Expressing possession, expressing quantity and asking questions are basic functions of the language. There are different ways of expressing possession. The English language sometimes expresses possession very differently from the way we do in our own language, so we should be careful to learn it accurately. We ask about possession with the interrogative pronoun whose? (Cat. De qui?).

On the other hand, expressing an indeterminate quantity requires the correct use of some small words called ‘quantifiers’ (Cat. quantificadors). Sometimes there is only a small difference between the meanings of different quantifiers, and we should also learn to distinguish between two types of nouns: ‘countable nouns’ (Cat. noms contables) and ‘uncountable nouns’ (Cat. noms no-contables). However, we can also speak of specific quantities and then we need to use the numeral adjectives. In this caseIn English, we ask about quantity with the interrogative pronouns how much? (Cat. Quant/a?) or how many? (Cat. Quants/-es?).

Finally, to ask questions in English correctly we need to know the correct grammatical structure, which sometimes is different from the structure of our own language. We also need to learn the interrogative pronouns, which are used to ask questions.

We can express possession in different ways. We can use a special form of the noun called ‘Saxon genitive’ (Cat. Genitiu saxó), the preposition of, a possessive adjective or a possessive pronoun.

The Saxon genitive

The Saxon genitive is a special form of the noun. It is used to indicate possession when the possessor refers to a person or a group of persons. We form the Saxon genitive by adding ‘s to the possessor. Examples:

• Jane’s brother (Cat. El germà de la Jane).
• The company’s benefits (Cat. Els beneficis de l’empresa).
• The people’s decision (Cat. La decisió de la gent).
• My colleague’s desk (Cat. La taula del meu company).

When the possessor ends in -s, we only add the apostrophe ('), without an ‘s’. Examples:

• The companies’ benefits (Cat. Els beneficis de les empreses).
• My colleagues’ desks (Cat. Les taules dels meus companys).
• Mr Landis’ attitude (Cat. L’actitud del Sr Landis).
• Charles’ car (Cat. El cotxe d’en Charles).

Apart from the use of the Saxon genitive with people, we can also use this form with adverbials of time. For example:

• Tomorrow’s work (Cat. La feina de demà).
• Last week’s meeting (Cat. La reunió de la setmana passada).
• Next year’s conference (Cat. El congrès de l’any que ve).

The preposition of

We use the preposition of (Cat. de) when the possessor is a thing. For example:

• The effects of the earthquake (Cat. Els efectes del terratrèmol).
• The siren of the ambulance (Cat. La sirena de l’ambulància).
• The minutes of the meetings (Cat. les actes de la reunions).
• The screen of the computer (Cat. La pantalla de l’ordinador).

In this case, the order of the words is the same as in Catalan and Spanish.

Possessive adjectives

We must place the possessive adjectives before a noun. The possessive adjectives tell us whose is the noun indicated. The following table shows the forms of the possessive adjectives:

Note

• The third person pronouns his, her and their are often used instead of the Saxon genitive forms. For example: Mary’s sister > her sister; John’s sister > his sister; Mary and John’s sister > their sister.

Here are some examples of the use of the possessive adjectives:

• Here is my ID (Cat. Aquí té el meu DNI).
• What is your name? (Cat. Quin és el teu/el seu nom?).
• This is Mr Gordon and his secretary (Cat. Aquest és el Sr Gordon i el seu secretari).
• I met Elizabeth and her son (Cat. Em vaig trobar amb l’Elizabeth i el seu fill).
• I’ll send you a copy of the email with its corresponding answer (Cat. Li enviaré una còpia del correu amb la seva corresponent resposta).
• We are lucky with our jobs (Cat. Tenim sort amb les nostres feines).
• Can you please give me your phone numbers? (Cat. Em podeu donar els vostres números de telèfon si us plau?)
• These are my two colleagues and their families (Cat. Aquests són els meus companys i les seves famílies).

Possessive pronouns

The use of the possessive pronouns is very similar to the use of the possessive adjectives, but the pronouns are not used before a noun. The table shows the forms of the possessive pronouns:

Note:

• The third person pronoun its is very little used.
• As in the possessive adjectives, the pronouns agreee with the possessor.

Some examples of the use of the possessive pronouns:

• Is this John’s coat? - No, it’s mine (Cat. És aquest l’abric del John? - No, és el meu).
• Is this yours? (Cat. Això és teu/seu (de vostè)?).
• Is this John’s coat? - Yes, I think it’s his (Cat. És aquest l’abric del John? - Sí, crec que és el seu).
• Is this Mary’s coat? - Yes, I think it’s hers (Cat. És aquest l’abric de la Mary? - Sí, crec que és el seu).
• This project is quite good, but ours is still better (Cat. Aquest projecte està bastant bé, però el nostre encara està millor).
• Yes, I think yours is better (Cat. Sí, crec que el vostre/el seu [de vostès] és millor).
• Was this your idea? - No, it was theirs (Cat. Això va ser idea teva? - No, va ser seva [d’ells/es]).

We can express a specific quantity os something by using numbers. For example:

• One year (Cat. Un any).
• Two years (Cat. Dos anys).
• Three years (Cat. Tres anys).
• Four years (Cat. Quatre anys).
• etc.

To express an indeterminate quantity of something, we must use some little words called ‘quantifiers’ (Cat. quantificadors). The English quantifiers are the following:

• No
• A/an, some, any
• Little, few, a little, a few
• A lot of, many, much

The correct use of the English quantifiers depends on the sentence (affirmative, negative or interrogative) and on the type of noun (countable and uncountable).

The following table shows the use of the English quantifiers:

Notes:

• The quantifier no means: zero quantity of something. It has a negative meaning, but the verb must be in the affirmative form: I have got no friends (Cat. No tinc amics). No is equivalent to the form not…any: I have not got any friends (Cat. No tinc amics).
• The quantifier a is the same word as the indeterminate article. We say an before a noun starting with a vowel sound: an hour, an animal, etc., but we say: a unit, a university, etc. because we pronounce u as a consonant (/junit/, /juniversiti/).
• The quantifiers a lot of and many express a great quantity of something. They have the same meaning, but we generally use a lot of in informal situations and many in formal situations.

Here are some examples of the use of quantifiers. The type of noun is indicated in brackets:

• I’ve got a very interesting offer (count.) (Cat. Tinc una oferta molt interessant).
• There are some people (count.) in the room (Cat. Hi ha algunes persones a la sala).
• Have you got any money (uncount.)? (Cat. Tens diners?).
• We found no books (count.) (Cat. No vam trobar cap llibre).
• We didn’t find any books (count.) (Cat. No vam trobar cap llibre).
• There’s a lot of information (uncount.) in the website (Cat. Hi ha molta informació a la web).
• Mr Larson controls a lot of / many companies (count.) (Cat. El Sr. Larson controla moltes empreses).
• We haven’t got much time (uncount.) (Cat. No tenim molt de temps).
• Are there many people (count.) in the room? (Cat. Hi ha molta gent a la sala?).
• We have few computers (count.) for so many people (Cat. Tenim pocs ordinadors per a tanta gent).
• We have a few computers (count.), so we can work (Cat. Tenim uns quants ordinadors, així que podem treballar).
• There’s little time (uncount.) to finish the work (Cat. Hi ha poc temps per a acabar la feina).
• We can finish because we have a little time (uncount.) (Cat. Podem acabar perquè tenim una mica de temps).
• There are no books on the shelves. Where are they? (Cat. No hi ha cap llibre a les prestatgeries. On són?).

The English questions have a different structure from the Catalan and the Spanish questions. For this reason, we must learn how to ask questions correctly. We can distinguish two types of questions:

• Yes/No questions: the answer to these questions is always ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• Wh-questions: these questions ask about specific information; they must have an interrogative pronoun.

Yes/No questions

To ask a yes/no question, the correct structures are the following:

1) With auxiliary and modal verbs: VERB + SUBJECT + …? For example:

• Are you the new employee? (Cat. Ets [tu] el nou empleat?)
• Is there a fire? (Cat. Hi ha un incendi?)
• Have you been to England? (Cat. Has estat a Anglaterra?)
• Can you speak English? (Cat. Saps parlar anglès?)
• Will you come to work? (Cat. Vindràs [tu] a treballar?)

2) With lexical verbs: DO/DOES/DID + SUBJECT + VERB IN INFINITIVE FORM + …? For example:

• Do you speak English? (Cat. Parles [tu] anglès?)
• Does your brother live with you? (Cat. Viu amb tu el teu germà?)
• Did she go out last night? (Cat. Va sortir [ella] ahir a la nit?)

In the answers to yes/no questions, we must use the corresponding subject pronoun and auxiliary or modal verb:

• Are you the new employee? - Yes, I am.
• Is there a fire? - No, there isn’t.
• Have you been to England? - Yes, I have.
• Can you speak English? - Yes, I can.
• Does your brother live with you? - No, he doesn’t.
• Did she go out last night? - Yes, she did.

Wh-questions

The correct structures of the wh-questions are the following:

1a) With auxiliary and modal verbs when the interrogative pronoun is the object:

-INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN + VERB + SUBJECT + …?

Examples:

• What is your address? (Cat. Quina és la teva adreça?)
• Where are you going? (Cat. On vas [tu]?)
• What should I do? (Cat. Què hauria de fer [jo]?)

1b) With modal verbs when the interrogative pronoun is the subject:

-INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN + VERB + …?

Examples:

• Who can tell me? (Cat. Qui m’ho pot dir?)
• What must be done? (Cat. Què s’ha de fer?)

2a) With lexical verbs when the interrogative pronoun is the object:

-INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN + DO/DOES/DID + SUBJECT + VERB IN INFINITIVE + …?

Examples:

• Where do you live? (Cat. On vius [tu]?)
• Why did he call you? (Cat. Per què et va trucar [ell]?)
• What does Jim do? (Cat. Què fa en Jim?)

2b) With lexical verbs when the interrogative pronoun is the subject:

-INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN + VERB IN THE APPROPRIATE TENSE + …?

Examples:

• What happened? (Cat. Què va passar?)
• Who cleans the office? (Cat. Qui neteja l’oficina?)
• Who came yesterday? (Cat. Qui va venir ahir?)

The following table shows the English interrogative pronouns:

Greeting and introducing people are two basic language functions which are very common in oral conversations in the working environment. In this type of conversations, the context is very important: we must use specific language and expressions depending on whether the situation is formal or informal.

In basic conversations, especially when we do not know the other person well or when we need to fill in a form, it is very common to ask and answer questions about personal aspects like name, address, telephone number, age, hobbies. etc.

We greet people when we meet or when we leave a place. On the other hand, we introduce people when we say who they are to a third person so they can know each other. We can also introduce ourselves. Here are some expressions commonly used to greet people and make introductions in formal and informal situations. We also include some expressions that we can use to respond to greetings and introductions.

Meeting people

We can use these expressions when we meet someone (the Catalan translations are not literal; they only show an equivalent expression):

In formal situations:

• Good morning (Cat. Bon dia)
• Good afternoon (Cat. Bona tarda)
• Good evening (Cat. Bona nit)
• Hello, Mr/Mrs… How are you? (Cat. Hola, Sr/Sra… Com està [vostè]?)
• Good day, Sir/Madam (Cat. Bon dia, Sr/Sra)

In informal situations:

• Hi! (Cat. Hola)
• Hello! (Cat. Hola)
• How are you? (Cat. Què tal? / Com estàs [tu]?)
• What’s up? (Cat. Què hi ha? / Què tal?)
• How are you doing? (Cat. Com va tot? / Com estàs [tu]?)

When we leave a place or a person after talking for some time, we can use the following expressions:

In formal situations:

• Good morning (Cat. Bon dia)
• Good afternoon (Cat. Bona tarda)
• Good evening (Cat. Bona nit)
• Good night (when going to slepp) (Cat. Bona nit)
• Goodbye (Cat. Adéu)
• It was a pleasure meeting you (Cat. Ha estat un plaer coneixer-lo/la [a vostè])
• It was a pleasure seeing you (Cat. Ha estat un plaer veure’l/-la [a vostè])
• It was a pleasure talking to you (Cat. ha estat un plaer parlar amb vostè)

In informal situations:

• Bye (Cat. Adéu)
• See you (Cat. Fins una altra)
• See you later (Cat. Fins després)
• See you tomorrow (Cat. Fins demà)
• See you on Monday (Cat. Fins dilluns)
• Take care (Cat. Cuida’t)

Introducing people

To introduce ourselves, we can say:

In formal situations:

• Good morning. My name’s [Josep Fernandez] (Cat. Bon dia. Em dic [Josep Fernandrez])

In informal situations:

• Hi, My name’s [Josep] (Cat. Hola. Em dic [Josep])
• Hi, I’m [Josep] (Cat. Hola, sóc [Josep])

To introduce other people, we can use the following expressions:

In formal situations:

• May I introduce you to [Mr Josep Fernandez]? (Cat. Permeti’m que li presenti [el Sr Josep Fernandez])
• Let me introduce you to [Mr Josep Fernandez] (Cat. Permeti’m que li presenti [el Sr Josep Fernandez])

In informal situations:

• This is [Josep Fernandez] (Cat. Aquest és [Josep Fernandez])

Responding to greetings and introductions

In all situations, we can respond to good morning, hello, goodbye and similar expressions by using the same words. For example:

A: Good morning
B: Good morning

A: Hello, Josep
B: Hi

A: Goodbye!
B: Goodbye

We can respond to the expressions: How are you?, What’s up, How are you doing? in different ways. For example:

A: How are you?
B: I’m fine, thank you. And you? (formal)

A: What’s up?
B: Fine, thanks (informal)

A: How are you doing?
B: Great, thanks. And you?

Here are other examples of responses:

A: It was a pleasure meeting you
B: A pleasure for me too

A: See you later
B: See you

A: Take care
B: You too

In introductions, there are different expressions to respond in formal and informal situations. Here are some examples:

A: Let me introduce to Josep Fernandez
Josep: How do you do?
A: How do you do

A: Josep, this is Mary
Josep: Hi, Mary. Nice to meet you
Mary: Nice to meet you too

In formal situations, it is not common to ask and answer personal questions during a conversation because this is considered too rude, but we may need to do so during a job interview or when we need to fill in a form. In informal situations, however, it is very common to talk about personal things. Here are some common questions and answers which may be useful when asking for and giving personal information:

Wh-questions:

• What’s your name? - My name’s (Maria) (formal) / I’m (Maria) (informal).
• Where are you from? - I’m (Spanish) / I’m from (Spain) / I’m from (Barcelona).
• Where do you come from? - I’m (Spanish) / I’m from (Spain) / I’m from (Barcelona).
• Where do you live? - I live in (Barcelona) / I live in (Spain).
• What’s your phone number? - It’s (605 33 33 33).
• What’s your address? - It’s (Paral·lel 71, in Barcelona).
• What’s your job? / What do you do? - I’m (a doctor) / I work as (a doctor).
• Where do you work? - I work (in a hospital) / I work (at Sant Pau Hospital).
• How old are you? - I’m (32 years old) / I’m (32).
• What are your hobbies? - I like (swimming) / My hobby is (swimming).
• What do you like doing? - I like (swimming).

Yes/no questions:

• Are you (Maria)? - Yes, I am / Yes, that’s right / No, I’m not (my name’s Paula).
• Are you (Spanish)? - Yes, I am / No, I’m not (I’m Italian).
• Have you got any brothers or sisters? - Yes, (I’ve got one brother and two sisters) / No, I haven’t.
• Do you work? - Yes, I do (I’m a doctor in a hospital) / No, I don’t (I’m unemployed).
• Can you spell (the name of the street)? - Yes, it’s (p-a-r-a-l-l-e-l)
• Do you speak (English)? - Yes, I do (a little) / No, I’m afraid I don’t
• Do you like (sports)? - Yes, (I like them very much) / No, I don’t, (I prefer watching television).

Notes:

1) In telephone numbers, we must say each number individually. When two consecutive numbers are the same, we use the term double (55, for example, is double five). Number ‘0’ is zero.

2) The question what do you do? is equivalent to what’s your job?. Do not confuse with: what are you doing? (Cat. Què fas? / Què estàs fent?).

3) Notice the answer to the question how old are you?. We must say: I’m (30) years old). It is wrong to say: *I have (30) years.

4) Remember that in short answers, we must include the correponding auxiliary or modal verb of the question.

ALU (n): v. arithmetical logic unit
arithmetical logic unit (n): unitat aritmètica lògica, UAL
bit (n): bit
byte (n): byte
central processing unit(n): unitat central de processament, CPU
chip (n): xip
CPU (n): v. central processing unit
driver (n): controlador, driver
expansion card (n): targeta d’expansió
expansion slot (n): ranura d’expansió
gigabyte (n): gigabyte, giga
gigahertz (Ghz) (n): gigahertz
graphics card (n): targeta gràfica, targeta de video
integrated circuit (n): circuit integrat
kilobyte (n): kilobyte
megabyte (n): megabyte, mega
megahertz (Mhz) (n): megahertz
memory card (n): targeta de memòria
motherboard (n): placa mare, placa base
processor (n): processador
RAM memory (n): memòria RAM (Random Access Memory)
register (n): registre
ROM memory (n): memòria ROM (Read Only Memory)
terabyte (n): terabyte
to execute (v): executar (un programa)