Catalan is a Romance language and the only official language of Andorra.
| Part | Easier for English Speakers | Takes Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Words | Many words from Latin look like English ones, such as idea and unitat (unit). | Every noun is masculine or feminine, and often for no clear reason: a stool, tamboret, is masculine. |
| The past | The usual past for finished events uses a helper, so you only need the verb's basic form: l'Anna va pagar (Anna paid). | The helper changes with the person: vaig, vas, va, vam, vau and van. |
| “The” | The word for “the” is el or la, and it usually shortens to l' before a vowel, as in l'avi (the grandfather). | Names take “the” too, so Anna is l'Anna, and some speakers say en Joan for Joan. |
| Regions | People from different Catalan-speaking regions understand each other very well, by estimates of 90% to 95%. | In the east, an unstressed a and e sound the same, while western speakers keep them apart. |
For a study plan that changes as you go, read the fastest way to learn Catalan.
Catalan's hard parts tend to come in this order.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Questions about prices come first, like Quant costa un te i un croissant? (How much is a tea and a croissant?) in the lesson below.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Chats about your weekend bring in the past, so watch the helper change from vaig (I) to vam (we).
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Small pronouns start to stack up, as in m'hi recomanaren (they recommended me to him), so read the whole group as one piece.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Regional speech starts to matter: in western Catalonia, many people say lo for “the” where others say el.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Formal topics bring in longer words, so save the ones you meet twice.
- Level 6
I can read almost anything.
Song lyrics full of local words are what's left.
Pagant a la cafeteria
Anna pays at the cafeteria.
How much is a tea and a croissant?
It is three euros.
Here you have a coin.
This lesson comes from Bubblegum, where Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Catalan lessons for each level.
For easy Catalan to start with, read the easiest way to learn Catalan.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Catalan. You learn from Catalan you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
- Lessons fit your level, interests, and goals.
- Read and listen to news and stories in Catalan about things you care about.
- Ask Poppy about a sentence while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki as flashcards.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Catalan novels you bring can't be made into lessons. Paste a passage into the chat, and Poppy tells you what it means.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
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Are Catalan Words Closer to Spanish or Italian?
By one count, slightly closer to Italian: 87% of words are similar, against 85% for Spanish and Portuguese.
Is Bubblegum Free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Catalan language (Romance language; sole official language of Andorra; unstressed a and e merge in Eastern dialects but stay distinct in Western ones; mutual intelligibility between dialects estimated at 90% to 95%; Ethnologue lexical similarity 87% with Italian, 85% with Portuguese and Spanish)
- Wikipedia: Catalan grammar (el and la, l' before a vowel except unstressed i or u, l'avi; articles with personal names, el Joan or en Joan; lo and los in Western Catalonia; arbitrary gender, tamboret; the idea, hipòtesi and unitat examples; 13 unstressed pronoun forms and 65 combinations, m'hi recomanaren; past tense with vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van and the infinitive)
