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Morphology

For general discussion of morphology (not specific to Catalan) see main article Morphology (linguistics). For other uses, see Morphology. ...

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). In English, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... In linguistics, grammatical gender is a morphological category associated with the expression of gender through inflection or agreement. ...

Articles take the following forms, derived from the Latin ille and unus: An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. ...

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. Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzards 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England. ... An article is a word that is put next to a noun to indicate the type of reference being made to the noun. ...

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. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

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 [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: Capital Palma de Mallorca Official language(s) Spanish and Catalan Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 17th  4,992 km²  1. ...

• 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: 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 changes to the orthography. The following examples show the orthographic issues that arise: The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of writing in that language. ...

Words that end in stressed vowels typically form the plural by adding -ns (this rule has exceptions): Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

• "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"

Strong pronouns

The ordinary "strong" pronouns in Catalan are as follows: In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English. ...

Weak pronouns

Main article: Weak pronouns in Catalan

The form of a weak pronoun depends on The weak pronouns in Catalan (known in Catalan as clítics or pronoms febles) are pronouns that, as the name indicates, are never emphasized vocally. ... The weak pronouns in Catalan (known in Catalan as clítics or pronoms febles) are pronouns that, as the name indicates, are never emphasized vocally. ...

1. its position with respect to the verb, and whether it's adjacent to a vowel or a consonant in 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. It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ...

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.")

Weak pronouns: Diagram

(a) Reflexive form, and pronominal subject form

Reflexive: "La nena es renta." ("The girl is washing herself.")

Pronominal: "Tots es van penedir d'això." ("Everyone is sorry about that.")

(b) Direct object (masculine)

"Ahir el vaig veure." ("Yesterday I saw him.")

(c) Direct object (feminine)

"Ahir la vaig veure." ("Yesterday I saw her.")

(d) Neuter pronoun corresponding to "això" ("this") or "allò" ("that"), or to an entire proposition

"No ho sé." ("I don't know [the thing you just asked about].")

(e) Indirect object (masculine or feminine)

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

(f) Prepositional object introduced by de

"Tothom en parla." ("Everyone is talking about it.")

(g) Prepositional object introduced by a preposition other than de

"Sempre he tingut ganes d'anar-hi." ("I've always wanted to go there.")

"L'home no hi sent" ("The man can't hear.")

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 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-1...

Verbs

See also Conjugation of regular Catalan verbs, Conjugation of auxiliary Catalan verbs. Conjugation of regular Catalan verbs. ... ésser (ser) To be. ...

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:
  • Mood: Basically, this is expresses the attitude of the speaker toward what is said. The four moods in Catalan are: indicative, subjunctive, conditional and imperative.
  • 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.

In linguistics, many grammars have the concept of grammatical mood, which describes the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. ... The subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a grammatical mood of the verb that expresses wishes, commands (in subordinate clauses), and statements that are contrary to fact. ... Look up conditional in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Imperative programming, as opposed to functional programming, is a sort of programming employing side-effect as central execution feature. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ...

External links

• A good English-language site about Catalan grammar

References

• originally translated from the Catalan-language Wikipedia article
• Teach Yourself Catalan by Alan Yates (ISBN 0-8442-3755-8)