The US FDA’s proposed rule on laboratory-developed tests: Impacts on clinical laboratory testing

Catalan / Valencian cultural domain
History History of Andorra History of Aragon History of the Balearic Islands History of Catalonia History of Roussillon History of Sardinia History of Valencia Crown of Aragon Principality of Catalonia Kingdom of Majorca Kingdom of Valencia Catalan constitutions Furs of Valencia Treaty of the Pyrenees Nueva Planta decrees
People Andorrans Aragonese Balearics Ibizans Majorcans Minorcans Catalans Sardinians Alguerese Valencians
Language History Literature Dialects and varieties Grammar Pronunciation Phonetic history IPA guide Spelling-to-sound charts Orthography Alphabet Braille Morpho-syntax Nouns Personal pronouns Verbs (Conjugation) Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) Institut and Fundació Ramon Llull (IRL & FRL)
Geo-political divisions Andorra Aragon (La Franja) Balearic Islands Ibiza Majorca Minorca Catalonia Murcia (El Carxe) Pyrénées-Orientales (Northern Catalonia) L'Alguer Valencia See Catalan Countries
Government and politics General Council of Andorra (Politics) Courts of Aragon (Politics) Government of the Balearic Islands (Politics) Generalitat of Catalonia (Politics) General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales (Politics) Generalitat of Valencia (Politics) See Catalan and Valencian nationalism, Catalanophobia
Traditions Myths and legends Traditions Caganer Castells Correfoc Falles Fogueres de Sant Joan Gegants i capgrossos Moros i cristians Muixeranga Saint George's Day Sardana Tió de Nadal
Cuisine Catalan cuisine Coca Ensaïmada Pa amb tomàquet Paella
Art Catalan art Antoni Gaudí Antoni Tàpies Joan Miró Joaquim Sorolla Salvador Dalí
Literature Literature Segle d'or Decadència Renaixença Modernisme Noucentisme
Music and performing arts Music Nova cançó Rock català Rumba catalana
Sport Sport in Catalonia
Symbols National symbols of Catalonia Flags Andorra Balearic Islands Catalonia Valencia Coats of Arms Andorra Balearic Islands Catalonia Valencia Anthems El Gran Carlemany Els Segadors La Balanguera Himne de l'Exposició

Catalan (and Valencian) nouns are inflected for gender (masculine or feminine), and number (singular or plural). There is no case inflection. Articles and adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to.

Usually, masculine nouns are unmarked, feminine nouns carry the suffix -a; and the plural is marked with the suffix -s, which makes the feminine ending turn into -e-. Thus, the most common declension paradigm for Catalan names is the one that follows:

Example:
declension of gat "cat"

	masculine	feminine
singular	gat	gata
plural	gats	gates

The grammatical gender of a Catalan noun does not necessarily correspond with the real-life object's biological sex (or lack thereof). Nouns denoting a person, such as home "man" or dona "woman", generally agree with the natural gender of what is described. However, Catalan assigns gender to nouns without natural gender in arbitrary fashion. For example, the word tamboret ("stool") is masculine, while the word cadira ("chair") is feminine.

Living beings of the same species usually are designed by two nouns: one of masculine grammatical gender for biologically male individuals, and one of feminine grammatical gender for biologically female individuals. Both names, masculine and feminine, are usually only differentiated by their ending; sometimes the second is derived from the first or vice versa. Rarely, both come from different roots.^[1]

• Most times the feminine form is created by appending the suffix -a to the unmarked masculine form.^[1]

Noi → noia. Avi → àvia.

"Boy – girl." "Grandfather – grandmother."

• If the masculine form ends in -t, -p, -f, -s, the addition of the feminine suffix -a may cause these consonants to become voiced to -d-, -b-, -v-, -s-; or not. There are no rules to deduce the change.^[1]

	becomes voiced			remains unvoiced
change	masculine	feminine	gloss	masculine	feminine	gloss
⟨-t⟩ → ⟨-d-⟩ /t/ → /ð/	nebot	neboda	"nephew – niece"	nét	neta	"grandson – granddaughter"
⟨-p⟩ → ⟨-b-⟩ /p/ → /β/	llop	lloba	"wolf"
⟨-f⟩ → ⟨-v-⟩ /f/ → /v~β/	serf	serva	"serf"
⟨-s⟩ → ⟨-s-⟩ /s/ → /z/	espòs	esposa	"husband – wife"	gos	gossa	"dog – bitch"

• If the masculine form ends in a stressed vowel, the feminine is created by appending the suffix -na.^[1]

Germà → germana

"Brother – sister."

• Sometimes the feminine form is created by appending the suffix -essa to the unmarked masculine form.^[1]

Sacerdot → sacerdotessa.

"Priest – priestess."

• Sometimes the masculine form is created from the feminine by changing the suffix a for -ot.^[2]

Bruixot ← bruixa.

"Wizard – witch."

• Sometimes a single noun is used to designate both masculine and feminine beings. To specify the biological gender of the being, the adjectives mascle "male", and femella "female" are used.^[2]

El rossinyol. El rossinyol mascle. El rossinyol femella.

" The nightingale." "The male nightingale." "The female nightingale"

• Since objects and abstract concepts have no biological gender, all of them only have one form. The gender of inanimate nouns is assigned arbitrarily. Sometimes the choice may seem contradictory.

La virilitat (f).

"The manliness."

• Sometimes synonymous words may have different genders.

El televisor (m) – la televisió (f). L'argent (m) – la plata (f)

"The TV." "The silver."

• Some homonymous words may have different genders according to their meaning.^[2]

El clau (m) – la clau (f)

"The nail – the key."

Like all the Western Romance languages, the formation of the plural involves the addition of the suffix -s to the singular. However, the stem may undergo some changes. The number inflection of adjectives follows the same rules.^[3]

• Most times the plural form is created by appending the suffix -s to the singular form.^[4]

Pare → pares. Avi → avis.

"Father – fathers." "Grandfather – grandfathers."

• If the singular ends in -a, the plural is usually formed with -es. Most of these nouns are feminine, but some are masculine.^[4]

Casa → cases (f). Problema → problemes (m).

"House – houses." "Problem – problems"

• • However, if the singular ends in -ga, -ca, -gua, -qua, -ça, -ja, the plural is formed by -gues, -ques, -gües, -qües, -ces, -ges. This is made for orthographical reasons, and stem pronunciation remains identical in the singular and plural.^[4]

sound	transformation	singular (stem underlined)	plural (stem underlined)	IPA transcription	gloss
/ɣ/	⟨g⟩ → ⟨gu⟩	farga	fargues	/ˈfarɣə(s)/	"forge(s)"
/k/	⟨c⟩ → ⟨qu⟩	oca	oques	/ˈɔkə(s)/	"goose – geese"
/ɣw/	⟨gu⟩ → ⟨gü⟩	llengua	llengües	/ˈʎeŋɡwə(s)/	"tongue(s)"
/kw/	⟨qu⟩ → ⟨qü⟩	pasqua	pasqües	/ˈpaskwə(s)/	"Easter(s)"
/s/	⟨ç⟩ → ⟨c⟩	plaça	places	/ˈpɫasə(s)/	"square(s)"
/ʒ/	⟨j⟩ → ⟨g⟩	pluja	pluges	/ˈpɫuʒə(s)/	"rain(s)"
/ddʒ/		platja	platges	/ˈpɫaddʒə(s)/	"beach(es)"

• If the singular form ends in a stressed vowel, the plural is usually created by appending the suffix -ns.^[4]

Pa → pans (m). Capità → capitans (m). Acció → accions (f).

"Bread – breads." "Captain – captains." "Action – actions."

• • However, some words ending in a stressed vowel form their plural in -s.^[4] Many of them are relatively recent loanwords not directly inherited from late Latin.

Sofà → sofàs. Bambú → bambús.

"Sofa – sofas." "Bamboo – bamboos."

• • A few nouns ending in unstressed -e can also form their plural alternatively in -ns. It is considered archaic or dialectal.^[5]

Home → homes or hòmens. Orfe → orfes or òrfens

"Man – men." "Orphan – orphans."

• Many masculine nouns ending in -s, ç form their plural with -os. -s- becomes voiced in the plural, but -ç- remains unvoiced.^[5]

Gas → gasos /ˈgas – ˈgazus/. Braç → braços /ˈbɾas – ˈbɾasus/.

"Gas – gases." "Arm – arms."

• • In some masculine nouns ending in -s, this remains unvoiced when adding -os, and thus becomes -ss-:^[6]

• • Most polysyllabic masculine words ending in -às, -ís, ús.

Fracàs → fracassos. Pastís → pastissos. Barnús → barnussos

"Failure – failures." "Cake – cakes." "Bathrobe – bathrobes"

• • Most masculine words ending in -os, -ós, òs.

Gos → gossos. Arròs → arrossos. Ós → óssos.

"Dog – dogs." "Rice – rices." "Bear – bears."

• Masculine paroxytone and proparoxytone nouns ending in -s are invariable.^[7]

Llapis → llapis. Òmnibus – òmnibus

"Pencil – pencils." "Omnibus – omnibuses."

• Feminine nouns ending in an s-like sound (-s, -ç, -x, -z) have a plural that is pronounced the same as the singular. If the noun ends in -s, no ending is added.^[7] Otherwise, an unpronounced -s is added.^[5]

Pols → pols. Calç → calçs /ˈkaɫs/.

"Dust – dusts." "Lime – limes."

• Nouns ending in -x pronounced /ks/ form plurals according to word stress. If the noun is stressed on the last syllable, the plural suffix is -os. Otherwise, the ending is -s and the plural form is homophonous with the singular.^[7]

Reflex → reflexos /rəˈflɛksus/. Índex → índexs /ˈindəks/.

"Reflection – reflections." "Index – indexes."

• Nouns ending in -x pronounced /ʃ/ form their plural with -os.

Calaix → calaixos.

"Drawer – drawers."

• Nouns ending in -ig (/tʃ/) can form their plural in two ways, both acceptable:^[7]
  • Adding -s. Both forms will be homophonous. This is the preferred form.

Faig → faigs /ˈfatʃ/. Passeig → Passeigs /pəˈsɛtʃ/.

• • Replacing -ig with jos or tjos. There are no rules to deduce which is to be used.

Faig → fajos /ˈfatʃ – ˈfaʒus/. Passeig → Passetjos. /pəˈsɛtʃ – pəˈsɛddʒus/.

"Beech – beeches." "Promenade – promenades."

• Nouns ending in -sc, -st, -xt can form their plural in two ways, both acceptable: Adding -s (preferred), or adding -os.^[7]

Bosc → boscs or boscos. Gust → gusts or gustos. Pretext → pretexts or pretextos

"Forest – forests." "Taste – tastes." "Pretext – pretexts."

• Feminine nouns ending in -st always form the plural by adding -s.^[7]

Host → hosts.

"Hueste – huestes."

• Fabra, Pompeu (1933) [1918]. Gramàtica Catalana (PDF) (in Catalan) (7th ed.). Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans. ISBN 84-7283-290-2. [Facsimile published in 1995]