Leggi fonetiche · Legge 33 · Desinenze

Catalan drops -n at the end of a word

-N (left final after the stress)

Per ora le spiegazioni sono in inglese; gli esempi sono in tutte le lingue.

Spagnolo

n kept (pan, vino)

Francese

n silent, vowel nasal (pain, vin)

Italiano

n kept, final vowel kept (pane, vino)

Portoghese

nasal vowel or diphthong (pão, vinho, bom)

Rumeno

n kept (pâine, vin)

Catalano

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

Cosa è successo

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.

Esempi

Latino	Italiano	Spagnolo	Francese	Portoghese	Rumeno	Catalano	Parente inglese
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

Chiave di decodifica

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.

Eccezioni

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.