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BASIC INFORMATION
Approximately 10 million (10,000,000) people speak Catalan (català)
in Catalonia and Valencia (Mediterranean Spain in the east, with Barcelona at
its heart), Andorra, the Balearic Islands (major resort islands off the east
coast of Spain), the Rousillon (in Southwestern France), and Algueres (Alghero,
in the North-West of Sardinia). Catalan is most closely related to a group of
languages spoken in the vast linguistic region of Southern France known as Occitania.
Beyond the many dialects of Occitan, French, not Spanish, is its closest
linguistic relative.
The Catalan introduced in this section is based principally on the dialect of Barcelona. Its position at the literary, artistic, historic and geographic center of Catalonia has made Barcelonese the basis of the standard written language. Catalan has several major dialects, and the numerous regional dialects include Balearic, Alguerese, Valencian and Roussillonese. Dialecticians often divide Catalan-speaking regions geographically: Eastern, Central (including Barcelona), and Western.
PRONUNCIATION
Keep in mind that pronunciation of Catalan tends to be varied, and
the spelling largely historical:
| Lletra/Lletres ~ Letter/Letters | Pronunciació ~ Pronunciation | Exemple ~ Example |
| a (à) | father | parlar (to speak) |
| b | boy (between vowels, as bilabial fricative [ß]) | beure (to drink) |
| c | cash before a/o/u, certain before e/i | ací (here - Valencian), ca (to, in [a place]) |
| ç | salt (always) | feliç (joyous, happy, merry) |
| d | dog (between vowels, as "th" in this) | dies (days) |
| e (é,è) | let or say* when stressed; unstressed as "e" in ladder | és (is), viure (to live) |
| f | fish | fer (to do) |
| g | gold before a/o/u, treasure before e/i. At the end of a word as kick | guanyar (to win, to earn), menges (you eat), llarg (long) |
| gu | anguish before a/o/u, guide before e/i | guia (guide), guanyar (to win, to earn) |
| gü(e/i) | anguish (always) | llengües (languages; tongues) |
| h | (silent) | haig fet (I have done) |
| i (í) | seem (stressed and unstressed) | i (and) |
| -ig | as hatch alone, as bridge when followed by another vowel | mig (middle); haig (I have) |
| (a/e/o/u)ï | queen (separates diphthongs) | països (countries) |
| j | as "s" in leisure | menjo (I eat) |
| l | light | parlar (to speak) |
| ll | million, but for some speakers like "y" in joyous | llum (light) |
| l·l | college (with lengthened "l") | col·legi ([high]school) |
| m | me | amb (with) |
| n | nice | no (no, not) |
| ny | onion, canyon | Catalunya (Catalonia) |
| o (ó,ò) | often or so* when stressed; unstressed as soon | obro (I open), no (no, not) |
| p | spite | per (for) |
| qu | quack before a/o/u, quiche before e/i | quan (when), aquí (here) |
| qü(e/i) | quack (always) | pasqües (Easters; Pascal Seasons) |
| r | rolled/trilled, as Spanish, although sometimes silent at the end of a word (always silent in infinitives). | raó (reason), tenir (to have), arbre (tree) |
| s | safe, but as pays between vowels (both palatalized more than English) | francès (French), coses (things) |
| ss | essay (always) | ésser (to be) |
| t | stay | tinc (I have) |
| tx/tz/tj | as chain, cats, and hatch respectively | despatx (office), organitzacions (organizations), mitjanit (midnight) |
| u (ú) | soon (stressed and unstressed) | tu (you) |
| v | (same rules as for "b") | vèncer (to conquer) |
| x | share (at the beginning or between consonant+vowel), mainly as exit or fax | xerès (sherry), èxit (success) |
| z | zebra | zumzum (humming) |
* There are two Catalan pronunciations of "e" and "o", both mutually exclusive. When occuring within a word and irregularly stressed, they will take acute and grave accents as follows: "é" as lay; "è" as let; "ó" as so; "ò" as off.
As a general rule, the stress falls one syllable back from the last (called the penultimate) unless the word ends in a consonant (other than an -s or -en). Països, then, is pronounced "pa-EE-zoos", with a great amount of weight on the first syllable. If a letter carries an accent mark, you must stress that accented vowel. The combination "ia" is stressed on the "i", so any variation must be indicated by an accent mark (diària (daily) needs an accent mark to keep the stress from the "i").
Exemples (examples):
La veritat ([the] truth; stressed on the final "a")
Per què (why; stressed on the final "e").
BASIC GRAMMAR
The Catalan noun has either a masculine
or feminine gender. In the singular, masculine tends to end
in a consonant or, sometimes, -e, feminine in -a, and words in -e can be of
either gender.
Words in -ció/-sió (related to Spanish -ción/-sión, Portuguese -ção/-são, French -tion/-sion, Italian -zione/-sione, and Romanian -t¸ie [sometimes -t¸iune]/-sie [sometimes -siune]) are feminine, just as in those languages.
In forming the plural, a consonant adds "s", an -e becomes -es, and an -a becomes -es. There are quite a few words ending in either stressed vowels or s/ç/tx that must be dealt with carefully (-à/-í/-ó/-ú* > -ans/-ins/-ons/-uns [in other words, they add "-ns"]; -s/-ç/-tx/-tj [pronounced as "j" in jam] >-ssos/-ços/-txos/-tjos [although there are a few scattered incidences of "-s/-sos", ex: països]). If we take the word expulsió (expulsion; as Spanish expulsión, Portuguese expulsão, French expulsion, Italian espulsione, and Romanian expulsare), for example, the plural is expulsions.
*In many cases, word-final vowels bearing diacritics also indicate the historic presence a nasal consonant "n", no longer found in the singular but always written and pronounced in the plural. The plural of el fí (end) is not els fis, nor do we find la mà (hand) > les màs, rather els fins and les mans.
The articles agree with the noun in number and gender:
Indefinite (a/an)
| Masculine | Feminine |
| un home (a man) | una cosa (a thing) |
| uns homes (some men) | unes coses (some things) |
Definite (the)
| Masculine | Masculine, before vowel | Feminine | Feminine, before vowel (other than unstressed "i/u") | |
| Singular | el llibre (the book) | l'hotel (the hotel) | la cosa (the thing) | l'ampolla (the bottle) note: la universitat (the university) |
| Plural | els llibres (the books) | els hotels (the hotels) | les coses (the things) | les ampolles (the bottles) |
The articles usually accompany the noun, and it is common to see them where English would reject them: Parles l'espanyol (= el castellà), senyor? (Do you speak Spanish (= Castilian), sir?).
The Catalan verb follows the same basic principles as as its sister languages, so don't be surprised if you recognize a verb, verb form, or usage of a verb as being similar to Spanish, French, etc. As in any Romance Language, the present indicative active of the verb often occurs where English would use the present participle (in Catalan, for example, parlo means "I speak" or "I am speaking").
Catalan has three verb terminations ("infinitive endings"): -ar, -er/-re*, and -ir. Here are the regular present indicative tense conjugations for each of the infinitive endings, including sample verbs:
| -ar | parlar (to speak) | -er/re | perdre (to lose) | -ir* | servir (to serve) | |
| jo (I) | -o | parlo | -o | perdo | -(eix)o | serveixo |
| tu (you)* | -es | parles | -es | perdes | -(eix)es | serveixes |
| ell (he) | -a | parla | -e | perde | -(eix) | serveix |
| ella (she) | -a | parla | -e | perde | -(eix) | serveix |
| Vostè (you)* | -a | parla | -e | perde | -(eix) | serveix |
| Nosaltres (we) | -em | parlem | -em | perdem | -im | servim |
| Vosaltres (all of you)* | -eu | parleu | -eu | perdeu | -iu | serviu |
| ells (they) | -en | parlen | -en | perden | -(eix)en | serveixen |
| elles (they; all female) | -en | parlen | -en | perden | -(eix)en | serveixen |
| Vostès (all of you)* | -a | parlen | -en | perden | -(eix)en | serveixen |
* Quite a few verbs in "-re" have "irregular" conjugations.
*Tu is used in familiar/informal situations when addressing a single person, vostè (Vostè) for more formal ones. Vosaltres is the plural of tu, hence it is less formal than vostès (Vostès).
* Quite a few verbs ending in -ir take the -(eix)- infix before the verb endings (notice the relationship to both the Italian "isc" and Romanian "esc"; these infixes are not a uniquely Catalan phenomenon).
Adjectives agree with the noun, and most always follow them: una cosa blanca (a white thing), les coses blanques (the white things). An adverb is simply formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of the adjective: ràpidament (quickly, rapidly; from ràpid quick, fast, rapid).
BASIC WORDS AND PHRASES
These phrases reflect the standard usage of the Central dialect:
Bon dia! = Goodday!
Hola! = Hello!
Com estàs? = How are you?, How's it going?
Com està? = How are you? (formal)
Bé. = Well.
Malament. = Badly.
Així-així. = So-so.
Molt... = Very...
Com et dius? = What's your name?
Com es diu? = What's your name? (formal)
I tu? = And you?
I Vostè? = And you? (formal)
Senyor. = Sir, Mr.
Senyora/Dona = Madam, Mrs.
Senyoreta. = Miss (with or without name).
Encantat/Encantada. = Pleased to meet you. (from male/female)
Si us plau. = Please.
Perdó. = Excuse me.
Hi ha (aquí)... = Here is...
Hi ha... = There is...
Hi ha... = There are...
Sí. = Yes.
No. = No.
Gràcies. = Thank you.
De res. = You're welcome.
Què? = What?
Qui? = Who?
Per què? = Why?
Quina hora és? = What time is it?
Adéu(-siau) / A reveure! = Goodbye!, See you later!
Joshua Rudder, talktume@talktume.com.
