Catalan

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Latin -ēnsis (compare Occitan -és, Portuguese -ês, French -ais, Spanish -és, Italian -ese).

Pronunciation

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Suffix

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-ès (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -esa, masculine plural -esos, feminine plural -eses)

  1. -ese; forms an adjective with the meaning of “pertinent thereto”

Suffix

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-ès m (noun-forming suffix, plural -esos, feminine -esa)

  1. -ese; forms a noun with the meaning of “an inhabitant thereof”

Suffix

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-ès m (noun-forming suffix, uncountable)

  1. -ese; forms a proper noun with the meaning of “the language used by the inhabitants thereof”
Usage notes
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  • Unlike English, where the capitalization of the proper noun is retained when a suffix is added, in Catalan, when this suffix is used with a place name, the capitalization is dropped, even when forming a language name that is itself a proper noun. Hence Irlanda (Ireland) + -ès yields irlandès not *Irlandès.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From -istis, the second person plural ending for the present perfect indicative ending.

Suffix

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-ès

  1. Used to form the second person plural preterite indicative of second-conjugation verbs
Usage notes
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  • This form fell out of use, being largely replaced by the analogical ending -éreu.