>> LESSON 1 / LLIÇÓ 1: The article / L'article

Then, there are also the undefined words, which would be the same as 'A' in English (Sp. 'un/una', Fr. (un/une), Pr. (um/uma)):

UN --> For masculine words. Its plural is UNS.
Example: Un noi / Uns nois (A boy / Some boys)

UNA --> For feminine words. Its plural is UNES.
Example: Una noia / Unes noies (A girl / Some girls)

There is not apostroph form for this article.

EXERCICI 1: Write the article of the following words (gender is indicated in brackets):

1. Ampolla (f)
2. Globus (m)
3. Hora (f)
4. Cavall (m)
5. Aigua (f)
6. Riu (m)
7. Ungla (f)
8. Aixella (f)
9. Muntanya (f)
10. Ciutat (f)

>> LESSON 2/ LLIÇÓ 2: How to form a plural?

sing. / plural (example)

-E,-A / -ES (bata / bates)
-È, -É / -ENS (cinquè / cinquens)
-Ò, -Ó / -ONS (avió / avions)
-Ú / -UNS (oportú / oportuns)
-À / -ANS (replà / replans)
-Í / -INS (alpí / alpins)
-S / -SOS (gos - gossos) NOTE: this case often gets double S
-TX / -TXOS (esquitx - esquitxos)
-IX / -IXOS (peix - peixos)
-IG / -TJOS (desig - desitjos)
-[the rest of the consonants] / -[+S] (fred / freds)

Special endings

-ca / -ques (vaca - vaques)
-ga / -gues (amiga - amigues)
-qua / -qües (Pasqua - Pasqües)
-gua / -gües (aigua - aigües)
-tja / -tges (platja - platges)
-ça / -ces (caça - caces)

EXERCICI 2: Put these words into plural:

1. Cuina (kitchen)
2. Rebedor (hall)
3. Jardí (garden)
4. Dormitori (bedroom)
5. Sala (room)
6. Garatge (garage)
7. Carrer (street)
8. Teulat (roof)
9. Habitació (room)
10. Passadís (passage)

EXERCICI 3: Translate this words into Catalan, using this dictionary.

1. The cherry
2. A fish
3. The water
4. Some cakes
5. The salt
6. A bread
7. The eggs
8. The sugar
9. A meat
10. The wine
11. Some kiwis
12. Some teas
13. The strawberries
14. The soups
15. The salmons
16. A salad
17. The cocos
18. An oil
19. Some melons
20. The lemon

>> LLIÇÓ 3: Adjectives.

- Catalan adjectives make their ending depending of its genre

- Catalan adjectives are usually placed after the noun they are complementing.

- Not all adjectives have different forms for every genre.

Some exceptions: alegre/alegre, lliure/lliure, salvatge/salvatge, dèbil/dèbil.

EXERCICI 4: Make the feminine form of these words:

1. Bonic (pretty)
2. Maco (pretty)
3. Amable (kind)
4. Ample (wide)
5. Fred (cold)
6. Càlid (warm)
7. Verd (green)
8. Blau (blue)
9. Vermell (red)
10. Sord (deaf)
11. Groc (yellow)
12. General (general)
13. Sorprenent (surprising)
14. Islamista (Islamist)
15. Violent (violent)

EXERCICE 5: Now make its plural.

EXERCICI 6: Download this video and introduce yourself. You can use some of the expressions below.

BE CARE not to play it very loud, because in the middle of the play I start laughing loudly... (I feel a bit stupid for laughing like that, but I can't change that now... lol).

What the girl says:

"Hola. Em dic Roser, tinc 17 anys. Estic estudiant Batxillerat. Ara estic fent deures d'anglès. I tinc set. I parlo català. El català és fàcil!"

[Hi. My name is Roser, I am 17. I'm studying Baccalaureate (High school). Now I'm doing English homework. And I'm thirsty. And I speak Catalan. Catalan is easy!"]

Now introduce yourself to this course. You can follow this previous example. Use http://www.diccionarios.com/ for the words you don't know.

>> LLIÇÓ 4: Verb ser and estar (to be).

Catalan verbs are conjugated by person, so they have a different ending depending on the subject (like any Romance language). In Catalan, personal pronouns (I, you, etc) are hardly ever used. You only use them to emphasize the person who is doing the action or when you want to introduce somebody.

The verb TO BE in Catalan is divided in two verbs (like in other Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese, etc):

1. SER
2. ESTAR

1 SER

Jo sóc / I am
Tu ets / You are
Ell és / He is
Ella és / She is
Això és / It is
Nosaltres som / We are
Vosaltres sou / You are (plural form)
Ells són / They are
Elles són / They are (feminine form)

2 ESTAR (same translation)

Jo estic
Tu estàs
Ell està
Ella està
Això està
Nosaltres estem
Vosaltres esteu
Ells estan
Elles estan

U S E S

In general, Catalan uses 'ser' more than 'estar'. 'Ser' is much more used than it is in Castilian or Portuguese.

Use of 'ser'

1 Situation - Situation of things, persons, etc. (I am here - Sóc aquí).

2 Definition - For descriptions of the qualities of a thing/person. (The cat is white - El gat és blanc).

3 The rest of the cases where you don't use 'estar'.

Use of 'estar'

In general, 'estar' is used for temporary things, to express how a person feels, etc. You hardly ever use 'estar' with things (almost only with persons and animals). Examples:

I'm tired - Estic cansat / I'm sick - Estic malalt / I'm bored - Estic avorrit / I'm happy - Estic content..

>> LLIÇÓ 6: Verbs (Present).

There are 3 different kinds of Catalan verbs depending on their ending. Every kind of verb is a conjugation, so the ending of the verb changes depending on their verb conjugation. These are:

1 Verbs which end in -AR
2 Verbs which end in -ER or -RE
3 Verbs which end in -IR

There would be a fourth group, which includes the irregular verbs, although we will see them along this course.

In this lesson, we will learn the present form for the verbs of the first conjugation (-AR). For example, the verb CANTAR (to sing):

Jo cant/o
Tu cant/es
Ell cant/a
Nosaltres cant/em
Vosaltres cant/eu
Ells cant/en

So... as you can see, we have replaced -AR and added the ending for each person. Now you're able to use all verbs which end in -AR!

Be care with the ending of some verbs like 'menjar' (to eat):

Jo menjo
Tu menGEs ('je' can hardly ever be found in Catalan)
Ell menja
Nosaltres menGEm
Vosaltres menGEu
Ells menGEn

>> LLIÇÓ 7: Vowels pronounciation

I think Catalan pronounciation is similar to the Portuguese one. Both consonantic and vowel sounds. However, I will first start with the vowel ones.

Vowel sounds change depending on the syllab: it can be strong or weak. You can guess where is the strong syllab of a word just looking at its accentuation (stress like à, ò, ú, etc...). But I will explain accentuation rules later. I will represent the strong syllab by writing it in capitals.

A (strong) It is pronounced like A in 'Car' (same A in Spanish).
a (weak) In Catalan, we call it 'neutral vowel', and it has the same sound as E in 'the boy'. I think Portuguese has got a similar sound... has it?
E (strong) It can have 2 possible sounds: è (like E in 'bed', or I in French 'jardin'. Also in Italian and Portuguese); é (like the Spanish E like in 'perro', or E in French 'aller')
e (weak) It's also a 'neutral vowel' and has the same sound as weak A.
I (weak and strong) Like in Spanish, like in Italian, something which can be like EE in 'see' or I in 'bitter'.
O (strong): It can also have 2 possible sounds: ò (between Spanish O and A, maybe like OA in 'goal', you can often find it in Portuguese); ó (like in Spanish. Typical O, maybe like 'eau' in French).
o (weak): It is pronounced 'u', like Spanish U, or OO in English 'cool'. Not like French 'cul'. Like Italian and Portuguese 'u'.
U (weak and strong) Like previous weak O.

>> LLIÇÓ 7: Consonantic pronounciation

Don't be afraid, consonantic pronounciation is easier than the vowel one!

B - Like English, French, Spanish, Italian, etc.
C (a,o,u) - Like English 'key', like Spanish 'casa'.
C (e,i) - Like an S.
D - Like English, French, Spanish, Italian, etc.
F - Like most languages.
G (a,o,u) - Like most languages (English 'garden')
G (e,i) - Like English 'jam', like Portuguese 'geral', like French 'jardin'.
H - Silent.
J - Like G (e,i)
K - Like C (a,o,u)
L - Like most languages.
M - Like most languages.
N - Like most languages
P - Like most languages
Q - Like most languages
R - Like Spanish or Italian 'r'. Not like French or English.
S - Like C (e,i) at the begining of a word. Between vowels, it becomes like Z (English 'zoo'). Double SS is like French 'basse'.
T - Like most languages.
V - Like B.
X - At the beginning of a word, it sounds like english SH in 'shark'. Between vowels, it can sound like [ks] or [kz]. IX is pronounced like SH in 'shark' and 'I' is not pronounced. Example: caixa --> /'kaS6/ (written in Sampa)
Z - Like english 'zoo'.

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