Catalan

by Max Wheeler

  manco Bal. ‘less’, ‘fewer’, invariable (see menys below, and 5.2).

  menys ‘less’, ‘fewer’, invariable (see 5.2):

  La versió censurada provocava menys escàndol.

  The censored version provoked less outcry.

  Menys is often replaced by a negative periphrasis containing tant/-a ‘so much’, tants/-es ‘so many’ (see below):

  Posa-hi menys oli./No hi posis tant d’oli.

  Put less oil in./Don’t put so much oil in.

  Aquest plat porta menys calories/ … no porta tantes calories.

  This dish has fewer calories/ … doesn’t have as many calories.

  més ‘more’, invariable (see 5.2):

  –Vols més vi? –Sí, ja en pots demanar més.

  ‘Do you want more wine?’ ‘Yes, you can order some more.’

  Hem de treballar més hores que abans.

  We have to work more hours than before.

  Both més and menys can combine in the comparative expression com més/menys … més/menys ‘the more/less (fewer) … the more/less (fewer)’ (see 5.4).

  mig ‘half’, marked for gender:

  Note the absence of the indefinite article in Catalan: mitja milla ‘half a mile’, mig quilòmetre ‘half a kilometre’, mig got de vi ‘half a glass/a half glass of wine’, una hora i mitja ‘an hour and a half’ (but la mitja hora que vam esperar ‘the half hour that we waited’ with definite article). As with tot (see below) invariant mig usually precedes the name of towns, regions, and countries:

  Mig Catalunya/Mig Estats Units ho sap.

  Half Catalonia/Half the United States knows about it.

  molt ‘much’, ‘many’, marked for number and gender:

  Parlava amb molta sinceritat. She spoke very sincerely.

  Molts (= moltes persones) ho han vist. Many (people) have seen it.

  Except in Valencia (where gaire is not used in everyday speech), there is a preference for gaire over molt corresponding to ‘much’/‘many’ in the negative, conditional, and interrogative contexts discussed above under gaire:

  Ho ha fetsense gaire (= molt (d’)) esforç.

  He did it without much effort.

  Si has esperat gaire (= molta) estona, és perquè ho has volgut.

  If you’ve waited a long time it’s because you wanted to.

  The pronoun/adverb molt ‘a lot’, ‘a large amount’ does not agree with a preceding noun:

  Cinc-centes mil lliures, dius? És molt.

  £500,000, did you say? That’s a lot.

  Compare the adjective construction:

  Set-centes paraules per pàgina són moltes.

  Seven hundred words a page are a lot (of words).

  poc ‘(a) little’,pl. ‘few’, marked for number and gender:

  Ens queda poc temps./Ens queden poques hores.

  We don’t have much time left./We only have a few hours left.

  Pocs (= poques persones) s’ho creurien.

  Few (people) would believe it.

  The general functioning of poc is parallel with that of molt, as discussed above. The no gaire periphrasis frequently substitutes for expressions with poc (cf. English ‘not much/many’ = ‘a little’/‘few’):

  Tenen pocs amics./No tenen gaires amics.

  They have few friends./They haven’t got many friends.

  prou ‘enough’, invariable:

  Has menjat prou carn/patates?

  Have you eaten enough meat/potatoes?

  No tenim prou temps ni prou recursos.

  We haven’t enough time or enough resources.

  Although in the sense of ‘enough’ prou is interchangeable with bastant(s), it does not convey the meaning of ‘a certain amount/quantity’ and so a distinction is observable in cases like:

  Ha guanyat bastants diners, però encara no en té prou.

  He has earned a fair amount of money but he still hasn’t got enough.

  Hem collit bastants móres, potser prou per fer un pastís.

  We’ve picked a good few blackberries, perhaps enough to make a pie.

  pus Bal. ‘(any) more’, invariable:

  This word occurs, in Balearic varieties, only in negative polarity contexts (26.1.5).

  Vols pus vi?

  Do you want any more wine?

  No s’atreviren aintentar res pus.

  They did not dare to attempt anything else.

  Note that més is used, not pus, in a comparison with an explicit standard.

  No hauríem de fer més hores que abans.

  *No hauríem de fer pus hores que abans.

  We wouldn’t have to work more hours than before.

  que ‘what a lot (of)’, invariable:

  Used only in exclamations (more details in 27.2.2.2), with the same meaning as quant (see below).

  Que gent! What a lot of people!

  Que n’has vistes, de coses! What a lot of things you have seen!

  When a verb follows a que + noun phrase, another que is inserted:

  Que gent que hi ha! What a lot of people there are!

  Que neu que queia! How it snowed!

  quant ‘what a lot (of)’, ‘how much/many’, marked for number and gender:

  Quant pa (que van menjar)!

  What a lot of bread (they ate)!

  No sé quantes caixes han dut.

  I don’t know how many boxes they have brought.

  See 27.1.3.3 on interrogative patterns with quant.

  Preceded by the indefinite article, the plural uns quants, unes quantes translates ‘a few’, an indefinite (small) amount, differentiated from pocs, poques which stresses limitation of number (see above). Uns quants is not radically different in meaning from alguns (see 8.3):

  Hauràs d’esperar uns quants dies més.

  You’ll have to wait a few more days.

  Potser que hi trobaràs unes quantes errades d’ortografia.

  Perhaps you’ll find a few spelling mistakes.

  (cf. Hi vam trobar poques errades. We found few mistakes.)

  El president vol afegir unes quantes paraules de clausura.

  The chairman wishes to add a few closing words.

  tant ‘as much’/‘as many’, ‘so much’/‘so many’, marked for number and gender:

  As this word expresses ‘the same amount/number (as)’, a notion of comparison (5.1) is always present:

  Es va posar histèric de tantes interrupcions.

  He became hysterical at so many interruptions.

  Un dia, trobant-me dormint com he dormit tantes i tantes vegades … (P. Calders, Cròniques de la veritat oculta)

  One day, being asleep like I have been so very many times …

  –Tens gaires diners? –Tants com tu.

  ‘Have you got much money?’ ‘As much as you.’

  Tant is used pronominally in the expression un tant per cent ‘a percentage’. For more detailed discussion of comparison and for the tant vs. tan distinction, see 5.1; for tant de, see 8.2.1.

  tot ‘all’, ‘every’, marked for number and gender:

  (i) Except for the cases considered below in this section and in 8.3, tot will be followed by an article or other determiner (numeral or demonstrative):

  tot el matí/tota la tarda

  all morning/afternoon

  Ni en Martí, amb tota la seva erudició, no pogué aclarir la qüestió.

  Not even Martí, with all his erudition, could clarify the matter.

  Hi haurem d’aplicar tots els nostres esforços.

  We shall have to apply all our efforts to it.

  Ja han tornat tots quatre.

  All four (of them) have come back.

  Tots aquests papers s’han de llençar.

  All these papers have to be thrown away.

  Referring to periods of time tots with the article can translate ‘every’, overlapping with the indefinite cada ‘each’ (see 8.3):

  Ens reunim tots els diumenges.

  We meet every Sunday.

  The singular to
t followed by an article translates ‘the/a whole …’:

  Vam passar tot el dia a la platja.

  We spent the whole day on the beach.

  Va sorgir tota una sèrie de problemes.

  A whole series of problems arose.

  Tot without the article is used with singular nouns:

  (a) To introduce a singular (indefinite) mass noun:

  T’ho dic amb tota sinceritat. I’m telling you in all sincerity.

  (b) To express ‘each and every’:

  Tota regla té excepcions. Every rule has its exceptions.

  Hi havia gent de tota mena. There were people of every kind.

  (See also 8.3.)

  (ii) Unlike other quantifiers (and indefinites), tot cannot take de ‘of’ when introducing a noun phrase. Compare tots els socis ‘all (of) the members’ with bastants/moltes/algunes de les nostres amigues ‘a good few/many/ some of our female friends’. This last feature is also observed when tots precedes a subject pronoun:

  Tots nosaltres et desitgem bona sort. All of us/We all wish you good luck.

  Havíem de saludar-los a tots. We ought to greet them all/all of them.

  Tots can be separated from its noun phrase and relocated in the sentence (as can ‘all’ in English), so that:

  Tots els veïns d’aquest barri han protestat contra el projecte.

  All the residents of this district have protested against the plan.

  could be recast as:

  Els veïns d’aquest barri han protestat tots contra el projecte.

  The residents of this district have all protested against the plan.

  (iii) Tots dos/totes dues is the most common way of expressing ‘both’, although this can also be done with the somewhat more formal ambdós/ ambdues:

  Val la pena d’escoltar totes dues/ambdues cares del disc.

  It’s worth listening to both sides of the record.

  (iv) There is no gender agreement when tot precedes the name of a city, region, nation that does not begin with an article: tot Tarragona ‘all (of) Tarragona’, tot Catalunya ‘all (of) Catalonia’/‘the whole of Catalonia’, but tota la Pobla de Segur. (Usage before plural names beginning with an article is problematic.)

  (v) Note relative clauses involving tot as an antecedent (31.6.2) corresponding to English ‘all who’, ‘everyone who’, ‘whoever’, etc.:

  tots els que hi érem all of us who were there

  tots aquells que llegeixin això anyone/everyone who reads this

  (vi) Tot is also used pronominally as a neuter ‘everything’:

  Tot li agrada. She likes everything.

  Tot és possible. Everything is possible.

  When standing as direct object tot ‘everything’ is supported by the neuter clitic ho ‘it’ (cf. English ‘it all’):

  Ho hem de preparar tot./Hem de preparar-ho tot. *Hem de preparar tot.

  We’ve got to get everything ready.

  Li ho has explicat tot?

  Have you explained everything/it all to her?

  As antecedent of a relative clause tot combines with neuter el que ‘that which’ (see 9.2.2).

  Apuntaré tot el que m’has explicat.

  I’ll note down everything you’ve told me.

  Tot el que lluu no és or.

  All that glisters is not gold.

  8.2.1 QUANTIFIERS WITH DE

  While the main quantifiers can introduce a noun phrase directly (Fa molt fred ‘It’s very cold’, Quant pa vols? ‘How much bread do you want?’), there is an alternative pattern in which (except for massa, força, mig, que and tot) they take an intercalated de, particularly before a masculine singular noun. This pattern is typical of a more formal style, although it is more common in Majorca. (Majorcan use, however, avoids de after gaire, manco/menys, més/pus, prou and poc).

  Tinc molt de fred/molta (de) calor.

  I’m very cold/hot.

  Hi havia poca (de) llum.

  There wasn’t much light.

  No hauries de fer tant (d’)exercici físic.

  You shouldn’t take so much physical exercise.

  Quantes (de) cullerades hi has posat?

  How many spoonfuls have you put in?

  No tenia bastant (d’)/prou energia per fer-ho.

  He hadn’t enough energy to do it.

  As remarked above, gens always introduces a noun with de in all varieties and styles:

  No ha quedat gens de nata.*No ha quedat gens nata. There’s no cream left at all.

  8.2.2 QUANTIFYING ADVERBS (DEGREE ADVERBS)

  All of the quantifiers discussed above, except quant, have adverbial uses (as degree words), in which function their form is almost always invariable. This topic is taken up in 13.6.

  8.3 INDEFINITE ADJECTIVES

  algun ‘some’, marked for number and gender:

  The fact that this word can be used in the singular with the meaning of ‘some’ indicates how it differs in meaning from the indefinite article (discussed below and at 3.2). Algun and un may often be interchangeable, but algun conveys the clear nuance of ‘one or perhaps more’, ‘the odd …’, ‘some or other’:

  (i) algun as adjective:

  Només es veia per les platges abandonades algun turista abatut.

  All one could see on the empty beaches was the occasional glum tourist.

  Era l’única manera de fer-ho amb alguna garantia d’èxit.

  It was the only way of doing it with some guarantee of success.

  In the plural alguns/algunes may correspond to ‘a few’, ‘certain’, as well as ‘some’:

  Han estat a casa alguns dies.

  They have been staying with us for a few days.

  En alguns casos s’ha de pitjar l’altre botó.

  In certain cases you have to press the other button.

  Alguns sí, d’altres no.

  Some are/do, (but/and) some aren’t/don’t.

  (ii) algun used pronominally (noun understood):

  –Et van donar instruccions? –Bé, alguna, sí.

  ‘Did they give you instructions?’ ‘Well, just one or two, yes.’

  Amb alguns del meu grup, no hi ha manera d’entendre-t’hi.

  It’s impossible to get through to some of the ones in my group.

  When pronominal algun is linked with a plural personal pronoun, person/number agreement of any associated element may be with either algun (third person) or the pronoun:

  Si alguna de vosaltres ho sabeu …/Si alguna de vosaltres ho sap …

  If any of you (f.) know …/If any one of you knows …

  Α algun de vosaltres ja m’agradaria de veure-us/veure’l en un embolic així.

  I’d like to see one of you in a pickle like this.

  altre ‘other’, marked for gender in the singular, invariable in the plural:

  A definite or indefinite article will normally precede the singular adjective altre, whose meaning coincides with most aspects of English ‘other’:

  Viu a l’altra banda del poble.

  He lives on the other side of town.

  Deixa’m un altre llibre; és que ja he llegit aquest.

  Lend me another book; I’ve already read this one.

  Una altra vegada, fes-ho amb més cura.

  Another time do it more carefully.

  una vocal altra que la ‘u’

  a vowel other than ‘u’

  T’hauries de posar els altres pantalons.

  You ought to put your other trousers on.

  L’altre dia translates ‘the other day’, but compare I’altre mes/l’altra setmana ‘last month/week’, and also aquesta parada que ve, no; l’altra ‘not the next stop, the one after’. Els altres is the normal way of saying ‘the rest’, ‘the others (of a set)’:

  França, a diferència dels altres (= la resta dels) països de la Unió Europea

  France, unlike the other countries in the European Union

  Pronominal use of altre presents no complications:

  L’havia pres per un altre.


  I’d mistaken him for another/someone else.

  Aquestes tisores no són pas tan bones com aquelles altres que tenies.

  These scissors aren’t as good as those other ones you used to have.

  S’han mirat l’un a l’altre.

  They looked at each other/one another.

  cada ‘each’, ‘every’, invariable:

  Van entrevistar cada alumne, l’un darrere l’altre.

  They interviewed every student, one after the other.

  Cada vegada que truca …

  Every time he telephones …

  With periods of time cada is heard more frequently than the construction tots els:

  L’inspector passa cada tres mesos. The inspector calls every three months.

  Em dutxo cada dia. I take a shower every day.

  Note that, unlike English ‘each’, cada cannot be used pronominally. In this role cada un/cadascun is required.

  cada un or cadascun ‘each (one)’, marked for gender (cada una, cadascuna):

  Like its English equivalent this word has no plural form and, unless used pronominally (see 8.5), invariably introduces a noun with de ‘of’. The form cada un is more commonly used:

  He marcat amb una creu cada una (cadascuna) de les pàgines que has de copiar.

  I have marked with a cross each (one) of the pages you are to copy.

  Va portar regals per a cada un dels seus nebots.