Català for English speakers

2. What is Catalan?

The graded readers below are original passages written for LinguaCommons to give each CEFR band sustained text in the target language. They are teaching material, not corpus evidence: they are not attested usage, not quotations, and not drawn from any published source. Vocabulary is drawn from this guide's own SRS deck wherever possible, so every passage is auditable against the flashcards on the same page. Grammar and usage claims elsewhere in the guide remain sourced to the citations at the foot of the page.

Catalan (català) is a Romance language spoken by around 9 million people in Catalonia, Valencia (as valencià), the Balearic Islands, parts of Aragon, the city of Alghero in Sardinia, French Roussillon, and Andorra — where it is the sole official language.

It is not a dialect of Spanish. Catalan descends directly from Vulgar Latin and is in many ways closer to Occitan and French than to Castilian: it kept Latin final consonants, has a rich system of weak object pronouns, and uses some distinctly Gallo-Romance vocabulary (menjar, not comer; finestra, not ventana).

Graded reader — Em dic Roser

Em dic Roser i visc a Girona, en un pis petit a prop del riu. Tinc vint-i-tres anys i estudio infermeria. Al matí esmorzo al bar de sota casa: un cafè amb llet i una torrada amb tomàquet. El cambrer es diu Jordi i sempre em diu el mateix: «Bon dia, el de sempre?». Jo li dic que sí, perquè no m'agrada canviar de costum.

La meva família no és gaire gran. Tinc un germà que es diu Pau i té dinou anys. Els meus pares viuen a Olot, a una hora d'aquí. La meva mare treballa en una escola i el meu pare és fuster. Els diumenges hi vaig amb autobús i dinem tots junts. A la cuina sempre fa olor de cafè i de pa.

Avui és dissabte i no tinc classe. Vull comprar un llibre i després passejar per la muralla. Fa bon temps: el cel és blau i no fa fred. Al parc hi ha nens, gossos i una senyora que ven flors. M'assec en un banc i llegeixo mitja hora. Al vespre sopo amb dues amigues en un restaurant del Barri Vell. Elles parlen molt de pressa, però ho entenc gairebé tot.

Després de sopar tornem a casa a peu perquè la ciutat és petita i no és tard. Girona de nit és tranquil·la i el riu fa una olor especial. Demà torna a començar la setmana: tinc classe a les nou i he d'acabar un treball. Però ara no hi penso.

English

My name is Roser and I live in Girona, in a small flat near the river. I'm twenty-three and I study nursing. In the morning I have breakfast at the bar downstairs: a white coffee and toast with tomato. The waiter is called Jordi and he always says the same thing to me: “Morning — the usual?” I say yes, because I don't like changing my habits.

My family isn't very big. I have a brother called Pau who is nineteen. My parents live in Olot, an hour from here. My mother works in a school and my father is a carpenter. On Sundays I go there by bus and we all have lunch together. The kitchen always smells of coffee and bread.

Today is Saturday and I have no classes. I want to buy a book and then walk along the city walls. The weather is good: the sky is blue and it isn't cold. In the park there are children, dogs and a woman selling flowers. I sit on a bench and read for half an hour. In the evening I'm having dinner with two friends at a restaurant in the old town. They talk very fast, but I understand almost everything.

After dinner we walk home because the city is small and it isn't late. Girona is quiet at night and the river has a particular smell. Tomorrow the week starts again: I have a class at nine and an assignment to finish. But right now I'm not thinking about it.

Why learn Catalan?

• Romance transfer — If you know any Spanish, French, or Italian, a huge amount of Catalan vocabulary and grammar transfers immediately.
• Real cultural access — Catalan unlocks Barcelona, Valencia, and the Balearics from the inside — literature, music, and a fiercely proud civic culture.
• A well-resourced language — Unlike many minority languages, Catalan has dictionaries, courses, media, and a language authority (the IEC). You will never run out of material.
• A bridge to Occitan — Catalan is the easiest doorway into the wider Occitano-Romance world.

4. Essential Grammar

Catalan grammar will feel familiar if you know any Romance language, but it has a few signature features English speakers must learn deliberately.

Graded reader — Un dia normal

El meu dia comença a dos quarts de set. Primer em dutxo, després em vesteixo i finalment esmorzo alguna cosa de pressa. No m'agrada sortir sense menjar, però sovint no tinc temps. A un quart de vuit ja sóc a la parada esperant l'autobús. El trajecte dura vint minuts si no hi ha trànsit, i gairebé sempre n'hi ha.

A la facultat tinc quatre classes al matí. M'agrada l'anatomia, però no m'agrada gens l'estadística. La meva amiga Núria adora els números, així que ella m'explica els exercicis i jo li explico els ossos. A la una plegem i mengem al menjador. Gairebé sempre demano sopa i alguna cosa amb arròs, perquè és barat.

A la tarda treballo tres hores en una farmàcia. No guanyo gaire, però aprenc coses útils i la senyora que hi treballa amb mi és molt amable. Torno a casa cap a les vuit, sopo i després estudio fins a les onze. Els divendres no estudio: miro una pel·lícula amb el Pau o truco als meus pares. Estic cansada, però m'agrada la meva rutina.

El dissabte és diferent. No treballo i em llevo tard, cap a les nou. Ajudo a casa, rento la roba i a la tarda surto amb la Núria. Anem al centre, fem un cafè i caminem sense pressa. No gastem gaires diners, però és el dia que m'agrada més de tota la setmana.

English

My day starts at half past six. First I shower, then I get dressed, and finally I have a quick breakfast. I don't like going out without eating, but I often don't have time. By a quarter past seven I'm at the stop waiting for the bus. The journey takes twenty minutes if there's no traffic, and there almost always is.

At the faculty I have four classes in the morning. I like anatomy, but I don't like statistics at all. My friend Núria loves numbers, so she explains the exercises to me and I explain the bones to her. At one we finish and eat in the canteen. I almost always order soup and something with rice, because it's cheap.

In the afternoon I work three hours in a pharmacy. I don't earn much, but I learn useful things and the woman who works with me is very kind. I get home around eight, have dinner and then study until eleven. On Fridays I don't study: I watch a film with Pau or phone my parents. I'm tired, but I like my routine.

Saturday is different. I don't work and I get up late, around nine. I help around the house, wash my clothes, and in the afternoon I go out with Núria. We go into town, have a coffee and walk without hurrying. We don't spend much money, but it's my favourite day of the whole week.

Two verbs for "to be": ser vs estar

Like Spanish, Catalan splits "to be". Ser is for identity and permanent qualities (Sóc anglès — I'm English); estar is for states, location, and results (Estic cansat — I'm tired; Estic a casa — I'm at home).

The present-tense forms of ser change for each grammatical person. Practise them below — ser is for identity, origin, profession and inherent qualities (temporary states take estar).

The periphrastic past — Catalan's signature tense

Where Spanish says fui, everyday Catalan forms the simple past with the present of anar ("to go") + the infinitive:

It looks like a future to a Spanish speaker, but vaig + infinitive is a past. This is the single most surprising thing about Catalan grammar.

Graded reader — Al mercat

Dissabte passat vaig anar al mercat amb la meva àvia. Vam sortir d'hora perquè ella diu que la fruita bona s'acaba abans de les deu. Vam agafar l'autobús i vam arribar cap a dos quarts de nou. El mercat era ple de gent i de soroll. Feia olor de julivert, de peix i de pa acabat de fer.

Primer vam comprar verdura. La meva àvia va preguntar el preu dels tomàquets i el senyor li va dir tres euros el quilo. Ella li va dir que era car i ell li va fer un descompte. Funciona així: no és discutir, és xerrar una mica. Després vam comprar carbassons, dos melons i un quilo de taronges. Jo vaig portar les bosses i ella va continuar comprant.

Abans de tornar ens vam asseure en un bar a esmorzar. Vam demanar dos cafès i una ensaïmada. La meva àvia coneix la senyora del bar des de fa trenta anys, així que es van quedar xerrant una bona estona. Jo vaig escoltar sense dir res. Quan vam sortir ja eren les onze i feia calor. Vam arribar a casa cansades, però amb tot el que necessitàvem per a la setmana.

A la tarda la meva àvia ho va endreçar tot i va fer una coca. Em va ensenyar a triar els melons: cal olorar-los a prop de la cua i notar si cedeixen una mica sota el dit. Jo no en sabia res. Ella ho va aprendre de la seva mare fa seixanta anys.

English

Last Saturday I went to the market with my grandmother. We left early because she says the good fruit runs out before ten. We took the bus and arrived at about half past eight. The market was full of people and noise. It smelled of parsley, fish and freshly baked bread.

First we bought vegetables. My grandmother asked the price of the tomatoes and the man told her three euros a kilo. She said it was expensive and he gave her a discount. That's how it works: it isn't arguing, it's chatting a bit. Then we bought courgettes, two melons and a kilo of oranges. I carried the bags and she carried on shopping.

Before going back we sat down in a bar for breakfast. We ordered two coffees and an ensaïmada. My grandmother has known the woman in the bar for thirty years, so they stayed chatting for a good while. I listened without saying anything. When we came out it was already eleven and it was hot. We got home tired, but with everything we needed for the week.

In the afternoon my grandmother put everything away and made a coca. She taught me how to choose melons: you have to smell them near the stem and feel whether they give a little under your finger. I knew nothing about it. She learned it from her mother sixty years ago.

Gender, articles & weak pronouns

• Nouns are masculine or feminine; articles are el / la / els / les (and l' before vowels).
• Catalan uses a personal article before names: en Joan, la Maria.
• A rich set of weak object pronouns (em, et, es, ens, us, el, la, els, les, hi, en) attach to verbs and combine — e.g. dóna-me'l (give it to me).

Graded reader — Quan érem petits

Quan era petita vivíem en un poble de la Garrotxa, a mitja hora de la ciutat. La casa tenia un pati gran amb una figuera, i allà passàvem gairebé tot el dia. El Pau i jo jugàvem amb els veïns fins que es feia fosc. Ningú no ens vigilava gaire, perquè tothom es coneixia i hi passaven pocs cotxes.

Un dia, quan jo tenia set anys, el Pau va pujar a la figuera i no podia baixar. Era molt amunt i va començar a plorar. Jo vaig córrer a buscar la mare, però no era a casa. Llavors va arribar el senyor Camps, el veí, amb una escala, i el va fer baixar sense dir ni una paraula. El Pau es va pelar un genoll i durant molt de temps no hi va tornar a pujar.

Ens vam traslladar a Girona quan jo tenia onze anys, perquè la mare va trobar feina en una escola. Al principi no m'agradava: tot era més gran, més sorollós i ningú no em coneixia. Trobava a faltar el pati i els veïns. A poc a poc m'hi vaig acostumar, vaig fer amigues i vaig deixar de pensar a tornar. Però encara somio en aquella figuera.

L'any passat vam tornar al poble per la festa major. La casa ara és d'una altra família i la figuera encara hi és, més gran del que la recordava. El senyor Camps va morir fa molts anys i ara hi viu el seu fill. Tot era igual i diferent alhora.

English

When I was little we lived in a village in the Garrotxa, half an hour from the city. The house had a big yard with a fig tree, and we spent almost all day there. Pau and I played with the neighbours until it got dark. Nobody watched us much, because everyone knew each other and few cars came through.

One day, when I was seven, Pau climbed the fig tree and couldn't get down. He was very high up and started to cry. I ran to find our mother, but she wasn't home. Then Mr Camps, the neighbour, arrived with a ladder and got him down without saying a word. Pau grazed his knee and didn't climb up again for a long time.

We moved to Girona when I was eleven, because our mother found work at a school. At first I didn't like it: everything was bigger, noisier, and nobody knew me. I missed the yard and the neighbours. Little by little I got used to it, made friends, and stopped thinking about going back. But I still dream about that fig tree.

Last year we went back to the village for the festa major. The house belongs to another family now and the fig tree is still there, bigger than I remembered. Mr Camps died many years ago and his son lives there now. Everything was the same and different at once.

5. Pronunciation

Catalan spelling is fairly regular, but two things trip up English (and Spanish) speakers: vowel reduction and open/closed vowel quality.

• In central Catalan, unstressed a and e both reduce to a schwa /ə/, and unstressed o becomes /u/. So Barcelona sounds like "bər-sə-LOH-nə".
• Stressed e and o can be open (è, ò) or closed (é, ó) — a meaningful distinction.

Graded reader — La decisió

El mes passat em van oferir una feina a jornada completa en un hospital privat. El sou és molt millor que el de la farmàcia i l'horari és fix, cosa que aquí no és gaire habitual. El problema és que hauria de deixar la carrera un any, o com a mínim passar al torn de nit, i no sé si aguantaria el ritme.

En vaig parlar amb la meva mare i em va dir que fes el que volgués, però vaig notar que preferia que ho acceptés. A casa sempre falta alguna cosa i ella no ho diu mai directament. El Pau, que té dinou anys, va opinar que els diners no importen si acabes odiant la teva feina, cosa que és fàcil de dir quan no pagues la llum. Tot i així, crec que tenia una mica de raó.

Al final vaig demanar una setmana per pensar-m'ho. Vaig fer una llista del que hi guanyaria i del que hi perdria, i em vaig adonar que el que més em preocupava no era l'horari sinó la sensació que, si ho deixava ara, ja no hi tornaria. Acceptaré la feina, però amb una condició amb mi mateixa: em torno a matricular el setembre vinent, passi el que passi.

L'hi vaig dir a la Núria i em va contestar que això ho diu tothom i que gairebé ningú no hi torna. Em va molestar, sobretot perquè segurament té raó. Així que vam fer un tracte: si al setembre no m'he matriculat, ve ella amb mi a secretaria.

English

Last month I was offered a full-time job at a private hospital. The pay is much better than at the pharmacy and the hours are fixed, which isn't very common here. The problem is that I'd have to leave my degree for a year, or at least move to the night shift, and I don't know whether I'd keep up the pace.

I talked it over with my mother and she told me to do what I wanted, but I could tell she'd rather I took it. There's always something missing at home and she never says so outright. Pau, who is nineteen, reckoned that money doesn't matter if you end up hating your job — easy to say when you don't pay the electricity bill. Even so, I think he had a point.

In the end I asked for a week to think about it. I made a list of what I'd gain and what I'd lose, and I realised that what worried me most wasn't the hours but the feeling that if I left now, I wouldn't go back. I'll take the job, but on one condition with myself: I enrol again next September, whatever happens.

I told Núria and she replied that everyone says that and hardly anyone goes back. It annoyed me, mostly because she's probably right. So we made a deal: if I haven't enrolled by September, she'll come to the registry office with me herself.

6. Common Mistakes

• Treating Catalan as "Spanish with an accent" — the vocabulary, the periphrastic past, and the pronoun system are genuinely different. Learn it on its own terms.
• Reading vaig fer as a future — for a Spanish speaker voy a hacer is future, but Catalan vaig fer means "I did". Burn this in early.
• Ignoring vowel reduction — pronouncing every unstressed a/e/o as a full vowel marks you instantly as a non-native. Let them collapse to schwa / u.
• Forgetting the personal article — it's la Maria and en Pau, not bare "Maria" / "Pau", in everyday speech.
• Overusing ser — Spanish speakers especially over-extend ser into states that need estar.

Graded reader — Dues normes, una llengua

Una companya de pis va arribar de València el setembre i el primer que em va sobtar no va ser l'accent, sinó les paraules petites. Ella diu «xiquet» on jo dic «nen», i «hui» on jo dic «avui». Les primeres setmanes ens preguntàvem coses dues vegades. Res d'això era un error: eren dues varietats de la mateixa llengua compartint una cuina.

El català té un estàndard escrit, però admet formes diferents segons el territori, i totes són normatives. Als llibres es veu poc; en la conversa es nota de seguida. Hi ha també el pes constant del castellà: molts parlants alternen les dues llengües en una mateixa frase sense adonar-se'n, i separar el que és català d'allò que és un calc demana atenció i, sovint, un diccionari.

Al cap d'uns mesos vam deixar de corregir-nos. Ella va continuar dient «hui» i jo «avui», i vam aprendre a reconèixer la forma de l'altra sense adoptar-la. És el més útil que me n'enduc: saber que una forma és territorial no la fa pitjor, i el que importa és marcar-la mentalment com a local abans de repetir-la en un altre lloc. El diccionari et dona la paraula; només l'ús et diu on viu.

Cap de les dues parlava malament; parlàvem des de llocs diferents, i això també forma part de la llengua. Una llengua petita no es pot permetre el luxe de tractar les seves varietats com si fossin errors, perquè cada forma que es descarta acaba sent un parlant menys.

English

A flatmate arrived from Valencia in September and the first thing that struck me wasn't the accent but the small words. She says xiquet where I say nen, and hui where I say avui. For the first few weeks we asked each other things twice. None of it was a mistake: they were two varieties of the same language sharing a kitchen.

Catalan has a written standard, but it admits different forms depending on the territory, and all of them are correct. You see little of this in books; in conversation you notice it at once. There is also the constant weight of Spanish: many speakers alternate the two languages within a single sentence without noticing, and separating what is Catalan from what is a calque takes attention and, often, a dictionary.

After a few months we stopped correcting each other. She went on saying hui and I said avui, and we learned to recognise the other's form without adopting it. That's the most useful thing I take from it: knowing a form is territorial doesn't make it worse, and what matters is marking it mentally as local before repeating it somewhere else. The dictionary gives you the word; only use tells you where it lives.

Neither of us spoke badly; we were speaking from different places, and that is part of the language too. A small language cannot afford the luxury of treating its own varieties as though they were mistakes, because every form discarded ends up being one speaker fewer.

7. Learning Resources

Graded reader — Escoltar un informatiu sense creure-se'l del tot

El curs començava amb un exercici que a gairebé tots ens va semblar una pèrdua de temps: escoltar tres minuts d'informatiu i anotar, abans de donar cap opinió, qui parlava, des d'on, en quina data i per a quin mitjà. La professora insistia que no diguéssim si hi estàvem d'acord fins que no haguéssim respost aquelles quatre preguntes. Al principi ens vam queixar; després vam descobrir que la meitat del que crèiem haver sentit no era a la gravació.

El que més em va sorprendre va ser comprovar quant hi afegeix qui escolta sense adonar-se'n. Una frase com «fonts pròximes al departament apunten a un possible retard» no afirma que hi hagi d'haver un retard, encara que sigui això el que recordes mitja hora després. Tan bon punt vam començar a separar el que la periodista sostenia, el que citava i el que només deixava insinuat, els mateixos tres minuts es van fer molt més llargs i força menys tranquil·litzadors.

No crec que aquest mètode serveixi per no equivocar-se mai; serveix per equivocar-se de manera més barata. Si anoto la font i la data, d'aquí a un any podré revisar per què pensava el que pensava, encara que hagi canviat d'opinió. I si no ho aconsegueixo reconstruir, ja sé que allò no era informació: era una impressió que en aquell moment em va anar bé i que després he anat repetint com si l'hagués comprovada.

English

The course opened with an exercise almost all of us thought was a waste of time: listen to three minutes of a news bulletin and note down, before offering any opinion, who was speaking, from where, on what date and for which outlet. The teacher insisted we not say whether we agreed until we had answered those four questions. At first we complained; then we discovered that half of what we thought we had heard wasn't in the recording.

What surprised me most was seeing how much the listener adds without noticing. A sentence like “sources close to the department point to a possible delay” does not state that there will be a delay, even if that is what you remember half an hour later. As soon as we began separating what the journalist asserted, what she quoted and what she merely implied, the same three minutes became much longer and a good deal less reassuring.

I don't think this method stops you being wrong; it makes being wrong cheaper. If I note the source and the date, a year from now I'll be able to review why I thought what I thought, even if I've changed my mind. And if I can't reconstruct it, then I already know it wasn't information: it was an impression that suited me at the time and that I have since been repeating as though I had checked it.

• Parla.catall levels — The official free online course from the Generalitat de Catalunya, from A1 to C1.
• Diccionari obert (DACCO)all levels — Open Catalan–English dictionary plus the authoritative Institut d'Estudis Catalans dictionary.
• Duolingo Catalan — A free course, though only from Spanish. [bridge: taught through Spanish, not English]
• TV3 / 3Catintermediate — Catalonia's public broadcaster: news, drama and the famous Polònia for authentic listening.
• iTalkiall levels — Filter for Catalan tutors for speaking practice.

8. Culture & Context

Language and identity

Catalan was banned from public life under the Franco dictatorship (1939–1975); its revival since is inseparable from Catalan civic identity. Speaking it is never politically neutral, and effort from outsiders is genuinely appreciated.

Seny i rauxa

Catalans describe their own character as a balance of seny (level-headed common sense) and rauxa (sudden passion or wildness) — a useful lens on everything from business to the castells (human towers).

Valencià and the dialects

Valencian is the same language under a different name, with its own spelling norms and a more conservative vowel system. Balearic Catalan uses the salat article (es, sa instead of el, la). All are mutually intelligible.

Graded reader — El preu d'afirmar massa

Convé desconfiar de les descripcions que presenten el català com un bloc homogeni. Dir «en català es pronuncia així» és còmode, però conté una generalització que no se sosté ni dins d'una mateixa comarca, i encara menys si es compara el parlar urbà amb el rural o el de dues generacions seguides. La neutralització de les vocals àtones, per citar el cas més conegut, separa el català oriental de l'occidental i admet matisos que rarament caben en el resum d'un manual.

El problema no és la simplificació en si, que en l'ensenyament és inevitable, sinó la desaparició del rastre que permetria desfer-la. Un manual que afirma alguna cosa sense precisar d'on surt la dada obliga el lector a acceptar-la o a descartar-la sencera, sense terme mitjà. En canvi, una afirmació delimitada —«segons les dades de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans, en el parlar de…»— es pot corregir més tard sense que caigui tota la resta.

D'aquí la insistència a escriure l'abast abans que la conclusió. No es tracta d'omplir el text de reserves fins a fer-lo illegible, cosa que tampoc no ajuda ningú, sinó que cada afirmació porti la informació mínima per poder ser discutida: qui ho va observar, on, quan i amb quin mètode. La resta és estil, i l'estil s'aprèn molt abans que la prudència.

English

It is worth distrusting descriptions that present Catalan as a homogeneous block. Saying “in Catalan it is pronounced this way” is convenient, but it contains a generalisation that does not hold even within a single comarca, still less if you compare urban with rural speech, or two consecutive generations. The neutralisation of unstressed vowels, to cite the best-known case, separates Eastern from Western Catalan and admits nuances that rarely fit a textbook summary.

The problem is not simplification itself, which is unavoidable in teaching, but the disappearance of the trail that would let you undo it. A textbook that asserts something without specifying where the fact came from forces the reader to accept or reject it whole, with no middle ground. A bounded claim, by contrast — “according to Institut d'Estudis Catalans data, in the speech of…” — can be corrected later without everything else falling with it.

Hence the insistence on writing the scope before the conclusion. It is not about filling the text with qualifications until it becomes unreadable, which helps nobody either, but about each claim carrying the minimum information needed for it to be argued with: who observed it, where, when, and by what method. The rest is style, and style is learned long before caution.