sustantiu

Sustantiu is the Catalan term for the grammatical category commonly called the noun in English. In Catalan grammar, sustantiu denotes words that name people, places, things, or ideas and can function as the subject or the object of a sentence.

Etymology and history: The word derives from Latin substantivum and entered Catalan through medieval forms such as sostantiu, reflecting the Romance heritage shared with other languages that use a similar term for the noun.

Morphology and agreement: Sustantiu are gendered and inflected for number. They take masculine or feminine forms and singular or plural. Examples: un llibre (a book) and la casa (the house) show masculine singular and feminine singular; els llibres (the books) and les cases (the houses) show masculine plural and feminine plural. Determiners and adjectives agree with the sustantiu in gender and number: un llibre antic, la casa blanca, uns llibres antics, les cases blanques.

Usage and functions: Sustantiu can be common or proper; proper nouns function as sustantiu without determiners in many contexts. Catalan sustantiu can combine with determiners, quantifiers, and numerals; it can form compound nouns with other nouns or adjectives.

Variations: Some nouns change meaning or grammatical gender with determiner or context; there are feminine forms ending in -a, masculine in -o, though irregularities exist.

See also: Catalan grammar; noun; grammar terms.