Nouns: Declension

01

Identifying Noun Gender

While there are exceptions, the gender of a noun can often be determined by its ending.

Feminine Nouns

Most nouns ending in an unstressed -a are feminine.

• la casa

  the house

• la taula

  the table

• la cadira

  the chair

Common exceptions include el dia (the day), el mapa (the map), and el problema (the problem).

Masculine Nouns

Nouns ending in a consonant or most other vowels (like -e, -o, -u) are typically masculine.

• el llibre

  the book

• el gos

  the dog

• el telèfon

  the telephone

Common exceptions include la nit (the night), la mà (the hand), and la flor (the flower).

For people and many animals, the grammatical gender matches the biological gender.

• el pare

  the father

• la mare

  the mother

• el gat

  the male cat

• la gata

  the female cat

02

Forming the Plural

The way a noun forms its plural depends on its ending in the singular form.

Nouns ending in a vowel

If a noun ends in a stressed vowel or any vowel except an unstressed -a, the plural is formed by adding -s.

• el noi → els nois

  the boy → the boys

• el cafè → els cafès

  the coffee → the coffees

• el llibre → els llibres

  the book → the books

For the very common case of nouns ending in an unstressed -a, the -a is replaced with -es.

• la casa → les cases

  the house → the houses

• la noia → les noies

  the girl → the girls

Nouns ending in a consonant

Most nouns ending in a consonant form the plural by adding -s.

• el fanal → els fanals

  the streetlight → the streetlights

• el pont → els ponts

  the bridge → the bridges

However, masculine nouns ending in certain sibilant sounds (-s, -ç, -x, -ix, -tx) add -os.

• el peix → els peixos

  the fish → the fish (plural)

• el gas → els gasos

  the gas → the gases

• el despatx → els despatxos

  the office → the offices

03

Spelling Changes in the Plural

To preserve the consonant sound of the singular form, some nouns undergo a spelling change when the plural ending is added. This happens most often with feminine nouns ending in -a.

• -ca → -ques (to keep the hard 'k' sound)

• la foca → les foques

  the seal → the seals

• -ga → -gues (to keep the hard 'g' sound)

• la plaga → les plagues

  the plague → the plagues

• -ça → -ces (to keep the 's' sound)

• la plaça → les places

  the square → the squares

• -ja → -ges (to keep the 'j' sound, like in 'measure')

• la platja → les platges

  the beach → the beaches

• -gua → -gües (the diaeresis on ü ensures the 'u' is pronounced)

• la llengua → les llengües

  the language → the languages

• -qua → -qües

• l'aigua → les aigües

  the water → the waters

04

Invariable Nouns

Some nouns have the same form for both singular and plural. The plural is indicated only by the article (els). This is common for masculine nouns ending in -s where the final syllable is not stressed.

• el llapis → els llapis

  the pencil → the pencils

• el dilluns → els dilluns

  Monday → Mondays

• l'autobús → els autobusos

  the bus → the buses (Note: here the final syllable is stressed, so it adds -os and is not invariable).