Catalan grammar
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Catalan grammar is the grammar of the Catalan language.
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Morphology
For general discussion of morphology (not specific to Catalan) see main article Morphology (linguistics).
Articles and nouns
In Catalan, nouns referring to inanimate objects or abstract concepts can have masculine 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:
| Definite article | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
| singular | el, l' | la, l' |
| plural | els | les |
| Indefinite article | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
| singular | un | una |
| plural | uns | unes |
These are the forms used in standard and central Catalan. Dialectally and archaically, one may encounter other forms. For example, in Western Catalonia, the masculines 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 Balearic definite article | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
| Singular | es, s' | sa, s' |
| Plural | ses | ses |
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), "la roca" ("the rock")
- "el full" ("the paper sheet"), "la fulla" ("the leaf (of a plant)")
There are words that do not change their form when they change from masculine to feminine, such as:
- "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")
- "en 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", similar to the English language word "ewe", meaning "a female sheep")
- "un toro" ("a bull"), "una vaca" ("a cow")
- Related forms with irregular endings reflecting biological gender:
- "un gos" ("a [male] 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 [male] fashion designer"), "una modista" ("a [female] fashion designer")
- "un dentista" ("a [male] dentist"), "una dentista" ("a [female] dentist")
- Forms with regular endings reflecting biological gender:
- "un cuiner" ("a [male] cook"), "una cuinera " ("a [female] cook")
- "un mestre" ("a [male] 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 [male] poet"), "una poetessa" ("a poetess").
Adjectives
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: tres formes: singular: "feliç" ("happy"), masculine plural: "feliços", feminine plural: "felices".
- Those with two forms: singular: "diferent" ("different"), plural: "diferents".
Rules for the formation of plurals
All plural nouns and adjectives end in s. In most cases, the plural can be formed by simply affixing an s to the singular.
For example:
- "roure" ("oak"), "roures"
- "fort" ("strong"), "forts"
Singular words ending in an unstressed a change that a to an e before adding the final -s. Some of these words have a more complicated way of pluralizing because of the necessary changed to the orthography. The following examples show the orthographic issues that arise:
| transformation | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| ç becomes c | balança ("scale") | balances |
| dolça ("sweet") | dolces | |
| c becomes qu | cuca ("firefly") | cuques |
| seca ("dry") | seques | |
| cu or qu becomes qü | pascua ("Easter") | pasqües |
| iniqua ("iniquitous") | iniqües | |
| j usually becomes g | platja ("beach") | platges |
| ...but... | roja ("red") | rotjes |
| g becomes gu | vaga ("wave") | vagues |
| grog ("yellow") | grogues | |
| gu becomes gü | llengua ("language") | llengües |
| ambigua ("ambiguous") | ambigües |
Words that end in stressed vowels typically form the plural by adding -ns (this rule has exceptions):
- "cantó" ("corner"), "cantons"
- "ple" ("full"), "plens"
Masculine words ending in s, 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 s 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 sc, 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 ig have two acceptable plural forms, either adding s or replacing the ig with jos:
- "faig" ("beech"), "fajos" or "faigs"
- "passeig" ("passage"), "pasejos" or "passeigs"
- "desig" ("desire"), "desitjos" or "desigs"
Weak pronouns
The form of a weak pronoun depends on
- its position with respect to 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. The pronouns in column A are used when the verb begins with a consonant; those in column B when the verb begins with a vowel; those in column C when the verb ends in a consonant; and those in column D when the verb ends in a vowel.
Examples:
- Em sentiu. ("I feel.")
- Això m'agrada ("Here is fine with me.")
- En Joan no vol seguir-me. ("John doesn't want to follow me.")
- Dóna'm un llibre. ("Give me a book.")
Weak pronouns: Diagram
| Person | Syn. Function | Before the verb | After the verb | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | C | D | ||
| 1, sing. | em | m' | me | m | |
| 2, sing. | et | t' | te | 't | |
| 3, sing. | (a) reflexive / subject | es | s' | se | 's |
| 3, sing. | (b) direct object (f.) | el | l' | lo | 'l |
| 3, sing. | (c) direct object (m.) | la | l' | la | la |
| 3, sing. | (d) indirect object | li | li | li | li |
| 1, pl. | ens | ens | nos | 'ns | |
| 2, pl. | us | us | vos | us | |
| 3, pl. | (a) reflexive / subject | es | s' | se | 's |
| 3, pl. | (b) direct object (f.) | els | els | los | 'ls |
| 3, pl. | (c) direct object (m.) | les | les | les | les |
| 3, pl. | (d) indirect object | els | els | los | 'ls |
(a) Reflexive form, and pronominal subject form.
- Reflexive: "La nena es renta." ("The child is washing itself.")
- Pronominal: "Tots en van penedir." ("Everyone is sorry about that").
(b) Direct object (masculine).
- "Ahir el vaig veure." ("Yesterday I went to see him.").
(c) Direct object (feminine).
- "Ahir la vaig veure." ("Yesterday I went to see her.").
(d) Indirect object (no gender distinction)
- "Li donaràs el llibre?" ("Will you give him/her the book?")
"En", "ho", and "hi"
Catalan also has three pronouns that do not correspond to the scheme diagrammed in the previous section: "en", "ho", and "hi". Roughly speaking, "en" corresponds to a combination of "de" ("of") and a noun (or nominal clause). It is often translated into English by a construct like "of it", "of them", "some of them", "any of them", or "from it", "from them" etc. "Hi" corresponds (in general) to the combination of any preposition other than "de" with a noun (or a nominal clause), as in "Sempre he tingut ganes d'anar-hi," ("I've always wanted to go there"). It also is used when verbs of perception are used intransitively, as in "L'home no hi sent" ("The man can't hear"). "Ho" is a neuter pronoun that can stand in for some neuter words like "això" ("this") or "allò" ("that"), or for an entire phrase (e.g. "No ho sé", "I don't know [the thing you just asked about]").
The pronoun"en" has four forms: "en", "n'", "ne", and "'n" depeding on the phonetic or orthographical context.
The pronouns "ho" and "hi" do not vary.
Order when combining weak pronouns
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 bothe written "l'en".
See also: Combination of weak pronouns in Catalan
Verbs
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:
- Tense, which is a combination of three properties:
- Mode: Basically, this is expresses the attitude of the speaker toward what is said. The three modes in Catalan are: indicative (typically used to say something is true), subjunctive (typically used to indicate some degree of conditionality), and imperative (used to give a command).
- Time: 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.
- Aspect: the grammatical category that relates to duration of the action (i.e. distinguishing a transient action from a continuous action).
- Conjugation: 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 languages, there are some irregular verbs, but they still tend to conform in a reasonable degree to these paradigmatic conjugations.
External links
- A good English-language site about Catalan grammar (http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Catalan/Grammar/index.html)
References
Most of this article is translated from the Catalan-language Wikipedia article on the same topic. The section "En", "ho", and "hi" is based loosely on the discussion of these words in Teach Yourself Catalan by Alan Yates (ISBN 0844237558).