|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Catalan grammar is the grammar of the Catalan language. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official The Phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation This article covers the Orthography of Catalan, a Romance language. The Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute for Catalan Studies or IEC is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua ( AVL) - Valencian Academy of the Language - is an institution created on September 16, 1998 by the For other perspectives on the History of Catalonia, see also History of Europe; History of Spain; History of France; Crown of Aragon The Count of Barcelona was the major ruler in Catalonia from the 9th until the 17th century The Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon. Origins The origins of the military force in Catalonia soar to the 13th century, with the Sagramental, the fraternity among several villages to guarantee their Origin The Corts of Barcelona The Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona ( corts being the Catalan for courts Furs of Valencia ( Furs de València, in Valencian) were the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia during most of Middle Ages and The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed in 1659 to end the war between France and Spain that had begun in 1635 during the Thirty Years' War. The Nueva Planta decrees (Decretos de Nueva Planta were a number of Decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Philip V &mdashthe first Bourbon king of Different meanings Països Catalans is a polysemic expression and so it has different meanings depending on the context Catalonia (Cataluña Catalunya Aranese: Catalonha) is an Autonomous Community in the northeast part of Spain. The Valencian Community ( Valencian and official Comunitat Valenciana; Comunidad Valenciana is an Autonomous community located in central to The Balearic Islands ( Catalan and official Illes Balears; Spanish: Islas Baleares) are an Archipelago in the western Mediterranean The term La Franja ("The Strip" more properly Franja de Aragón or Franja de Poniente "Western Strip" in Spanish) Franja d'Aragó Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra ( Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small Landlocked country in western Alghero ( l'Alguer in Catalan and S'Alighèra in Sardinian) is a town of about 42000 inhabitants (down from 54300 inhabitants since early El Carche ( el Carxe in Valencian) is a mountainous sparsely populated area in Murcia, Spain, lying between the municipalities Jumilla The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self government institutions under which the Spanish Autonomous community of Valencia is politically The Balearic Islands ( Catalan and official Illes Balears; Spanish: Islas Baleares) are an Archipelago in the western Mediterranean The General Council of the Valleys (in Catalan, Consell General de les Valls) is the Unicameral Parliament of Andorra. Catalonia is a Spanish Autonomous Community with a high-level of self-government Catalan Nationalism, or Catalanism (from Catalanisme in Catalan) is a political movement advocating for either further political A castell is a human tower traditionally built during festivals in many places in Catalonia, Spain. Correfocs are amongst the most striking of Catalonia 's festive events " Devils quot play with Fire and with the people The Falles (in Valencian) are a Valencian traditional celebration in praise of Saint Joseph in Valencia Spain. The sardana (Catalan plural sardanes) is a type of Circle dance typical of Catalonia. Moros y Cristianos (in Spanish) or Moros i Cristians (in Valencian) literally means Moors and Christians, and A Caganer (kəɣəˈne is a little statue found in Catalonia, in neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, and in other parts of Spain Portugal and The Tió de Nadal (roughly "Christmas Log" also known as "Tió" (trunk or log a big piece of cut wood or "Tronca" ("log" Botifarra (butiˈfarə is the Catalan name for the Roman Sausage lucanica, made of raw pork and spicesthe recipe for which is still used today in Italy and other parts of the Fútbol Club Barcelona ( Catalan fudˈbɔɫ ˌklup bəɾsəˈlonə Spanish ˈfutβol ˌkluβ baɾθeˈlona known familiarly as Barça (Spanish ˈbaɾsa Catalan Paella (pa'eʎa is an internationally famous dish consisting of White rice, Meat, Seafood, Beans and Vegetables (depending on Catalan myths and legends are the traditional myths and Legends of the Catalan -speaking world especially Catalonia itself passed down for generations Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to Literature written in the Catalan language. Catalan Modernisme (not to be confused with Modernism) was the Catalan equivalent to a number of fin-de-siècle movements such as Symbolism, The Renaixença (rənəˈʃɛnsə was an early 19th century late romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture akin to the Noucentisme ( Noucentista being its adjective was a Catalan cultural movement of the early 20th century that originated largely as a reaction against Modernisme Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11 1904 &ndash January 23 1989 was a Spanish Catalan Surrealist Joan Miró i Ferrà ( April 20, 1893 &ndash December 25, 1983) was an ethnic Catalan (of Spanish nationality Antoni Tàpies (born in Barcelona, December 13, 1923) is a Spanish Catalan painter Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official
Contents |
Morphology
For general discussion of morphology (not specific to Catalan) see main article Morphology (linguistics). Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words
Articles and nouns
In Catalan, all nouns (including those referring to inanimate objects or abstract concepts) have either masculine or feminine grammatical gender: e. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong g. el llibre ("the book", masculine), la taula ("the table", feminine).
The definite and indefinite articles (derived from Latin ille and unus, respectively) take the following forms:
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The elided form l' is used before masculine nouns that begin with a vowel (or h followed by a vowel), and before feminine nouns that begin with a vowel other than unstressed (h)i and (h)u:
- masculine: el llibre ("the book") vs. Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a Vowel, a Consonant, or a whole Syllable) in a word or phrase producing a result that is easier l'amic ("the friend"), l'imperi ("the empire")
- feminine: la taula ("the table") vs. l'amiga ("the friend"), l'illa ("the island", with stressed i) but la idea ("the idea", with unstressed i)
The forms given above are those 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. Sardinian ( Sardu, Saldu) is after Italian the main language spoken in the island of Sardinia, Italy, remarkable for being the most conservative
| Balearic definite article | ||
|---|---|---|
| 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, 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:
- 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. The Balearic Islands ( Catalan and official Illes Balears; Spanish: Islas Baleares) are an Archipelago in the western Mediterranean 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 orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific Writing system to write the language 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 | Pasqua ("Easter") | Pasqües |
| iniqua ("iniquitous") | iniqües | |
| j usually becomes g | platja ("beach") | platges |
| roja ("red") | roges | |
| g becomes gu | vaga ("worker strike") | vagues |
| amarg ("sour") | amargues | |
| 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. In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract 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:
| Catalan pronoun | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| jo | I |
| tu | you (singular) |
| ell | he/it (masculine) |
| ella | she/it (feminine) |
| nosaltres | we |
| vosaltres | you (plural) |
| ells | they (masculine) |
| elles | they (feminine) |
These forms are used as subject pronouns, and also as disjunctive pronouns, for example, after a preposition. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or According to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle, every sentence can be divided in two main constituents, one being the subject of the sentence and the A disjunctive pronoun is a stressed form of a Personal pronoun reserved for use in isolation or in certain syntactic contexts In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. The first person singular pronoun has a special form mi after a preposition: amb mi "with me" (see prepositional pronoun). A prepositional pronoun is a special form of a Personal pronoun that is used as the object of a preposition.
Weak pronouns
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 weak pronouns in Catalan (known in Catalan as "clítics" or "pronoms febles") are Proforms that as the name indicates The weak pronouns in Catalan (known in Catalan as "clítics" or "pronoms febles") are Proforms that as the name indicates For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the
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. ")
Weak pronouns: Diagram
| 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 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 + 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".
Verbs
See also Conjugation of regular Catalan verbs, Conjugation of auxiliary Catalan verbs. Conjugation of regular Catalan verbs This is a supplement to the main article on Catalan grammar. This table explains the 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:
- 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. Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. In Grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a Verb mood that exists in many languages
- 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. "voler", "to want"; "batre", "to beat"); and 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
References
- originally translated from the Catalan-language Wikipedia article
- Yates, Alan (1993). Teach Yourself Catalan. NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8442-3755-8.
- (French) Freysselinard, Eric (2002). Grammaire et vocabulaire du catalan. Paris: Ophrys. ISBN 2-7080-1037-9.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic