Catalan
Page 18
She brought presents for each (one) of her nephews (and nieces).
cap ‘not one’, ‘(not) any’, invariable:
This word is a negative polarity item like gaire and gens (see below 8.4, also 26.1.5) in that it can stand alone in interrogative or conditional contexts as well as forming a negative construction with no:
Si arriba capvisita, digue-li que s’esperi.
If any visitor arrives, tell them to wait.
Cap d’ells no ho ha entès.
Not one of them has understood.
For the difference between cap and gens see 8.6iii.
cert ‘certain’, marked for number and gender:
Used as an indefinite cert precedes the noun. In the singular it is preceded, as in English, by the indefinite article:
L’equívoc es pot atribuir a una certa tendència seva a exagerar.
The misunderstanding is attributable to a certain tendency of his to exaggerate.
Hi ha certes persones amb qui val més no tractar.
There are certain people that it is better to have nothing to do with.
Preceding the name of a specific person ‘a certain’ is translated by un tal (see below). Used absolutely or placed after the noun cert means ‘accurate’, ‘true’ or ‘sure’:
És cert que no vindran.
It’s true they’re not coming.
Estic cert del que et dic.
I’m certain about what I’m saying.
Encara no tenim notícies certes sobre aquests fets.
We still don’t have accurate news about these events.
diversos ‘several’, ‘various’ (plural), marked for gender:
Es pot fer de diverses maneres.
It can be done in various ways.
Li ho vaig haver d’explicar diverses vegades.
I had to explain it to her several times.
In the sense of ‘several’ diversos usually precedes the noun, although it may occasionally follow: problemes diversos relacionats amb el cas ‘several problems related to the case’. In this position the meaning of ‘diverse’ comes into view, overlapping with the synonymous varis (pl. vàries):
Van provar remeis varis/diversos.
They tried various/several different remedies.
perraons vàries/diverses
for various reasons
The use of varis instead of diversos before the noun, in the sense of an indefinite number, is deemed non-standard. When ‘several’ implies a rather large number nombrosos can be used:
Hi hagué nombroses abstencions.
There were several/a good number of abstentions.
igual (a/de) ‘(the) same (as)’:
Viu en una casa igual de/a la que vàrem visitar.
He lives in a house the same as the one we visited.
Em sembla que té un quadern igual del/al que jo vaig perdre.
I think she’s got a ring-binder the same as the one I lost.
Igual a, not igual de occurs before an indefinite or a possessive:
Aquesta planta és igual a una de tropical que em van regalar.
This plant is the same as a tropical one that I was given as a present.
Tenia un pis igual al meu.
She had a flat just like mine.
mant ‘many a’, marked for gender:
Used only in the singular, with a plural meaning, this word is confined to very formal contexts:
El text ho descriu detingudament, amb manta observació oportuna.
The text describes it in detail, with many an opportune observation.
mateix ‘same’, ‘selfsame’, marked for number and gender:
(i) Meaning ‘same’ mateix always stands before the noun or noun phrase that it qualifies:
Teníem els mateixos gustos.
We had the same tastes.
Ja no treballen amb les mateixes eines que abans.
They don’t work with the same tools as they used to.
M’ha regalat el mateix llibre que li vaig regalar jo per Nadal.
She has given me the same book as the one I gave her at Christmas.
Aquests nois no són els mateixos que varen venir a la botiga.
These boys aren’t the same ones that came to the shop.
El mateix is used pronominally to mean ‘the same (thing)’ (see 9.2):
Avui et dic el mateix que et vaig dir ahir.
I’m telling you today the same as I told you yesterday.
Sempre fas el mateix, i amb el mateix resultat.
You always do the same thing, and with the same result.
(ii) Placed either before or after a noun mateix has the emphatic meaning of ‘selfsame’, ‘very’, ‘right’ and likewise emphasizes any strong pronoun after which it is placed, e.g. jo mateix.‘Imyself’, ella mateixa ‘she herself’:
No el reconeixeria ni el seu mateix pare/el seu pare mateix.
Not even his own father himself would recognize him.
Aquestes són les seves mateixes paraules.
These are her very words.
Aquest quadre, l’he pintat jo mateix ((f.) jo mateixa).
I painted this picture myself.
Where there could be ambiguity, mateix comes after the noun if it means ‘selfsame’: la mateixa reina could translate ‘the queen herself’ or ‘the same queen’, while la reina mateixa means only ‘the queen herself’. Mateix occurs in conventional formulations when someone is asked to identify themselves, as on the telephone –El senyor Planes? –Jo mateix ‘Mr Planes?’ ‘Speaking’/‘That’s me’, or in an encounter –Vostè és la senyora Planells? –La mateixa ‘Are you Mrs Planells?’ ‘I am indeed’ (lit. the same). It is also frequently used, after the relevant subject pronoun, as a way of telling someone else that they can choose or decide for themselves:
Pots quedar-te aquí o venir amb nosaltres: tu mateix.
You can stay here or come with us; it’s up to you/as you prefer.
ningun ‘no’, ‘any’, singular only, marked for gender:
Ningun is used in Valencian only, and corresponds in usage to cap (see above).
propi ‘own’, marked for number and gender:
Ho ha fet amb les seves pròpies mans.
He did it with his own hands.
Ho hauries de veure amb els teus propis ulls.
You ought to see it with your own eyes.
Because of the reflexive meaning of ‘belonging to oneself’, the use of propi overlaps with that of mateix (as discussed at (ii) under mateix):
Aquestes són les seves pròpies paraules.
These are her own words./These are her very words.
Propi, however, will not qualify a pronoun: nosaltres mateixos ‘we ourselves’, never *nosaltres propis.
qualque ‘some’, singular only, not marked for gender:
Synonymous with algun, this adjective has wide currency in Balearic dialects and in North Catalonia. Elsewhere its use is confined to literary contexts, except in the phrase qualque cosa = alguna cosa ‘something’ (see 8.6). The corresponding pronominal is qualcun ‘someone’, marked for number and gender.
qualsevol ‘any’, marked for number:
There is an alternative form qualsevulla. This compound word is analysed as qual-se-vol/vulla ‘whichever might be wanted’, which explains why the plural appears with double ss in the middle as qualssevol (qualssevulla). The indefinite meaning of’any at all’, ‘whichever’ is prominent:
Podria haver esclatat en qualsevol moment.
It could have exploded at any moment.
Inventa qualsevol pretext per marxar.
Invent some pretext or other for leaving.
Pots agafar qualsevol d’aquestes cintes.
You can take any one of these tapes.
qualsevol que sigui la conseqüència d’aquesta acció
whatever the consequence of this action may be
Qualsevol diria que ets un milionari.
Anyone would say you’re a millionaire.
The
plural qualssevol is nowadays infrequent, being substituted by a singular construction, as the meaning is virtually the same, e.g.:
qualsevol membre de la junta que no hi estigui d’acord
any member/members of the board who isn’t/aren’t in agreement
Qualsevol normally precedes the noun: Pots pagar amb qualsevol moneda ‘You can pay in any currency’. The idea of indefiniteness or randomness is strengthened, though, if it is placed after the noun:
Tracem un triangle qualsevol; no cal que sigui rectangle.
Let us draw a triangle, any triangle; it need not be right-angled.
When postposed qualsevol is used of people, the effect is often pejorative, equivalent to English ‘any old’:
No és una cantant qualsevol; és una autèntica artista.
She’s not just any old singer; she’s a real artist.
Used pronominally with the indefinite article, the term can be insulting: un qualsevol ‘a nobody’, una qualsevol ‘a trollop’, ‘a slut’.
sengles ‘one each’, invariable:
This adjective exists only in the plural, with the meaning of ‘one for or belonging to each of two or more persons or things’:
Venia acompanyada de tres guardaespatlles, muntats en sengles motocicletes potents.
She was accompanied by three body-guards, each riding a powerful motorbike.
totsaquests casos, amb sengles peculiaritats
all of these cases, each with its own peculiarity
In everyday usage the function of sengles is performed by a more current indefinite word or construction, in the first example above … muntat cada un en una motocicleta potent, and in the second, … amb les seves peculiaritats…
tal ‘such’, marked for number:
Serà millor que no ens emboliquem en tals operacions.
It will be better if we don’t get involved in such operations.
In the singular tal alone usually corresponds to English ‘such a’:
Ella no hauria dit mai tal cosa.
She would never have said such a thing.
Vaig dir-li que vindria tal dia i a tal hora.
I told him I’d come on such and such a day at such and such a time.
An indefinite article sometimes precedes tal, though, when the comparative idea of ‘similar’ is uppermost:
Jo no he emprat mai un tal llenguatge.
I have never used such language/language like that.
Tal com ‘just like’, ‘just as’ can be adjectival or adverbial:
Era tal com ens l’havien descrit.
It was just like they had described it to us.
Ho faré tal com dius.
I’ll do it just as you say.
Tal is also used to refer to an indefinitely identified person:
S’ha casat amb una tal Glòria.
He has married some Glòria or other/somebody called Glòria.
en tal i en tal altre
so-and-so and what’s-his-name
Archaic aital (marked for number) occurs as a synonym for tal in deliberately elevated style.
tot ‘every’, ‘any’, marked for gender (singular):
Tot is used in the singular in contexts where it can be considered an indefinite rather than a quantifier (see 8.2):
Tot mallorquí se n’hauria d’alegrar.
Every Majorcan ought to be pleased about this.
Cal rebutjar tot producte que no porti aquesta etiqueta.
Any product not bearing this label should be rejected.
un indefinite article, marked for number and gender:
For discussion of the indefinite article un, see 3.2.3–4. In the present context attention is to be paid to problems involved in translating ‘some’ (see 8.6) and to use of the plural uns before a numeral to express an approximate quantity:
Fa unes tres hores que s’espera.
She has been waiting for three hours or so/about three hours.
Aquest model val uns tres mil duros.
This model costs about 15,000 pesetas (un duro = five-peseta coin).
8.4 FUNCTIONS OF CAP, GAIRE, GENS
These words (together with ningú and res, covered in 8.5) belong to a set of items used in negative constructions in Catalan. The description of negation given in 26.1.5 is complemented by considering the ‘positive’ value of the quantifiers gaire and gens and indefinite cap when they are used in interrogatives or after si ‘if’. Compare:
Portaven gaire equipatge?
Were they carrying much luggage?
No sé si portaven gaire equipatge.
I don’t know if they were carrying much luggage.
with the corresponding negative construction:
No portaven gaire equipatge.
They weren’t carrying much luggage.
Likewise:
Ha fet gens de sol?
Has the sun shone at all?
Si fa gens de sol, anirem tots a la platja.
If the sun shines at all, we’ll all go to the beach.
compared with negative:
No ha fetgens de sol.
The sun hasn’t shone at all.
and
Has rebut cap carta?
Have you received any letters?
Em pregunto si ha rebut cap carta.
I wonder if he has received any letters.
compared with negative:
No han rebut cap carta.
They haven’t received any letters.
8.5 INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
In addition to those indefinite adjectives which can be used pronominally, there are some words which have the exclusive function of an indefinite pronoun. Examples are given of each one, listed alphabetically:
algú ‘someone’, ‘somebody’, ‘anybody’:
Algú ho deu saber.
Somebody must know.
Si hi ha algú a fora, digue-li que se’n vagi.
If there’s anybody outside, tell them to go away.
‘Someone else’ can be translated by algú altre, although un altre frequently suffices. This observation combines with the further point that when gender is a significant part of the message ‘someone’ can be translated by un/una or by a specific noun, as in:
Ara surt amb una altra.
He’s going out with someone else (= a different girl) now.
M’ha saludat una que no coneixia.
Somebody (f.)/Some woman I didn’t know said hello.
És una (dona/noia) en qui pots confiar.
She is somebody in whom you can trust.
altri ‘someone else’:
Altri is invariably the object of a preposition. In colloquial registers it is less commonly used than periphrastic equivalents like un altre, una altra persona, algú altre, els altres, according to sense.
El degueren prendre per altri. They must have taken him for somebody else.
Treballem pel bé d’altri. We are working for the good of others.
cada u or cadascú ‘each’, ‘everyone’:
Cada u és lliure d’emetre la seva opinió.
Everyone is free to voice their opinion.
The meaning of cada u/cadascú is close to that of absolutely indefinite tothom ‘everybody’, and it is differentiated from the pronominal adjective cada un/cadascun (see 8.3) which refers to individuals from a specific group in the mind of the speaker. This can be seen by comparing:
Cadascú (= tothom) cobra el mateix.
Everybody is paid the same.
Hi treballen nou empleats i cadascun (d’ells) cobra el mateix sou.
Nine clerks work there and every one (of them) is paid the same salary.
Consequently, unlike cada un/cadascun (as in cadascuna de les germanes ‘each of the sisters’, cadascun de nosaltres ‘each (one) of us’), cadascú cannot be followed by a de + noun phrase.
ningú ‘no one’, ‘nobody’, ‘anyone’, ‘anybody’:
No s’ho creurà ningú. No one will believe it.
While occurring principally in
negative constructions (see 26.1.5), ningú can mean indefinite ‘anyone’ in interrogative contexts and after si:
Mira si es veu arribar ningú.
Have a look to see if anybody is arriving.
Hi ha ningú que gosi contradir-me?
Is there anybody who dares to contradict me?
In practice algú will be found more frequently in such expressions.
qualcú ‘someone’ = algú
quelcom ‘something’:
This form is strongly embedded in all formal styles. Colloquially, however, in most varieties and across the range of written registers it is substituted by alguna cosa, una cosa:
Això és quelcom que haurem de tenir en compte.
This is something we shall have to bear in mind.
Aquí hi ha alguna/una cosa que no va bé.
There is something wrong here.
T’explicaré una cosa que t’esgarrifarà.
I’ll tell you something that will horrify you.
The use of qualque cosa, synonymous with quelcom, (alg)una cosa, has extended beyond the Balearic dialects where its use is universal:
Hauries de menjar qualque cosa.
You ought to have something to eat.
Quelcom takes de before a masculine adjective in translating English ‘something + adjective’: quelcom de meravellós = una cosa meravellosa ‘something marvellous’.