LingoflyCatalan
Catalan — Indo-European family, about 9–10 million speakers (estimate, Institut Ramon Llull). Script: the Latin alphabet, 27 letters, with ç and the punt volat in l·l. This site has 3960 words and 27 letters with audio.
Try one word
Demo language: Catalan
Read the card and choose an answer. No sound or sign-up needed.
gràcies
thank you
Without JavaScript: read the card, choose an answer in your head and open the explanation.
1 / 2 · Choose an answer
gràcies
- goodbye
- thank you
- hello
- please
Show the answer
gràcies
thank you
2 / 2 · Choose an answer
Moltes ___ per l'ajuda
Many thanks for the help
- si
- gràcies
- hola
- adéu
Show the answer
gràcies
thank you
Two checks complete
gràcies
thank you
This is a choice based on text. Conversation and remembering over time still need practice and checking.
How answers are counted
Answers stay on this page. Statistics include the demo stage, overall result, interface language and saved counter consent choice, without answer text or a profile.
Where to start
A young course: the words, the lessons and the recordings are all here, but a native speaker has not read it end to end yet. Spot a rough edge? Tell us and we will fix it.
- →Catalan alphabetAll letters with sound
- →Catalan wordsBy topic and alphabetically
- →PhrasebookPhrases ready to use
- →GrammarRules without jargon
- →Reading textsShort texts with translation
- →PronunciationWhat you hear and what is hard
- →From scratchWhere to start, and in what order
- →How long to studyAn honest estimate, with caveats
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- holahellothe h is silent: OH-luh
- bon diagood morningLiterally 'good day'. Before a masculine noun bo shrinks to bon: bon dia, bon cafè
- bona tardagood afternoonFor after lunch. Tarda is feminine, hence bona, not bon
- bona nitgood nightBoth a greeting late in the evening and a wish before sleep — like the Spanish buenas noches
- adéugoodbyeFrom a Déu — 'to God': the same road Spanish adiós took. The everyday parting word
- fins arasee you soonLiterally 'until now' — a goodbye for someone you will see again today. In Catalonia it is one of the most common farewells, alongside adéu
- gràciesthank youstressed with the grave accent: GRAH-syus
- si us plaupleaseLiterally 'if it pleases you' — three words fused into one politeness. It goes at the end of the request
How it sounds
Five words spoken aloud: click the speaker and pick the translation. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
- What is this word?
It is hola — hello.
- What is this word?
It is si us plau — please.
- What is this word?
It is bé — well.
- What is this word?
It is ell — he.
- What is this word?
It is adéu — goodbye.
Curiosities in Catalan
Catalan, Valencian and Balearic are three names of one language. Valencia adopted the common orthography back in 1932 — the “Normes de Castelló” — and the Valencian Academy of the Language (AVL), founded in 1998, built its norm on them and in 2005 stated in writing that the language is the same one spoken in Catalonia.
«Normes de Castelló», Castelló de la Plana, 1932; Dictamen de l'AVL sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià, 2005
About the language
| Native name | Català · catala |
| Official in | Andorra, Catalonia, Valencia (as Valencian) and the Balearic Islands |
| Also spoken in | France (Roussillon), Italy (Alghero) and Aragon (La Franja) |
| How many speakers | about 9–10 million speakers (estimate, [Institut Ramon Llull](https://www.llull.cat/)) |
| Family | Indo-European family, Romance group — closest to Occitan |
| Script | the Latin alphabet, 27 letters, with ç and the punt volat in l·l |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: unstressed vowels are not pronounced the way they are spelled, and the apostrophe is compulsory: l'aigua.
Easy: you already read the alphabet, and much of the vocabulary is transparent through French and Spanish.
What people most often take it up for: moving to Barcelona or the coast, work, study, school for the children.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the longer the gap before reviewing it can be. To hold it for a week, review it after a day or two; to hold it for a year, after about three or four weeks.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20–40% of the target interval when you need to remember for a week, and 5–10% when for a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- A material reward promised for doing a task lowers the wish to take it up of your own accord once the reward is gone. Praise for what was done, on the contrary, keeps that wish alive.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. A material reward promised in advance and the time later spent on the task by free choice: d = −0.44 for finishing, −0.40 for taking part, −0.28 for performance; a reward unrelated to the task, −0.14, not significant. Praise: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Catalan?
With the sounds and the first hundred words: you know the script, but it has its own reading rules.
How many people speak Catalan?
About 9–10 million speakers — an estimate; source: Institut Ramon Llull. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Catalan hard?
Unstressed vowels are not pronounced the way they are spelled, and the apostrophe is compulsory: l'aigua. At the same time, you already read the alphabet, and much of the vocabulary is transparent through French and Spanish.
Where is Catalan spoken?
An official language in: Andorra, Catalonia, Valencia (as Valencian) and the Balearic Islands. Noticeable communities: France (Roussillon), Italy (Alghero) and Aragon (La Franja).
Is Catalan in Duolingo?
Yes, but not from your own language: as of September 18, 2026, Duolingo teaches Catalan from Spanish only — there is no course in it from English. We have Catalan in full: 3960 words, with audio, a phrasebook and grammar in plain words.