Catalan grammar

Catalan grammar is the grammar of the Catalan language.

Table of contents

1 Morphology 1.1 Articles and nouns 1.2 Adjectives 1.3 Rules for the formation of Plurals 1.4 Weak pronouns 1.4.1 Weak pronouns: Diagram , "ho", and "hi"">1.4.2 "En", "ho", and "hi" 1.4.3 Order when combining weak pronouns 1.5 Verbs 2 External links 3 References

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:

Definite article
Number	Masculine	Feminine
singular	el, l'	la, l'
plural	els	les

Indefinite article
Number	Masculine	Feminine
singular	un	una
plural	uns	unes

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")

There are words that do not change their form when they change from masculine to feminine, such as:

• "el pols" ("the pole"), "la pols" (""the powder/dust")

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 unstresseda 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

1. its position with respect to the verb
2. the person (first person / second person / third person)
3. the grammatical gender, and
4. 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.

"Li donaràs el llibre?" ("Will you give him the book?")

, "ho", and "hi"">

"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. It is often translated into English by a construct like "of it", "of them", "some of them", "any of them", etc. "Hi" corresponds to the combination of a preposition other than "de" with a noun, as in "Sempre he tingut ganes d'anar-hi," ("I've always wanted to go there"). It also is used when verbs of perceotion are used intransitively, as in "No hi sent el home" ("The man can't hear"). "Ho" is a neuter pronoun that can stand in for a neuter word like "això" ("here") or for an entire phrase (e.g. "No ho se", "I don't know [the thing you just asked about]").

The pronoun"en" has four forms: "en", "n", "ne", and "n".

The pronouns "ho" and "hi" do not vary.

Order when combining weak pronouns

The general formula for combination is: se + 2^nd person + 1^st person + 3^rd 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 gramatically 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 main article Conjugation of regular 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 cronologically 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 pardigmatic conjugations.

External links

A good English-language site about Catalan grammar

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).