Catalan/Pronoms

Strong pronouns

The strong pronouns serve as subjects and as objects of a preposition, as in "Jo menjo una poma" ('I am eating an apple') and "Dóna-me'l a mi!" ('Give it to me (and not to him/...)!'). They are also used as interjections or parts thereof, as in "Jo no!" ('Not me!').

Note that unlike in English, it is not necessary to supply a subject pronoun in Catalan, especially since subject person and number can be typically deduced from conjugated verbforms; that is, the notions behind the pronouns are "built into" the verbforms (e.g., the -o of menjo alludes to jo). In fact, subject pronouns are generally only used for emphasis or clarification, and so it is more normal to omit them. Therefore, "I eat"/"I am eating" is normally expressed as "Menjo" rather than "Jo menjo", which normally expresses "I (and not you/...) am eating".

Below is a table of the strong pronouns in Catalan with their literal English translations below:

		Singular	Plural
1st	normal	jo, mi 'I', 'me'	nosaltres 'we, us'
	majestic	nós 'we, us'
2nd	informal	tu 'thou, thee, you'	vosaltres '(all of) you'
	respectful	(vós) 'you'
	formal	vostè 'you'	vostès '(all of) you'
3rd	masculine	ell 'he, him'	ells 'they, them'
	feminine	ella 'she, her'	elles 'they, them'
	reflexive	si 'him/her/itself', 'themselves'

Notes

First person

• The form mi is only used after a preposition; some dialects and informal registers use jo instead
• The first-person singular majestic pronoun nós serves as the equivalent of the "royal we"; it behaves grammatically as plural

Second person

• As with many other continental European languages, Catalan has many equivalents of you that vary based on whom one is speaking to:
  • tu is used to refer to social inferiors (including children), animals, friends, and strangers around one's age
  • vós is traditionally used as a pronoun of courtesy, to refer to strangers elder than the speaker, for example
    • vós has been generally supplanted by vostè in most dialects
  • vostè traditionally refers to those in honorable social positions, such as judges and doctors

• vós behaves grammatically as second-person plural
• vostè behaves grammatically as third-person singular while vostès behaves as third-person plural

• vostè and vostès may appear as vosté and vostés in Valencian texts

Third person

• ells is used to refer to groups made up of both men and women, no matter how many women make them up and no matter how few men make them up
• si is only used as the object of a preposition

Weak pronouns

The weak pronouns (pronoms febles) are the object and adverbial pronouns that attach to the front or end of a verb (or to other attached pronouns); they are termed weak because they do not receive stress (in the varieties of Catalan outlined in this textbook, at least) and are often subject to various reductions.

When attached to a conjugated verb in the indicative or subjunctive mood, they go before the verb; in other cases, they are attached to the end. Compare the following examples (pronouns and related orthographic devices are in bold):

• "Dóna'm la poma!" ('Give me the apple!') = "dóna" (second-person singular informal imperative) + "em"
• "Dóna-me-la!" ('Give it to me!', the apple) = "dóna" (second-person singular informal imperative) + "em" + "la"
• "donar-me'l" ('To give it to me', 'Giving it to me' (concept), some object referred to with a masculine noun) = "donar" (infinitive) + "em" + "el"
• "Em dónes dues pomes." ('You give me two apples.', 'You're giving me two apples') = "em" + "dónes" (second-person singular informal indicative)
• "Hi ha dues portes." ('There are two doors.') = "hi" + "ha" (third-person singular indicative)
• "Se n'ha anat." ('He went/left.', 'He's gone/left.') = "es" = "en" + "ha" (third-person singular indicative)

Notice that although we say that they are attached to the left of the verb that they are not necessarily depicted as such in writing when they come before the verb. In respect to the sound system, however, pronouns attached to the left and their host verb count as a single word and are often actually pronounced as such; therefore, for example "hi ha" is pronounced connected as [ja] ("yah") rather than the disjointed [i a] ("ee ah").

Object pronouns

• Me = em (m') before the verb or me ('m) after the verb
• You (singular) = et (t') before the verb or te ('t) after the verb
• Him/her/it = es (s') before the verb or lo ('l)/la/ho/li after the verb
• Us = ens before the verb or nos('ns) after the verb
• You (plural) = us before the verb or vos('us) after the verb
• Them = se (s') before the verb or los ('ls)/les after the verb

(Note

• him/her/it: (Direct Object) lo ('l)/la/ho - (Indirect Object) li
• them: (Direct Object) los ('ls)/les - (Indirect Object) los ('ls) )

Possessive pronouns

		Possessed
Possessors	Singular		Plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
Singular	first	meu	meva meua	meus	meves meues
	second	teu	teva teua	teus	teves teues
	third	seu	seva seua	seus	seves seues
Plural	first	nostre	nostra	nostres
	second	vostre	vostra	vostres
	third	seu	seva seua	seus	seves seues
		llur		llurs

• Note that in most dialects, llur and llurs are archaic and typically only used in formal texts.

• The following unstressed possessive pronouns are retained in certain dialects and in literature: mon/ma/mos/mes, ton/ta/tos/tes, son/sa/sos/ses, nostre/nostra/nostres/nostras, vostre/vostra/vostres/vostras, llur/llurs

Demonstrative pronouns

Traditionally, Catalan distinguishes three grades amongst its demonstrative pronouns/determiners ('this', 'that', 'yon') and locative adverbs ('here, 'there', 'yonder'), but like most dialects of English, many dialects of Catalan have either reduced its forms so that only two degrees have distinct forms or are in the process of doing so. Dialects, such as Central Catalan, that do so typically extend their first-degree gendered pronouns and determiners (aquest, ...) to the second degree while also extending their second-degree neuter pronouns (això) and locative adverbs (aquí) to the first degree, resulting in the displacement of the forms whose territory was encroached upon.

The neuter pronouns correspond with the weak pronoun ho.

Amongst the first- and second-degree forms, there are the "reinforced" forms that begin with "aqu-" as well as those that do not. The second set is found in various varieties of Western Catalan, including Valencian.

The third grade is somewhat akin to that conveyed by the English constructions "that over there" and "over there". The third-degree gendered forms are, in effect, the strong third-person pronouns reinforced with "aqu-".

What is expressed in English as 'like this', 'like that', 'thus', and 'so' (though not 'so' as in "So, what do you want to do right now?") is normally expressed in Catalan with the adverbs així and aixà as in, for example: "Per què parles així?" ('Why are you talking like that?'), "He menjat el peix, així que ara puc menjar les meves postres!" ('I ate/have eaten the fish, so now I can eat my dessert!') The form aixà is only used in contrast with així.

Finally, note that the form ahí is Valencian and that aquí in the Valencian system tends to be associated with the first rather than the second degree thanks to its use as first-degree in its northern and southern dialects.

The first table outlines the modern incarnation of the classical three-grade system, only used in very formal contexts. The second and third tables outline the typical systems found in Central Catalan and Valencian.

Very formal, classical three-grade system (as present today)

		Gendered pronoun		Neuter pronoun	Locative adverb
masculine	feminine
Proximate (1st) ('this', 'here')	singular	aquest este	aquesta esta	açò	ací
	plural	aquestos estos	aquestes estes
Neutral (2nd) ('that', 'there')	singular	aqueix eixe	aqueixa eixa	això	aquí, (ahí)
	plural	aqueixos eixos	aqueixes eixes
Distal (3rd) ('yon', 'yonder')	singular	aquell	aquella	allò	allí, allà
	plural	aquells	aquelles

Typical two-grade Central Catalan system

		Gendered pronoun		Neuter pronoun	Locative adverb
masculine	feminine
Proximate (1st) ('this', 'here') ~ Neutral (2nd) ('that', 'there')	singular	aquest	aquesta	això	aquí
	plural	aquests	aquestes
Distal (3rd) ('yon', 'yonder')	singular	aquell	aquella	allò	allí, allà
	plural	aquells	aquelles

Typical three-grade Valencian system

		Gendered pronoun		Neuter pronoun	Locative adverb
masculine	feminine
Proximate (1st) ('this', 'here')	singular	este	esta	açò	ací ~ aquí
	plural	estos	estes
Neutral (2nd) ('that', 'there')	singular	eixe	eixa	això	ahí
	plural	eixos	eixes
Distal (3rd) ('yon', 'yonder')	singular	aquell	aquella	allò	allí, allà
	plural	aquells	aquelles

Relative pronouns

• el qual/la qual/els quals/les quals (which, who, whom)
• que - that, which, who
• què - what
• qui - who, whom
• on - where, when

Interrogative pronouns

The interrogatives of Catalan are as follows:

• quin? - which (one)?
• qui? - who?, whom?
• què? - what?
• com? - how?, what?
• on? - where?
• quan? - when?
• per què? - why?
• per a què - what ... for?

Note that Catalan prefers quin in some places where English would prefer what. With ser, in particular, què is avoided if it is technically possible to construe the question as a request for a definition (no matter how silly it may seem) rather than a selection of many possibilities. For example, one asks Quina és la teva opinió sobre l'economia d'Espanya? ("What is your opinion on Spain's economy?") rather than Què és la teva opinió sobre l'economia d'Espanya? (c.f. the following absurd exchange: A. "What is your opinion on Spain's economy?" B. "It's what I opine on that country's economy.").

com? is often used rather than què? as a response to something one has not understood or heard well.

The pronoun quin is inflected as such:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	quin	quina
Plural	quins	quines

Indefinite pronouns

• algú - somebody/someone
• cadascú - each one
• tothom - everyone
• un/una/hom/un hom - one, you
• tot = all
• quelcom = something
• alguna cosa = something

Negative pronouns

• ningú = no one
• res = anything, nothing
• (no) res = nothing

Examples: Res més? = Anything else? No vull res més. = I don't want anything else. No, res. = No, nothing.