Lleis fonètiques · Llei 33 · Terminacions

Catalan drops -n at the end of a word

-N (left final after the stress)

De moment, les explicacions d’aquesta secció són en anglès; els exemples són en totes les llengües.

Espanyol

n kept (pan, vino)

Francès

n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)

Italià

n kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)

Portuguès

nasal vowel or diphthong (pão, vinho, bom)

Romanès

n kept (pâine, vin)

Català

lost (pa, vi); back in the plural (pans, vins)

Què va passar

When Catalan lost its final vowels (see final-vowels), an n left at the end of a stressed syllable fell away too: PĀNEM → pa, VĪNUM → vi, MANUM → mà. Where a vowel or -s followed, the n survived, so it comes back in the plural and the feminine: pans, vins, mans, camins; bo but bona, ple but plena. Much of Occitan does the same. French made a nasal vowel of that n and Portuguese a nasal vowel or diphthong, while Spanish, Italian and Romanian simply kept it.

Exemples

Llatí	Italià	Espanyol	Francès	Portuguès	Romanès	Català	Parent anglès
PĀNEM‘bread’	pane	pan	pain	pão	pâine	pa
VĪNUM‘wine’	vino	vino	vin	vinho	vin	vi
MANUM‘hand’	mano	mano	main	mão	mână	mà	manual
VL *CAMMĪNUM (Celtic)‘road, way’	cammino	camino	chemin	caminho	—	camí
CANEM‘dog’	cane	can	chien	cão	câine	ca	canine
PLĒNUM‘full’	pieno	lleno	plein	cheio	plin	ple	plenty
BONUM‘good’	buono	bueno	bon	bom	bun	bo	bonus

Descodificador

A Catalan word ending in a stressed vowel (pa, vi, mà, camí) often lost an n: add it back for Spanish and Romanian, or n + vowel for Italian: pa → pan, pâine, pane; camí → camino, cammino. The plural gives it away: pans, camins.

Excepcions

The adjective bo keeps its n before a noun (bon dia), and learned words keep it (abdomen). Derivatives show the n too: panet 'bread roll' beside pa.