ("a master" or "a male owner"), ''"una mestressa"'' ("a mistress" or "a female owner").
- Forms with irregular endings reflecting biological gender:
- ---''"un actor"'' ("an actor"), ''"una actriu"'' ("an actress")
- ---''"un poeta"'' ("a {Link without Title} poet"), ''"una poetessa"'' ("a poetess").
A Catalan adjective must agree in gender and number with the noun it qualifies. Adjectives can be divided into three groups:
- Those with four forms: masculine singular: ''"blanc"'' ("white"), feminine singular: ''"blanca"'', masculine plural: ''"blancs"'', feminine plural: ''"blanques"''.
- Those with three forms: singular: ''"feliç"'' ("happy"), masculine plural: ''"feliços"'', feminine plural: ''"felices"''.
- Those with two forms: singular: ''"diferent"'' ("different"), plural: ''"diferents"''.
All plural nouns and adjectives end in . In most cases, the plural can be formed by simply affixing an to the singular.
For example:
- ''"roure"'' ("oak"), ''"roures"''
- ''"fort"'' ("strong"), ''"forts"''
Singular words ending in an unstressed change that to an '''e''' before adding the final '''-s'''. Some of these words have a more complicated way of pluralizing because of the necessary changes to the Orthography . The following examples show the orthographic issues that arise:
| transformation | singular | plural |
|---|
| becomes '''c''' | ''balança'' ("scale") | ''balances'' |
| ''dolça'' ("sweet") | ''dolces'' |
| becomes '''qu''' | ''cuca'' ("firefly") | ''cuques'' |
| ''seca'' ("dry") | ''seques'' |
| or '''qu''' becomes '''qü''' | ''Pasqua'' ("Easter") | ''Pasqües'' |
| ''iniqua'' ("iniquitous") | ''iniqües'' |
| usually becomes '''g''' | ''platja'' ("beach") | ''platges'' |
| | ''roja'' ("red") | ''roges'' |
| becomes '''gu''' | ''vaga'' ("worker strike") |
''vagues'' |
| ''amarg'' ("sour") | ''amargues'' |
| becomes '''gü''' | ''llengua'' ("language") | ''llengües'' |
| ''ambigua'' ("ambiguous") |
''ambigües'' |
Words that end in stressed Vowel s typically form the plural by adding (this rule has exceptions):
- ''"cantó"'' ("corner"), ''"cantons"''
- ''"ple"'' ("full"), ''"plens"''
Masculine words ending in , '''ç''', or '''x,''' with the accent on the last syllable typically add '''os''' to form the plural. Some (but not all) words ending in '''s ''' double the final when forming the plural (this rule has exceptions):
- ''"gas"'' ("gas"), ''"gasos"''
- ''"gos"'' ("dog"), ''"gossos"''
- ''"braç"'' ("arm"), ''"braços"''
- ''"reflex"'' ("reflex"), ''"reflexos"''
- ''"gris"'' ("gray"), ''"grisos"''
- ''"espès"'' ("thick"), ''"espessos"''
Masculine words ending in , '''st''', or '''xt''' with the accent on the last syllable can add either '''os''' or '''s''' to form the plural; both forms are considered correct:
- ''"bosc"'' ("forest"), ''"boscos"'' or "''boscs"''
- ''"impost"'' ("tax"), ''"imposts"'' or "''impostos"''
- ''"text"'' ("text"), ''"texts"'' or "''textos"''
The words ''"post"'' ("board") and ''"host"'' ("host" in the sense of a large group of people or in the technical sense as a shortened version of "host machine", but not in the sense of a person who has visitors) are feminine and simply add "s" to form the plural.
Some masculine words ending in have two acceptable plural forms, either adding '''s''' or replacing the with '''jos''':
- ''"faig"'' ("beech"), ''"fajos"'' or "''faigs"''
- ''"passeig"'' ("passage"), ''"pasejos"'' or "''passeigs"''
- ''"desig"'' ("desire"), ''"desitjos"'' or "''desigs"''
The ordinary "strong" Pronoun s in Catalan are as follows:
See Also: Weak pronouns in Catalan
The form of a Weak Pronoun depends on
#its position with respect to the Verb , and whether it's adjacent to a Vowel or a Consonant in the verb,
#the person (first person / second person / third person)
#the grammatical gender, and
#its Syntactic function.
The diagram below shows all of the different forms.
Examples:
- ''Em sentiu.'' ("You feel me." or "You hear me.")
- ''Això m'agrada'' ("I like that.")
- ''En Joan no vol seguir-me.'' ("John doesn't want to follow me.")
- ''Dóna'm un llibre.'' ("Give me a book.")
Person |
Syntactic Function |
Before a verb that
starts with a consonant |
Before a verb that
starts with a vowel |
After a verb that
ends with a consonant |
After a verb that
ends with a vowel |
|---|
1sg. |
|
em |
m' |
-me |
'm |
2sg. |
|
et |
t' |
-te |
't |
3sg. |
(a) reflexive / subject |
es |
s' |
-se |
's |
3sg. |
(b) direct object (m.) |
el |
l' |
-lo |
'l |
3sg. |
(c) direct object (f.) |
la |
l' |
-la |
3sg. |
(d) neuter object |
ho |
-ho |
3sg. |
(e) indirect object (m. or f.) |
li |
-li |
1pl. |
|
ens |
-nos |
'ns |
2pl. |
|
us |
-vos |
us |
3pl. |
(a) reflexive / subject |
es |
s' |
-se |
's |
3pl. |
(b) direct object (m.) |
els |
-los |
'ls |
3pl. |
(c) direct object (f.) |
les |
-les |
3pl. |
(e) indirect object (m. or f.) |
els |
-los |
'ls |
— |
(f) partitive |
en |
n' |
-ne |
'n |
— |
(g) locative |
hi |
-hi |
(a) Reflexive form, and pronominal subject form
:Reflexive: ''"La nena renta."'' ("The girl is washing herself.")
:Pronominal: ''"Tots van penedir d'això."'' ("Everyone is sorry about that.")
(b) Direct object (masculine)
: ''"Ahir vaig veure."'' ("Yesterday I saw him.")
(c) Direct object (feminine)
: ''"Ahir vaig veure."'' ("Yesterday I saw her.")
(d) Neuter pronoun corresponding to ''"això"'' ("this") or ''"allò"'' ("that"), or to an entire proposition
: ''"No sé."'' ("I don't know thing you just asked about .")
(e) Indirect object (masculine or feminine)
: ''" donaràs el llibre?"'' ("Will you give him/her the book?")
(f) Prepositional object introduced by ''de''
: ''"Tothom parla."'' ("Everyone is talking about it.")
(g) Prepositional object introduced by a preposition other than ''de''
: ''"Sempre he tingut ganes d'anar-."'' ("I've always wanted to go there.")
: ''"L'home no sent"'' ("The man can't hear.")
The general formula for combination is: ''se'' + 2nd person + 1st person + 3rd person (indirect + direct) + ''ho'' + ''ne'' + ''hi''. Following the order of the formula, always heading to the right, any combination of two or more weak pronouns is grammatically possible, with the following two exceptions:
- It is impossible to combine ''"ho"'' with ''"ne"'' or ''"hi"''.
- It is impossible to combine either two ''"ne"''s or two ''"hi"''s.
The apostrophe in any combination of two pronouns is always positioned as far to the right as possible: ''"se't"'', ''"se'ns"'', ''"se'm"'', ''"se'n"'', ''"te'm"'', ''"te'ls"'', ''"te'l"'', ''"te'n"'', etc.
The combination of ''"el"'' with ''"en"'', or ''"la"'' with ''"en"'', are both written ''"l'en"''.
See also: Combination Of Weak Pronouns In Catalan
''See also Conjugation Of Regular Catalan Verbs , Conjugation Of Auxiliary Catalan Verbs .''
A verb expresses the process or action performed by the subject, or which expresses the existence or state of the subject, or describes the relationship between the predicate noun and the subject.
Considering the verb in itself, we can distinguish:
- , which is a combination of three properties:
- ---: Basically, this is expresses the attitude of the speaker toward what is said. The four moods in Catalan are: Indicative , Subjunctive , Conditional and Imperative .
- ---: the grammatical category that situates the verb's action chronologically in relation to the moment when it is spoken. The times modes in Catalan are: past, present, and future.
- ---: the grammatical category that relates to duration of the action (i.e. distinguishing a transient action from a continuous action).
- : The ''conjugation'' of a verb in a particular tense is the set of forms it takes through the various combinations of ''persons'' and number (e.g. "first person singular", "third person plural"). Catalan verbs are classified into three conjugations according to the ending of the infinitive: the ''first conjugation'' applies to verbs ending in ''"ar"'' (e.g. ''"cantar"'', "to sing"); the ''second conjugation'' applies to verbs ending in ''"re"'' or ''"er"'' (e.g. ''"batre"'', "to beat"); the ''third conjugation'' applies to verbs ending in ''"ir"'' (e.g. ''"sentir"'', "to feel"). As in most Indo-European Language s, there are some irregular verbs, but they still tend to conform in a reasonable degree to these paradigmatic conjugations.
- originally translated from the
- ''Teach Yourself Catalan'' by Alan Yates (ISBN 0-8442-3755-8)
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