Ordinals beyond third and fractions: quart, la meitat, tres quarts
Ordinals up to third are plain: primer, segon, tercer. Then comes quart, and from the fifth the stress moves to the end: cinquè, sisè, setè, vuitè, novè, desè. For example: “Vivim a la quarta planta, al desè pis del bloc” — We live on the fourth floor, on the tenth level of the building. A rule from the Catalan course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Ordinals up to third are plain: primer, segon, tercer. Then comes quart, and from the fifth the stress moves to the end: cinquè, sisè, setè, vuitè, novè, desè.
The feminine of quart is short — quarta. The rest are long: cinquena, sisena.
Fractions have a ruler of their own: la meitat — half, el terç — a third, un quart — a quarter.
Then dos terços — two thirds, tres quarts — three quarters. Un quart d'hora — a quarter of an hour: time counts in fractions too.
Table
| form | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| quart / quarta | fourth | la quarta planta |
| cinquè…desè | fifth…tenth (feminine -ena) | la sisena vegada |
| la meitat / el terç | half / a third | la meitat del camí |
| tres quarts | three quarters | tres quarts d'hora |
By example
- Vivim a la quarta planta, al desè pis del blocWe live on the fourth floor, on the tenth level of the building
- La meitat del pastís és per a tu i un terç per a miHalf the cake for you, and a third for me
- Tres quarts dels veïns han signatThree quarters of the neighbors signed
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Ordinals beyond third and fractions: how does it work in Catalan?
Ordinals up to third are plain: primer, segon, tercer. Then comes quart, and from the fifth the stress moves to the end: cinquè, sisè, setè, vuitè, novè, desè.
What does it look like in an example sentence Catalan?
“Vivim a la quarta planta, al desè pis del bloc” — We live on the fourth floor, on the tenth level of the building. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.