-ès

See also: Appendix:Variations of "es"

Catalan

Alternative forms

• (Valencia) -és

Etymology

From Latin -ēnsis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): [ˈəs]
• (Eastern Catalan) IPA^(key): [ˈɛs]
• (Western Catalan) IPA^(key): [ˈes]

Suffix

-ès m (feminine -esa, masculine plural -esos, feminine plural -eses)

1. -ese; Used to form an adjective with the meaning of “pertinent thereto”.
2. -ese; Used to form a noun with the meaning of “an inhabitant thereof”.
3. m -ese; Used to form a proper noun with the meaning of “the language used by the inhabitants thereof”.

Usage notes

• 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

► Catalan words suffixed with -ès