Catalan Grammar

Catalan subject pronouns are jo, tu, ell/ella, nosaltres, vosaltres, ells/elles, with vostè and vostès for formal “you.” Unlike English, Catalan usually leaves the pronoun out because the verb ending already indicates the subject: Parlo català means “I speak Catalan.” State the pronoun when it adds contrast, emphasis, or clarity.

Every Catalan noun has a gender, masculine or feminine, and a number, singular or plural. Endings offer useful clues—nouns in unstressed -a are often feminine, and many plurals add -s—but the safest habit is to learn each noun with its article: el gat, la casa, els gats, les cases.

Catalan has four basic equivalents of English the: el for masculine singular nouns, la for feminine singular nouns, els for masculine plural nouns, and les for feminine plural nouns. Before many words beginning with a vowel or silent h, singular el or la becomes l': l'home (“the man”), l'amiga (“the female friend”). Choose the article by the noun's gender and number, not by the person speaking.

Catalan has four indefinite articles: un and una mean “a,” “an,” or “one,” while uns and unes usually mean “some” or “a few.” Choose the form that matches the noun in both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural): un gat, una dona, uns amics, unes cases.

Catalan has two common verbs corresponding to English “to be.” As a practical beginner rule, use ser for identity, profession, origin, defining characteristics, and time; use estar for someone’s location and for states or conditions: Sóc de Girona “I am from Girona,” but Estic cansada “I am tired.” Both verbs are irregular, so their forms must be learned rather than built from a regular pattern.

For a regular Catalan verb ending in -ar, remove -ar and add -o, -es, -a, -em, -eu, -en: parlo, parles, parla, parlem, parleu, parlen. The ending identifies the subject, so Catalan commonly says Parlem català rather than Nosaltres parlem català for “We speak Catalan.”

Catalan verbs ending in -er or -re belong to the second conjugation. A useful beginner pattern is perdo, perds, perd, perdem, perdeu, perden, but many common verbs alter their stem: bec but bevem, and veig but veiem. Learn the six forms of frequent verbs as a small family rather than assuming that every second-conjugation verb is completely regular.

Catalan verbs ending in -ir follow two main present-tense patterns. Pure verbs use forms such as dormo, dorms, dorm, while inchoative verbs insert -eix- in the singular and the third-person plural: serveixo, serveixes, serveix, serveixen. Because the infinitive alone does not always reveal the pattern, learn a new verb with its jo form: dormir — dormo but servir — serveixo.

English have splits into two main verbs in Catalan. Use tenir for possession and many personal states: Tinc dos germans (“I have two siblings”), Tinc son (“I am sleepy”). Use haver as an auxiliary verb (a helping verb used to build a tense) and in the fixed existential expression hi ha, which means both “there is” and “there are.”

Put no immediately before the verb to make a basic Catalan sentence negative: Parlo català becomes No parlo català. A yes/no question normally keeps the statement's word order and is marked by rising intonation in speech and ? in writing: Parles català? After the verb, words such as res, mai, ningú, and cap require no: No ve mai means “He or she never comes.”

Catalan adjectives normally agree with the noun they describe in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural): un gat negre, una gata negra, uns gats negres, unes gates negres. Unlike English adjectives, they usually come after the noun. Some adjectives have separate masculine and feminine forms, while others, such as gran, use the same form for both genders.

Catalan prepositions link words by expressing ideas such as destination, origin, location, company, means, purpose, and absence. Start with a “to/at,” de “of/from,” en “in/on,” amb “with,” per “by/through/because of,” per a “for/intended for,” sense “without,” and entre “between/among.” Before el and els, remember common forms such as al, als, del, dels, pel, and pels.

Catalan numbers from 1 to 100 are built from a small set of forms, but spelling matters: 21–29 use `-i-` (vint-i-un, vint-i-dos), while other tens join to the unit with one hyphen (trenta-un, quaranta-dos). Before a noun, un/una and dos/dues agree with its gender: un llibre, una taula; dos llibres, dues taules.

Ask Quina hora és? (“What time is it?”) and answer És la una for one o’clock but Són les dues, les tres... for all other hours. Dates normally follow the order day–month–year: el 14 de febrer de 2026. Days and months are not capitalized in Catalan: dilluns, gener.

A small set of Catalan expressions lets you greet someone, introduce yourself, be polite, and keep a simple conversation going. Start with bon dia (“good morning”), em dic... (“my name is...”), si us plau (“please”), gràcies (“thank you”), and de res (“you’re welcome”). Learn each expression as a complete phrase rather than translating it word by word.

Seven Catalan verbs are especially useful from the start: anar (go), fer (do or make), dir (say or tell), poder (can), voler (want), saber (know), and venir (come). Their present-tense forms do not fully follow the usual verb patterns, so learn the short forms as a set: vaig, faig, dic, puc, vull, sé, vinc.

Catalan normally expresses “my,” “your,” and similar ideas with a definite article plus a possessive: el meu llibre (“my book”), la teva clau (“your key”). Both words agree with the thing possessed, not with its owner: el seu fill, la seva filla, els seus fills, les seves filles. The third-person forms seu/seva/seus/seves can mean “his,” “her,” “its,” “their,” or formal “your,” so context often supplies the owner.

Catalan demonstratives point to a person, object, place, or idea. Aquest refers to what is close, aqueix traditionally refers to what is near the listener, and aquell refers to what is farther away. The forms change for gender and number—aquest llibre, aquesta casa, aquests llibres, aquestes cases—while the neuter forms això and allò refer to an unidentified thing, situation, or idea.

Catalan adverbs add information such as where, when, how often, how, or to what degree: aquí (here), ara (now), sempre (always), bé (well), and molt (very/a lot). They do not change for gender or number. The safest beginner patterns are sempre + verb, no + verb + mai, verb + bé/malament/molt/poc, and molt + adjective or adverb.

Catalan normally expresses “I like X” as m'agrada X, literally closer to “X is pleasing to me”: M'agrada el cinema. Use agraden when the thing liked is plural. Anar means “to go”; anar a + infinitive can express movement toward an activity or an immediate plan, while anar-se'n means “to leave” or “to go away.”

Core Catalan family words include pare (father), mare (mother), germà/germana (brother/sister), fill/filla (son/daughter), and avi/àvia (grandfather/grandmother). They have grammatical gender and normally use an article with a possessive: el meu pare, la meva mare, els meus avis. A masculine plural can name either a group of men or a mixed group, so germans may mean “brothers” or “siblings.”

Use menjar for “to eat” or “food,” beure for “to drink,” and prendre for “to have” a drink or ordered item. A safe, polite order is Voldria un cafè amb llet, si us plau (“I’d like a coffee with milk, please”). For hunger and thirst, Catalan says tenir gana and tenir set—literally “to have hunger/thirst,” not “to be hungry/thirsty.”

Catalan combines a, de, and per with the masculine articles el and els: a + el = al, de + els = dels, and per + el = pel. Before a vowel sound, however, singular articles and some short pronouns usually lose a vowel and take an apostrophe: l'escola, l'home, m'agrada. These are required written forms, not optional shortcuts.

Catalan colour words usually act as adjectives: words that describe a person or thing. Unlike English colour words, they normally change to match the gender and number of the noun: un cotxe vermell, una camisa vermella, uns cotxes vermells, unes camises vermelles. They also usually follow the noun rather than come before it.

To describe a routine in Catalan, use a present-tense verb and add a time or frequency expression: Em llevo a les set means “I get up at seven,” while Sempre esmorzo a casa means “I always have breakfast at home.” Some routine verbs are reflexive and need em, et, es, ens, us, es; the meal verbs esmorzar, dinar, and sopar do not.

To ask what the weather is like, say Quin temps fa? Catalan commonly answers with fa plus a weather expression (fa sol, fa fred, fa vent), but it uses weather verbs for rain and snow (plou, neva) and estar for a condition such as està ennuvolat.

To say that a body part hurts, Catalan normally uses em fa mal + definite article + body part: Em fa mal el cap (“My head hurts”). The verb changes to fan when the painful body part is plural: Em fan mal les cames. Common health expressions use tenir (“to have”), as in Tinc febre, or estar (“to be”), as in Estic malalta.

Ask where a known person, place, or thing is with On és...? (“Where is...?”). Answer with és plus a place expression: És aquí (“It is here”), És a prop (“It is nearby”), or És al final del carrer (“It is at the end of the street”). For directions, learn short commands such as Gira a la dreta (“Turn right”) and Segueix tot recte (“Continue straight ahead”).

Use poder + infinitive for “can” or “be able to,” voler + infinitive for “want to,” and saber + infinitive for “know how to.” The infinitive is the unchanged dictionary form of a verb: Puc entrar? (“Can I come in?”), Vull descansar (“I want to rest”), and Sé conduir (“I know how to drive”). All three verbs are irregular in the present tense.

Catalan uses què (what), qui (who), on (where), quan (when), com (how), per què (why), quant (how much or how many), and quin (which or what). Most are invariable, but quant and quin agree with a noun in gender and number: quanta aigua, quants dies, quina hora, quines sabates. Catalan does not add an equivalent of English do to form a question: Què vols? means “What do you want?”

The passat perifràstic is the usual spoken Catalan tense for completed past events. Form it with a special past auxiliary—vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van—followed by an infinitive (the basic verb form): vaig parlar means “I spoke,” and van sortir means “they left.” The infinitive never changes; only the auxiliary shows the person.

The Catalan present perfect is formed with the present tense of haver plus a past participle (a verb form such as parlat, “spoken”): he parlat, has parlat, ha parlat. Use it especially for an action in a time period connected to now—often with avui (“today”), aquesta setmana (“this week”), ja (“already”), or encara no (“not yet”). For an event placed in a completed past period such as ahir (“yesterday”), Catalan normally uses the periphrastic past: vaig parlar.

Catalan weak pronouns are short, unstressed words placed next to a verb: La conec means “I know her,” while Pots ajudar-me? means “Can you help me?” As a beginner rule, put the pronoun before a conjugated verb but attach it after an infinitive or an affirmative command. The forms el, la, els and les agree with the gender and number of the person or thing they replace.

Catalan reflexive verbs use a weak pronoun that matches the subject: em, et, es, ens, us, es. Put it before a conjugated verb—Em llevo a les set (“I get up at seven”)—but attach it to an infinitive: Vull llevar-me d'hora (“I want to get up early”). Learn the pronoun together with the verb, because many everyday Catalan verbs are pronominal even when English does not use “myself” or “yourself.”

Catalan usually builds a basic relative clause with que: la veïna que treballa aquí (“the neighbour who works here”) and el missatge que has enviat (“the message you sent”). Use on when the missing idea is a place (“where”), and use que after common time expressions such as el dia que; quan introduces a clause meaning “when.” Unlike English, Catalan does not leave out que in object relatives.

Catalan connectors show how ideas relate: i adds, o offers a choice, però contrasts, and perquè gives a reason. Com que, quan, si, mentre, and encara que introduce a clause (a group of words containing a verb) about cause, time, condition, simultaneous action, or concession. Start by joining short statements, then learn which verb mood follows each connector.

Catalan commonly describes general physical characteristics with ser + adjective, hair and eyes with tenir + noun, and things someone wears with portar + noun: És alta, Té els ulls blaus, Porta ulleres. Use estar + adjective for an appearance understood as a current state or result, as in Avui està pàl·lida.

Catalan forms the regular past participle with -at, -ut, or -it: parlat, perdut, dormit. It forms the gerund with -ant, -ent, or -int: parlant, perdent, dormint. Use the participle with haver in compound tenses and the gerund for an action in progress or occurring alongside another action.

Catalan uses em, et, li, ens, us and els to show who receives something or who is told, shown, asked or given something: Li he donat un regal means “I gave him/her a gift.” Put the pronoun before a conjugated verb (li dic) but attach it after an infinitive or affirmative command (dir-li, digues-li). The third-person forms do not show gender: li can mean “to him” or “to her,” and els means “to them.”

Catalan ordinal numbers agree with the noun they describe: el primer dia but la primera vegada. The quantity words molt, poc and bastant also change form when they accompany a noun, while massa and prou stay unchanged: moltes preguntes, poca aigua, massa gent, prou cadires.

Use crec que to state what you think, em sembla que to give a more tentative impression, prefereixo to say what you prefer, and (no) estic d'acord to agree or disagree. Catalan normally keeps que before a complete clause and uses amb before the person or idea you agree with: Crec que tens raó and No estic d'acord amb tu.

Catalan usually marks a destination with a and an origin with de: anar a Barcelona “to go to Barcelona,” but venir de Barcelona “to come from Barcelona.” Learn motion verbs as complete patterns—especially anar a, venir de, sortir de, entrar a, and tornar a—while remembering that pujar and baixar may take no preposition when followed directly by stairs, a hill, or another route.

The Catalan imperfect (imperfet d'indicatiu) presents a past situation from the inside: it was habitual, ongoing, descriptive, or part of the background. Use forms such as cantava (“used to sing/was singing”) and vivíem (“used to live/were living”), rather than the periphrastic past used for a completed event.

The Catalan simple future (futur simple) uses one set of endings for every verb: -é, -às, -à, -em, -eu, -an. Add them to the infinitive or to an irregular future stem: cantaré (“I will sing”), tindrem (“we will have”), faràs (“you will do”), vindran (“they will come”). Unlike English, Catalan expresses “will” within the verb itself rather than with a separate auxiliary word.

The Catalan conditional is usually built by adding -ia, -ies, -ia, -íem, -íeu, -ien to the infinitive: cantaria means “I/he/she would sing.” It is used for hypothetical results, polite requests, wishes, advice, and the future as seen from a past moment. Common verbs use the same irregular stems as the future: poder → podria, tenir → tindria, fer → faria.

Catalan commands distinguish informal singular, formal singular, and plural listeners: canta “sing,” canti “sing” politely, and canteu “sing” to several people. Affirmative commands have their own forms, but negative commands use no + present subjunctive: No cantis. Object pronouns follow an affirmative command (Fes-ho) but come before a negative one (No ho facis).

The Catalan present subjunctive presents an action not simply as a fact, but as something wanted, doubted, felt, required, possible, or intended: Vull que vinguis (“I want you to come”). It commonly appears after que, but que alone does not cause it; the meaning of the main clause does. For regular -ar verbs, the endings are -i, -is, -i, -em, -eu, -in: canti, cantis, canti, cantem, canteu, cantin.

Use més ... que for “more ... than,” menys ... que for “less ... than,” and tan ... com for “as ... as.” A relative superlative normally uses a definite article plus més or menys: la ruta més curta (“the shortest route”). Common irregular forms include millor (“better/best”) and pitjor (“worse/worst”).

Catalan en replaces an indefinite amount or a phrase normally introduced by de: Tens pa? En tinc (“Do you have bread? I have some”) and Parlem del problema? En parlem (“Shall we talk about the problem? We are talking about it”). Hi replaces a place or many verb complements introduced by a, en, or another preposition: Vas a Barcelona? Hi vaig (“Are you going to Barcelona? I am going there”). Both are unstressed pronouns placed next to the verb.

Use the periphrastic past (vaig parlar) for a completed event in a finished past setting, the present perfect (he parlat) when the event belongs to a time frame connected to now, and the imperfect (parlava) for habits, states, descriptions, or background in progress. A story therefore often combines them: Plovia quan vaig sortir means “It was raining when I went out.”

For an open, realistic condition, Catalan normally uses si + present indicative in the condition and the future in the result: Si plou, no sortiré (“If it rains, I won’t go out”). Use the present in both clauses for general truths, and use an imperative or a modal verb in the result for instructions, offers, and possibilities. Do not normally put the future tense directly after conditional si.

A Catalan verbal periphrasis combines a conjugated verb with an infinitive (the basic verb form, such as venir “to come”) to express ideas such as obligation, recent completion, repetition, or imminence. In Has de venir, only has changes for the subject; venir stays in the infinitive. The linking word—usually de or a—is part of the construction and cannot normally be omitted or exchanged.

Catalan ser and estar do not follow a simple permanent-versus-temporary rule. Use ser to identify or characterize someone or something and to locate events; use estar to present a condition, a result, or a stay in a place. With some adjectives, changing the verb changes the meaning: és llest means “he is clever,” while està llest means “he is ready.”

Catalan often expresses necessity, possibility, or generally reported information without naming a person as the subject. Use cal + infinitive for a general necessity, cal que + subjunctive when someone specific must act, es + verb for “one,” “people,” or an impersonal passive, and fa falta for something that is needed.

When the verb in a Catalan relative clause requires a preposition, put that preposition before the relative pronoun: la persona amb qui parlo (“the person I am speaking with”). Use qui for people, què for things and ideas after a simple preposition, or an agreeing form of el qual for people or things: el tema del qual parlàvem. Standard Catalan does not use plain, unaccented que directly after a preposition in this construction.

Catalan uses the imperfect subjunctive for hypothetical conditions and for many dependent clauses viewed from a past or conditional main clause: Si pogués, ho faria (“If I could, I would do it”) and Volia que vinguessis (“I wanted you to come”). Its characteristic forms include cantés, perdés, dormís, fos, tingués, and hagués. Despite its name, it does not always refer to past time: in a hypothetical si clause, it can describe an unreal situation now or in the future.

Catalan can form a full passive with ser + past participle, and the participle agrees with the passive subject: La carta ha estat enviada. In everyday Catalan, however, an es construction is often more natural when the agent is unknown or unimportant: Es venen pisos. Hom + third-person singular verb offers a more formal impersonal alternative.

For an unreal or unlikely present situation, Catalan normally uses si + imperfect subjunctive + simple conditional: Si pogués, ho faria (“If I could, I would do it”). For an unreal past situation, use si + pluperfect subjunctive + conditional perfect: Si hagués pogut, ho hauria fet (“If I had been able to, I would have done it”). Mixed conditionals combine these patterns when the condition and its result belong to different times.

Catalan reported statements normally use a reporting verb plus que: Diu que està cansada (“She says that she is tired”). When the reporting verb is in the past, the original tense often moves one step back: present → imperfect, past → pluperfect, and future → conditional. Yes/no questions use si, while reported commands usually use que plus the subjunctive.

Catalan can place two or more weak pronouns together before or after a verb: me'l dona (“gives it to me”), se'n va (“leaves”), li ho dic (“I tell it to him or her”). Their order is not freely chosen, and spelling changes with apostrophes and hyphens. A practical core order is reflexive → recipient → thing → en/hi, although some third-person combinations have special and regional forms.

Use the Catalan pluperfect (plusquamperfet) for something that had already happened before another past moment: Quan vaig arribar, ja havia marxat (“When I arrived, he/she had already left”). It is formed with the imperfect of haver plus a past participle. The past anterior (passat anterior), such as haguí cantat, also looks back from the past but normally marks an action completed immediately before the next one; it is now rare and mainly literary.

Catalan discourse connectors show how one idea relates to another: d'altra banda introduces another perspective, tanmateix and no obstant això mark contrast, a més a més adds information, en definitiva sums up, and pel que fa a sets the topic. They often stand at the beginning of a sentence and are separated from the rest by a comma, but their meaning—not just their position—determines which one fits.

When a Catalan relative clause needs a preposition, put the preposition before the relative form: la casa en què visc, la persona de qui parlo, el motiu pel qual vaig marxar. Use qui mainly for people, què mainly for things, and el qual / la qual / els quals / les quals when agreement, formality, or clarity makes the fuller form useful.

Catalan normally uses fer + infinitive when someone causes an action: Em fa riure means “He or she makes me laugh,” while He fet reparar el cotxe means “I had the car repaired.” Use deixar + infinitive for permission: Deixa'm parlar means “Let me speak.” Only fer or deixar is conjugated; the verb naming the resulting action stays in the infinitive.

Catalan can replace a full subordinate clause with a past participle or gerund: Acabada la reunió, tothom va marxar (“Once the meeting was over, everyone left”) and Treballant junts, ho aconseguirem (“By working together, we will achieve it”). A participle normally presents a completed event and agrees with its stated subject; a gerund presents an action in progress, a means, or a circumstance and never agrees.

The Catalan passat simple presents a past event as complete: arribà means “he/she arrived.” It has essentially the same meaning as the much more common passat perifràstic, va arribar. In most present-day Catalan, you mainly need the simple forms to read literature, chronicles, biographies, and elevated narrative prose; everyday speech normally uses the periphrastic past.

Catalan articles do more than mark an ordinary noun as definite. En/na (with regional alternatives el/la) can introduce a person's name, el and allò can refer to an idea or quality rather than a masculine object, and Balearic Catalan commonly uses the salat series es/sa where general Catalan has el/la. These forms carry information about familiarity, register, region, and sometimes the speaker's attitude—not just about gender and number.

Formal Catalan is not simply everyday Catalan with longer words. It uses impersonal forms such as hom and es, carefully chosen connectors such as tanmateix and per tant, the subjunctive where meaning requires it, and consistent forms of address. The aim is precision, appropriate distance, and a clear relationship between ideas—not ornament for its own sake.

Catalan idioms are conventional combinations whose intended meaning cannot always be worked out word by word: anar de cul literally contains “go” and “backside,” but normally means “to be rushed off your feet” or “to be overwhelmed.” Learn each expression as a whole, together with its grammar, typical situation, and register. A natural English equivalent is usually more useful than a literal translation.

Catalan weak pronouns form a fixed cluster: me la, te'ls, ens en, se li, li ho. The cluster normally goes before a conjugated verb, but it attaches to an affirmative imperative, infinitive, or gerund; apostrophes mark elision, while hyphens attach postverbal pronouns: me l'ha donat, porta-me'l, donar-nos-en.

Advanced Catalan subordination links a main statement to a concession, purpose, result, or cause. The connector helps determine both meaning and register, while the verb mood shows how the subordinate clause is presented: a fi que normally requires the subjunctive, atès que normally introduces an asserted cause in the indicative, and de manera que can take either mood depending on whether it describes an actual result or an intended outcome.

Standard Catalan uses written signs to show stress, vowel quality, syllable boundaries, and how short pronouns attach to other words. The essentials are the grave and acute accents (à, è, é, í, ò, ó, ú), the dieresis (ï, ü), the middle dot in l·l, apostrophes such as l’ and d’, and hyphens in forms such as porta-m’hi. These conventions follow the standard established by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC).

In Catalan, first choose the mood of the subordinate clause from its meaning, then choose its tense from the main verb's time frame. With the subjunctive, a present or future viewpoint normally leads to the present or perfect subjunctive; a past or conditional viewpoint normally leads to the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive: Vull que ho facis but Volia que ho fessis. Reported statements often shift in a similar way: Diu que vindrà becomes Va dir que vindria.

Catalan has several established regional varieties, all of which belong to the same language. A form such as Central noi, Balearic al·lot, or Valencian xic can mean “boy”; the difference is regional, not a scale from correct to incorrect. An advanced learner should recognise major patterns, respect the relevant standard, and avoid mixing conspicuously regional features without a reason.

Medieval Catalan is not modern Catalan with a few unusual spellings. To read it, identify older forms such as e “and,” ab “with,” nós “we,” and dixem “we said,” then rebuild the clause in modern Catalan before translating it. Also keep medieval texts, nineteenth-century Renaixença writing, and deliberate archaism in modern literature separate: they overlap, but they are not one uniform variety.

Administrative and legal Catalan favors an explicit legal basis, an impersonal or institutional tone, and precise statements about duties, rights, decisions, and deadlines. Typical patterns include d'acord amb (“in accordance with”), impersonal es, nouns such as atorgament (“granting”), and the subjunctive after requirements or conditions. Good official Catalan is not simply elaborate Catalan: it should also identify the relevant action, authority, person, and time limit clearly.

Colloquial Catalan is not simply “incorrect standard Catalan.” It is a flexible spoken register with its own discourse markers, shortcuts, expressive vocabulary, and regional patterns. Forms such as o sigui, és que, tio, passar de and flipar can sound natural among the right speakers, while bueno, vale and spellings such as pq also reveal contact with Spanish or the conventions of fast digital writing; none of them is suitable in every context.

Catalan speakers use forms such as potser, em sembla que, oi?, doncs, and conditional requests not simply to convey facts, but to manage certainty, invite agreement, organize turns, and protect the other person's freedom to respond. These forms do not have fixed one-word English equivalents: their effect depends on intonation, position, relationship, and context.

Catalan news language compresses information in headlines, then restores detail and attribution in the article or broadcast: El govern anuncia noves mesures, followed by who said what, when, and with what degree of certainty. It favors clear active clauses and impersonal constructions, uses nominalizations more often than conversation does, and distinguishes carefully between facts, claims, and allegations.

Using Catalan well involves more than choosing grammatically correct forms. In multilingual communities, speakers also choose which language or variety to use, with whom, and in which setting; they may accommodate to another person, switch languages, or use contact-influenced forms. These choices carry social meanings, but they are not a simple scale from “good” to “bad” Catalan.