INFLECTION: PHONETIC CHANGES IN GENDER AND NUMBER

There are a set of cases with changes in both their stems and morphemes when dealing with both gender and number.

SINGULAR		PLURAL			ENGLISH
MASC.	FEM.		MASC.	FEM.
rus ros	russa rossa		russos rossos	russes rosses	Russian blond
capaç feliç			capaços feliços	capaces felices	able, capable happy
català italià	catalana italiana		catalans italians	catalanes italianes	Catalan Italian
ple xilè	plena xilena		plens xilens	plenes xilenes	full Chilean
masculí ballarí	masculina ballarina		masculins ballarins	masculines ballarines	male dancer(s)
rodó	rodons		rodona	rodones	round
cansat avorrit	cansada avorrida		cansats avorrits	cansades avorrides	tired bored
llop	lloba		llops	llobes	wolf (wolves)
serf	serva		serfs	serves	servant
nou intensiu esclau	nova intensiva esclava		nous intensius esclaus	noves intensives esclaves	new intensive slave

INFLECTION: FORMATION OF PLURAL

1. The transformation of singular into plural affects both nouns and adjectives.

2. The following table refers to the main procedures to form the plural.

Observe the spelling changes of the last row, which turn out necessary because of the change /a/ > /es/

SINGULAR	PLURAL		ENGLISH
cafè sofà tabú	cafès sofàs tabús		coffee(s) sofa(s) taboo(s)
viatge mosso secretari individu	viatges mossos secretaris individus		youngster secretaries fellow(s)
important gran dolent esplèndid ridícul absurd malalt cansat llop serf cambrer sabater pastisser botiguer	importants grans dolents esplèndids ridículs absurds malalts cansats llops serfs cambrers sabaters pastissers botiguers		important big, great bad splendid ridiculous absurd ill tired wolf > wolves servant(s) waiter(s) shoemaker(s) pastry cook(s) shopkeeper(s)
francès portuguès mestís pastís animalàs rus ros progrés accés	francesos portuguesos mestissos pastissos animalassos russos rossos progressos accessos		French Portuguese half-blood cake(s) big animal(s) Russian blond progress(es) access(es)
català italià americà llunyà	catalans italians americans llunyans		Catalans Italians Americans remote
ple xilè	plens xilens		full Chilean(s)
masculí femení ballarí camí	masculins femenins ballarins camins		masculine feminine dancer way(s), path(s)
rodó campió ressò	rodons campions ressons		round champion(s) echo(s)
comú	comuns		common
feliç capaç	feliços(m.) capaços	felices (f.) capaces	happy able, capable
belga	belgues		Belgian
casa vaca taronja concordança garriga	cases vaques taronges concordances garrigues		house(s) cow(s) orange(s) agreement(s) garrigue, phrygana

 As for feliç and capaç see here.

WORD CLASS: ADJECTIVES. GENERALITIES

1. Adjectives share a great deal of features with nouns, such as inflection. Actually all the endings used for both gender inflection and number inflection are also to be found in adjectives. However, adjectives have one more kind of inflection: comparison, which is a category adjectives also share with adverbs.

2. Adjectives may work as nouns in most cases. As a matter of fact, certain words may be either. Adjectives working as nouns are preceded by determiners. Their equivalence with English may vary, since English adjectives do not work as nouns as a rule, except in a few cases when they do not take plural endings:

els morts no es queixen	dead (people) do not complain
tots els malalts de tifus són a una secció especial de l’hospital	all typhus patients are placed in a special section of the hospital
m’agrada la blanca	I like the white one

Adjectives working as nouns are obviously predicative ones

3. As in most Romance languages, attributively-used adjectives are normally placed after nouns (post-nominal position):

la casa groga	the yellow house
el dies estiuencs	the summer days

However, adjectives may be placed before nouns in certain cases:

a) A few adjectives show different meanings when placed before or after the noun:

un públic gran	a large (amount of) audience
un gran públic	a great audience

un regal petit	a small present
un petit regal	a little present

b) Some adjectives take an emphatic value when place before the noun

ens queda un llarg camí	we still have a long way ahead
és una estupenda idea	it’s a great idea

c) Pre-nominal position may have stylistic goals, so that certain uses would be acceptable in literary language but not in the colloquial speech.

era un ric home (literary)	he was a rich man
era un home ric (normal speech)

4. Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they depend on (see agreement):

el noi petit	the little boy
els nois petits	the little boys
la noia petita	the little girl
les noies petites	the little girls

5. Catalan knows feminine forms for such adjectives like fort > forta (=strong) or verd > verda (=green), unlike Portuguese, Spanish or Italian.