La cullera és petita, però el plat és molt gran.

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Breakdown of La cullera és petita, però el plat és molt gran.

• gran: big
• petit: small
• molt: very

Questions & Answers about La cullera és petita, però el plat és molt gran.

Why do we use la with cullera but el with plat?

Because Catalan nouns have grammatical gender.

• la cullera = feminine
• el plat = masculine

The article has to match the noun:

• el = the for masculine singular nouns
• la = the for feminine singular nouns

This does not always match natural gender. A spoon is not female, and a plate is not male; this is just a grammatical category.

A learner usually has to memorize the noun together with its article:

• la cullera
• el plat

That is often the easiest way to learn gender in Catalan.

Why is it petita and not petit?

Because adjectives usually agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

Here, cullera is feminine singular, so the adjective also becomes feminine singular:

• masculine singular: petit
• feminine singular: petita
• masculine plural: petits
• feminine plural: petites

So:

• La cullera és petita. = The spoon is small.

If the noun were masculine, you would use petit:

• El plat és petit.

Why is it gran and not something like grana?