Catalan personal pronouns

This article discusses the forms and functions of the personal pronouns in Catalan grammar.

Strong pronouns

The "strong" pronouns (Catalan: pronoms forts) in Catalan have the following forms:

Catalan stressed pronouns
  singular plural
1st person jo, mi nosaltres
majestic (nós)

Highly formal and archaic.

2nd person informal tu vosaltres
formal vostèvostès
respectful (vós)

Archaic in most dialects.

3rd person masculine ell ells
feminine ella elles
reflexive si
impersonal hom

    These forms are used as subject pronouns (with the exception of si), and also as disjunctive pronouns, for example, after a preposition.

    The first person singular pronoun has a special form mi after most prepositions.

    However, the form jo is used with some prepositions, for example, in segons jo ("according to me"), and in coordinated structures with another noun or pronoun: contra tu i jo ("against you and me").

    The third person reflexive pronoun si (both singular and plural) cannot be used as a subject. It most commonly appears after a preposition, often reinforced by mateix:

    The 2nd person polite pronouns are vostè (singular) and vostès (plural). They combine with 3rd person verbs.

    The older form vós (with 2nd person plural verb agreement) can be found in some varieties of Catalan, and in contexts like administrative texts.

    The 1st person majestic plural is expressed with the pronoun Nós (in place of nosaltres).

    There exists as well an impersonal subject pronoun hom (unmarked for either gender or number), always used with 3rd person singular verbs, nowadays archaic and only used in writing:

    Weak pronouns

    The weak pronouns (Catalan: pronoms febles) are proforms that, as the name indicates, do not carry stress. All are monosyllabic clitics, and all must always appear immediately before or after a verb: they cannot be used on their own or attached to a different element of the sentence. The combination of the verb plus the weak pronoun or pronouns always has a single stressed vowel, that of the verb.

    Forms

    Weak pronouns in Catalan vary according to:

    1. the person, number, and gender of the antecedent
    2. its syntactic function (direct or indirect object or adverbial complement).

    The form of a given pronoun is determined by its position with respect to the verb, and whether it is adjacent to a vowel or a consonant in the verb. There are four possible configurations:

    Em veieu. ("You see me.")
    Això m'agrada ("I like that."; lit. "That pleases me")
    En Joan no vol seguir-me. ("John doesn't want to follow me.")
    Dóna'm un llibre. ("Give me a book.")

    Not all pronouns have four distinct forms. The following table shows the complete inventory.

    number person syntactic function before the verb after the verb
    before a consonant before a vowel after a consonant after a vowel
    singular 1st direct/indirect object
    or reflexive (m. or f.)    		 em m' -me 'm
    2nd et t' -te 't
    3rd direct object (m.) el l' -lo 'l
    direct object (f.) la l'[lower-alpha 1] -la
    neuter object ho -ho
    indirect object (m. or f.) li -li
    plural 1st direct/indirect object
    or reflexive (m. or f.)     		ens -nos 'ns
    2nd us -vos -us
    3rd direct object (m.) els -los 'ls
    direct object (f.) les -les
    indirect object (m. or f.) els -los 'ls
    reflexive (m. or f., sg. or pl.) es s' -se 's
    adverbial ablative/genitive en n' -ne 'n
    locative hi -hi
    1. ↑ The unelided form la is used before verbs beginning in unstressed i- ou u- (or hi-, hu-).

    Uses

    The weak pronouns primarily express complements of the verb.

    Ahir el vaig veure. ("Yesterday I saw him.")
    Ahir la vaig veure. ("Yesterday I saw her.")
    Li donaràs el llibre? ("Will you give him/her the book?")
    Reflexive – La nena es renta. ("The girl is washing herself.")
    Pronominal – Tots es van penedir d'això. ("Everyone was sorry about that.")
    No ho sé. ("I don't know [the thing you just asked about].")
    -T'agrada mirar la televisió? -No, ho trobo avorrit. ("Do you like to watch TV?" "No, I think it's boring.")
    Cal netejar-ho tot. ("We have to clean it all up.")
    Locative expressions: Sempre he tingut ganes d'anar-hi. ("I've always wanted to go [there].")
    Prepositional phrases denoting manner or instrument, or starting with the prepositions a, amb, en, per, etc.: Hi estic d'accord. ("I agree [with that, with you, etc].)."
    Adverbs and adjectives used with verbs other than ser, ésser, estar, semblar, esdevenir: -Que t'has llevat alegre? -Sí, m'hi he llevat. (-"Did you get up in a good mood?" -"Yes, I did.")
    Intransitive verbs of perception: L'home no hi sent. ("The man can't hear.")
    Prepositional phrases starting with de: Tothom en parla. ("Everyone is talking about it."); En vinc. ("I'm from there.")
    Unmodified nouns or nouns preceded by numbers, quantifying adverbs or an indefinite article: Quantes cases teniu? — En tenim dues/moltes. ("How many houses do you have?" — "We have two/many [of them]."); Tens adreça de correu electrònic? — Sí, en tinc. ("Have you got an email address?" — "Yes, I do.")

    Position

    The weak pronouns are either proclitic (appearing immediately before the verb) or enclitic (immediately after).

    Enclitic pronouns are used with infinitives, gerunds, and positive imperatives.

    With all other forms of the verb, the weak pronouns are proclitic. This includes, in particular, conjugated (finite) verbs and negative imperatives:

    In complex verbal constructions consisting of a conjugated verb and an infinitive or gerund, the pronoun can appear either before the first verb or after the second verb.

    Dialectal variation

    Use of weak pronouns varies significantly across the Catalan linguistic area.

    Northern Catalan (particularly as spoken in Northern Catalonia) and the Balearic dialect do not generally use the reinforced forms (e.g. te veig instead of et veig).

    In the imperative mood in Northern Catalan, the reduced form of the pronoun is replaced by a tonic form (thus, not strictly being a weak pronoun anymore). For example, mira'm! (en: look at me!) in Northern Catalan is rendered as mira-mé!.

    Combinations of weak pronouns

    When two weak pronouns appear with the same verb, they must appear in a fixed order, as illustrated in the following table:

    3rd pers.
    reflexive    		 2nd pers. 1st pers. 3rd pers. adverbial
    indirect obj. direct obj.
    es et
    us    		 em
    ens    		 li
    els    		 el
    la
    els
    les
    ho    		 en hi

    The two pronouns must be selected from different columns, and furthermore ho cannot combine with en or hi.

    All of the combinations allowed in the standard language are given in the following table, which also shows the necessary morpho-phonological and orthographic adjustments. In each cell of the table, the forms are listed in the following order, with the same contextual conditions as explained above for the simple pronouns:

    1. proclitic form used before a verb that begins with a vowel
    2. proclitic form used before a verb that begins with a consonant
    3. enclitic form used after a verb that ends with a vowel (except "u")
    4. enclitic form used after a verb that ends with a consonant (or "u")
    hi en ho el la els les li em et ens us
    es s'hi
    s'hi
    -s'hi
    -s'hi    		 se n'
    se'n
    -se'n
    -se'n    		 s'ho
    s'ho
    -s'ho
    -s'ho    		 se l'
    se'l
    -se'l
    -se'l    		 se l'
    se la
    -se-la
    -se-la    		 se'ls
    se'ls
    -se'ls
    -se'ls    		 se les
    se les
    -se-les
    -se-les    		 se li
    se li
    -se-li
    -se-li    		 se m'
    se'm
    -se'm
    -se'm    		 se t'
    se't
    -se't
    -se't    		 se'ns
    se'ns
    -se'ns
    -se'ns    		 se us
    se us
    -se-us
    -se-us
    et t'hi
    t'hi
    -t'hi
    -t'hi    		 te n'
    te'n
    -te'n
    -te'n    		 t'ho
    t'ho
    -t'ho
    -t'ho    		 te l'
    te'l
    -te'l
    -te'l    		 te l'
    te la
    -te-la
    -te-la    		 te'ls
    te'ls
    -te'ls
    -te'ls    		 te les
    te les
    -te-les
    -te-les    		 te li
    te li
    -te-li
    -te-li    		 te m'
    te'm
    -te'm
    -te'm    		 te'ns
    te'ns
    -te'ns
    -te'ns
    us us hi
    us hi
    -us-hi
    -vos-hi    		 us n'
    us en
    -us-en
    -vos-en    		 us ho
    us ho
    -us-ho
    -vos-ho    		 us l'
    us el
    -us-el
    -vos-el    		 us l'
    us la
    -us-la
    -vos-la    		 us els
    us els
    -us-els
    -vos-els    		 us les
    us les
    -us-les
    -vos-les    		 us li
    us li
    -us-li
    -vos-li    		 us m'
    us em
    -us-em
    -vos-em    		 us ens
    us ens
    -us-ens
    -vos-ens
    em m'hi
    m'hi
    -m'hi
    -m'hi    		 me n'
    me'n
    -me'n
    -me'n    		 m'ho
    m'ho
    -m'ho
    -m'ho    		 me l'
    me'l
    -me'l
    -me'l    		 me l'
    me la
    -me-la
    -me-la    		 me'ls
    me'ls
    -me'ls
    -me'ls    		 me les
    me les
    -me-les
    -me-les    		 me li
    me li
    -me-li
    -me-li
    ens ens hi
    ens hi
    'ns-hi
    -nos-hi    		 ens n'
    ens en
    'ns-en
    -nos-en    		 ens ho
    ens ho
    'ns-ho
    -nos-ho    		 ens l'
    ens el
    'ns-el
    -nos-el    		 ens l'
    ens la
    'ns-la
    -nos-la    		 ens els
    ens els
    'ns-els
    -nos-els    		 ens les
    ens les
    'ns-les
    -nos-les    		 ens li
    ens li
    'ns-li
    -nos-li
    li li hi
    li hi
    -li-hi
    -li-hi    		 li n'
    li'n
    -li'n
    -li'n    		 li ho
    li ho
    -li-ho
    -li-ho    		 li l'
    li'l
    -li'l
    -li'l    		 li l'
    li la
    -li-la
    -li-la    		 li'ls
    li'ls
    -li'ls
    -li'ls    		 li les
    li les
    -li-les
    -li-les
    els
    ind. obj.    		 els hi
    els hi
    'ls-hi
    -los-hi    		 els n'
    els en
    'ls-en
    -los-en    		 els ho
    els ho
    'ls-ho
    -los-ho    		 els l'
    els el
    'ls-el
    -los-el    		 els l'
    els la
    'ls-la
    -los-la    		 els els
    els els
    'ls-els
    -los-els    		 els les
    els les
    'ls-les
    -los-les
    el l'hi
    l'hi
    -l'hi
    -l'hi    		 el n'
    l'en
    -l'en
    -l'en
    la la hi
    la hi
    -la-hi
    -la-hi    		 la n'
    la'n
    -la'n
    -la'n
    els
    dir. obj.    		 els hi
    els hi
    'ls-hi
    -los-hi    		 els n'
    els en
    'ls-en
    -los-en
    les les hi
    les hi
    -les-hi
    -les-hi    		 les n'
    les en
    -les-en
    -les-en
    en n'hi
    n'hi
    -n'hi
    -n'hi

    In combinations like es + en, the resulting form, pronounced [sən], could be analyzed either as s' + en or as se + 'n. The orthographic convention in such cases is to place the apostrophe as far to the right as possible: se'n, and not s'en, and similarly for se'ls, me'n, te'm, te'ns, etc. The combination of el/la with en, however, is written l'en, because there is no such pronoun as le that would justify the spelling le'n.

    Impossible combinations

    As mentioned above, the combinations ho + hi and ho + en are not allowed in the standard language, and must be avoided, for example by keeping only ho and leaving the other pronoun unexpressed. In some contexts, it is also acceptable to replace ho with el, giving rise to the following combinations:

    (Això, a Sabadell) l'hi portaré demà. ("I will take it there tomorrow")

    In the second case, it is also possible to replace the pronoun en with hi:

    (Això, de l'armari) l'en/l'hi trauré després. ("I will take it out of there afterwards")

    This substitution of hi for en is also used to express the combination of en (ablative) + en (genitive), since the form *ne'n is not allowed:

    (D'homes, del teatre) n'hi sortiran tres. ("Three of them will come out of there")

    Longer combinations

    Sequences of three pronouns are possible, and generally consist of one of the two-pronoun combinations from the table above, preceded by em, et, ens, us, and most commonly es (the added pronoun must not already appear in the original two-pronoun cluster).[1]

    Combinations of four pronouns are very rare:

    Variants

    Combinations of weak pronouns are subject to wide regional and stylistic variation, and in several cases the normative rules presented above do not reflect actual usage.

    For example, alongside the transparently derived forms of li + direct object pronoun (el, la, els, les) given in the table above, central Catalan varieties replace li with hi:

    Furthermore, the feminine forms can merge phonetically with the masculine forms, i.e. la hi is pronounced like l'hi and les hi like els hi.

    Combinations of li with en and ho can also undergo modification:

    In more colloquial registers, the plural indirect object pronoun els is realized as els hi, and this extended form is used instead of all combinations of els followed by a 3rd person direct object pronoun:

    The elided proclitic forms ens n' and us n' are regularly replaced by the unelided forms ens en and us en before a verb starting with a vowel. For example:

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Pellicer & Ferran (1998, p. 160–61)

    References

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