Catalan: An Essential Grammar is a concise and convenient guide to the basic grammatical structure of Catalan.

Presenting a fresh and accessible description of the language, this engaging Grammar uses clear explanations and sets out the complexities of Catalan in short, readable sections clarified by examples. Quick reference overviews are also provided in the appendix.

Catalan: An Essential Grammar is the ideal reference grammar for all learners of Catalan, whether class-based or independent, looking to progress beyond beginner level.

Nicolau Dols lectures as Professor Titular de Universitat at the University of the Balearic Islands. He is also a full member of the Philological Section of Institut d'Estudis Catalans, the official academy for the Catalan language. Richard Mansell is Senior Lecturer in Translation at the University of Exeter. Richard Mansell

Abbreviations ix

PART I What is Catalan? 1

Chapter 1 Catalan-speaking areas 3

Chapter 2 Catalan among the other Romance languages 5

Chapter 3 Catalan in the twenty-first century 7

Chapter 4 Main dialects 11

Chapter 5 Pronunciation and spelling 13

5.1 Vowels 13

5.2 Reading and pronouncing consonants 17

PART II Words, word groups, and word formation 19

Chapter 6 Word classes 21

6.1 Nouns 21

6.2 Adjectives 24

6.3 Articles 32

6.4 Personal (stressed) pronouns 37

6.5 Possessives and demonstratives 41

6.6 Quantifiers 46

Chapter 7 Verb phrases 58

7.1 Verbs 58

7.2 Adverbs 79

7.3 Unstressed pronouns 89

Chapter 8 Prepositions 106

8.1 Unstressed (atonic) prepositions 106

8.2 Simple and compound stressed (tonic) prepositions 108

Chapter 9 Derivation: Creating words from other words 114

9.1 Qualifying affixes 114

9.2 Category changing affixes 119

Chapter 10 Compounds 127

10.1 Verb + noun 127

10.2 Noun + noun 128

10.3 Noun (or pronoun) + verb 129

10.4 Noun + adjective / adjective + noun 129

PART III Clauses and sentences 131

Chapter 11 Word order 133

11.1 The basics 133

11.2 Word order in specific contexts 134

Chapter 12 Relating elements 138

12.1 Coordination 138

12.2 Subordinate clauses 142

PART IV Doing things and real language 157

Chapter 13 Intention 159

13.1 Affirmation 159

13.2 Negation 160

13.3 Questions 164

13.4 Exclamation 167

13.5 Giving orders 168

Chapter 14 Focusing 170

14.1 Passive 170

14.2 Impersonal sentences and pronominal passive 172

14.3 Cleft sentences 174

Chapter 15 Defining 176

15.1 The article 176

15.2 Copulative sentences: Linking subjects and predicates 176

Chapter 16 Comparing 182

16.1 Comparing single elements 182

16.2 Clauses 186

Chapter 17 Treatments 189

17.1 Degrees of politeness 189

17.2 Grammatical relations of polite pronouns 189

17.3 Honorifics 190

17.4 Titles before surnames 191

Chapter 18 Emphasizers 192

18.1 Emphasizing single elements 192

18.2 Emphasizing whole phrases 195

Chapter 19 Interjections and ideophones 196

Chapter 20 Frequent native-speaker mistakes (solecisms) 200

20.1 Morphology 200

20.2 Verb usage 204

20.3 Syntax 204

Appendix - Verb conjugation 209

Index 243