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Catalan phrasebook

Catalan (Català), spoken in Catalonia, Land of Valencia (where it is called Valencià), Balearic Islands (where it is sometimes called Mallorquí), Andorra (where it is the only official language), the south of France (north Catalonia) and the Sardinian city Alghero, is spoken by about 7 million people, making it the 8th language in the European Union. It is, like Spanish and French, a Romance language, and people who listen it for first time have the impression that it's a mix between them. It's a separate language however, as old as the other Romance languages, and you will be very welcome if you try to say some words while you are in a Catalan-speaking region.

Unlike English, Catalan nouns (words for things) have genders. Every noun is either masculine, like home ("man") or feminine, like dona ("woman"). The gender of things doesn't always seem to follow logically from the meaning of the word; why a house (casa) is feminine but a car (cotxe) is masculine is just one of the vagaries of the language. Fortunately, the gender of a noun is usually but not always indicated by the last letter of the word; -a indicates feminine nouns, but as a difference from Spanish, masculine words don't have a common ending.

Adjectives also have gender and number. Like nouns, -a usually indicates the feminine form. Adding an -s at the end of an adjective makes it plural. Adjectives need to match the noun they describe in both gender and number. For example, borratxo "drunk", when modifying les dones ("the women"), makes les dones borratxes.

In this guide, where genders of nouns or adjectives comes up, we use the form "/a" to differentiate. It should be clear from context when to use the feminine and when to use the masculine form.

Pronunciation Guide

Vowels | Consonants

Written Catalan does not seem as phonetic as Spanish or Italian to an anglophone foreigner, but it is definitely less complicated to pronounce than French or English. It has variations from one region to other; the model presented here is the standard pronunciation, similar to the language of the region near Barcelona. Each of the major dialectal areas has its differences in pronunciation and vocabulary (just like English does in Britain, by the way): Western (Lleida province and Ebre river basin), Balearic (Balearic islands), Valencian, etc..

Vowels

To know how to pronounce vowels in Catalan, is necessary to know the strong syllable of the word; a, i, o change if are in the strong syllable or a weak one.

a
like 'a' in "apple" if in the strong syllable or 'e' in "over" if in a weak syllable

e
like 'e' in "bed" or 'ea' in "bear" if in the strong syllable or 'e' in "over" if in a weak syllable

i
like 'ee' in "bee"

o
like the first component of the diphthong 'ow' in "low" or 'o' in "bond" if in the strong syllable or 'oo' in "hoop" if in a weak syllable

u
like 'oo' in "hoop"

In the case of e and o in a strong syllable, you can only know how it sounds if has the accent sign. è sounds always as 'e' in "bed", é sounds as 'ea' in "bear", ò sounds as 'o' in "bond" and ó sounds as the first component of the diphthong 'ow' in "low".

Consonants

b
like 'b' in "bed"

c
when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'c' in "cell", otherwise like 'k' in "kid"

ç
like 'c' in "cell"

d
like 'd' in "dog"

f
like 'f' in "fine"

g
when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'j' in "james", otherwise like "g" in "go" (in the clusters "gue" and "gui", the "u" is silent, unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi")

gu, gü
like 'Gu' in McGuire or 'w' in "wire"

h
silent

j
like 'j' in "james"

k
like 'c' in "cat"

l
like 'l' in "love"

ll
like 'lli' in "million" (palatized l)

l·l
like 'l' in "love"

m
like 'm' in "mother"

n
like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor"

ny
like 'ny' in "canyon"

p
like 'p' in "pig"

q
like 'q' in "quiche" (always with a silent "u")

r
like 'tt' in "butter"; except at the beginning of a word, or after "l" and "n"

r
like 'r' in "row"; at the beginning of a word, or after "l" and "n"

rr
like 'rr' in "mirror"; identical to the sound above

s
like 'ss' in "hiss" except when is between vowels, when it sounds like 'z' in "zone".

ss
like 'ss' in "hiss". Always goes between vowels.

t
like 't' in "top"

v
like 'b' in "bed"

w
like 'w' in "weight" in English words, like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words

x
like 'sh' in "short", except if is between two vowels, when sounds like 'cks' in "kicks"

z
like 'z' in "zone"

Phrase list

Basics
Problems
Numbers

Basics

Hello (informal).
Hola. (OH-lah). For the formal equivalent of "hola" see good morning, good afternoon, good evening, below.

How are you?
Com estàs? (KOH-m ehss-TAHSS?) (informal); Com està? (KOH-m ehss-TAH?) (formal)

Fine, thank you.
Molt bé, gràcies.

What is your name?
Com et dius? (informal); Com es diu? (formal)

My name is ______.
Em dic ______.

Nice to meet you.
Molt de gust.

Please.
Si us plau.

Thank you.
Gràcies. OR Mercès.

You're welcome.
De res.

Yes.
Sí. (SEE)

No.
No. (NOH)

Excuse me. (getting attention)
Dispensi.

Excuse me. (begging pardon)
Perdoni.

I'm sorry.
Ho sento OR Em sap greu.

Goodbye
Adéu OR Adéu-siau.

I can't speak Catalan [well].
No parlo [bé] el català.

Do you speak English?
Parles anglès? (informal); Que parla anglès?

Is there someone here who speaks English?
Que hi ha algú que parli anglès?

Help!
Ajuda! Auxili!

Good morning.
Bon dia.

Good afternoon.
Bona tarda.

Good evening (when it's dark)
Bon vespre.

Good night.
Bona nit.

I don't understand.
No ho entenc.

Where is the toilet?
On és el lavabo? OR On són els serveis?

Problems

Help!
Ajuda! Auxili!

Leave me alone.
Deixa'm en pau!

Don't touch me!
No em toquis! (nom-TOH-kees)

I'll call the police.
Trucaré la policia!

Police!
Policia! (poo-lee-SEE-ah)

Stop! Thief!
Al lladre!

I need help.
Necessito la teva ajuda.

It's an emergency.
És una emergència

I'm lost.
M'he perdut.

I lost my bag.
He perdut la meva bossa.

I lost my wallet.
He perdut la meva cartera/bitlletera.

I'm sick.
Estic malalt (woman: Estic malalta)

I've been injured.
Estic ferit/ferida

I need a doctor.
Necessito un metge. (nah-sir-see-toom-MEH-djer)

Can I use your phone?
Puc utilitzar el seu telèfon?

Numbers

1
u/una (Male/Female) (OON/OO-nah)

2
dos/dues (Male/Female) (DOHS/DOO-wehz)

3
tres (TRREHS)

4
quatre (KWAH-truh)

5
cinc (SEENK)

6
sis (SEES)

7
set (SEHT)

8
vuit (BWEET)

9
nou (NOH-oo)

10
deu (DAY-oo)

11
onze (OHN-zuh)

12
dotze (DOH-tzuh)

13
tretze (TRAY-tzuh)

14
catorze (kuh-TOR-tzuh)

15
quinze (KEEN-zuh)

16
setze (SEHT-zuh)

17
disset (dee-SEET)

18
divuit (dee-BWEET)

19
dinou (dee-NOH-oo)

20
vint (BEENT)

21
vint-i-u (been-tee-OO)

22
vint-i-dos (been-tee-DOHS)

23
vint-i-tres (been-tee-TREHS)

30
trenta (TRAYN-tuh)

31
trenta-u (trayn-tuh-OO)

40
quaranta (kwuh-RAHN-tuh)

50
cinquanta (sin-KWAHN-tuh)

60
seixanta (say-SHAHN-tuh)

70
setanta (suh-TAHN-tuh)

80
vuitanta (bwee-TAHN-tuh)

90
noranta (noo-RAHN-tuh)

100
cent (SENT)

200
dos-cents (DOHS-SENTS) or dues-cents (DOO-wuhz-SENTS)

300
tres-cents (TRES-SENTS)

1000
mil (MEEL)

2000
dos mil

1,000,000
un milió

1,000,000,000
mil milions

1,000,000,000,000
un bilió

number _____ (train, bus, etc.)
número _____

half
mig (MEECH)

less
menys

more
més (MEHS)

________

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