by Max Wheeler
(ii) The underlying structure of preposition + third-person pronoun is substituted by adverbial pronouns en or hi (12.6 and 12.7):
Tinc una ploma d’aquelles d’abans però no m’agrada escriure-hi (not *no m’agrada escriure amb ella).
I’ve got one of those old-fashioned fountain pens but I don’t like writing with it.
Ja estic fart de sentir aquestes coses. No me’n parlis més (not *No em parlis més d’elles).
I’m fed up with hearing these things. Don’t talk to me any more about them.
(iii) Many prepositions can be used as adverbs, making the use of the pronoun redundant, as optionally in English:
–Has portat el cotxe? –No, he vingut sense (not *sense ell).
‘Did you bring the car?’ ‘No I came without (it).’
Vaig veure la pila de llibres i, damunt (not *damunt d’ella), una flor.
I saw the pile of books and, on top (of it), a flower.
Va obrir el calaix i, dins (not *dins d’ell), hi havia la pistola.
He opened the drawer and, inside, was the pistol.
The same applies with darrere ‘behind’, davant ‘in front’, davall ‘under’, ‘beneath’, and all compound prepositions ending in de: fora de ‘outside’, lluny de ‘far from’, a prop de ‘near (to)’, etc.:
La plaça era davant l’església i el Carrer Major darrere (not *darrere d’ella).
The square was in front of the church and the high street behind (it).
Sobre la taula vaig veure un gerro i, davall (not *davall d’ella), un parell de sabates.
On the table I saw a jug and, underneath (it), a pair of shoes.
12 PRONOMINAL CLITICS (WEAK OBJECT PRONOUNS)
12.1 GENERAL
The Catalan pronominal clitics, also generally referred to as weak object pronouns, are unstressed elements which, while having a distinctive grammatical function (expressing verbal complements), are nevertheless reduced phonetically to forming a single unit with the verb that governs them: Me mana ‘He orders me’ behaves phonetically like the word mamaire ‘suckling’, Veta’ls ‘Veto them’ behaves like pètals ‘petals’. These weak pronouns can stand either (proclitically) before a verb or are attached (enclitically) after a verb: proclitic: M’ajudes ‘You help me’, Em pots ajudar ‘You can help me’; enclitic: Ajuda’m ‘Help me’, Has d’ajudar-me ‘You must help me’.
The examples above show one of several features – here variations (in form and spelling) according to point of contact with the verb – that make this the most intricately exacting aspect of Catalan grammar. It is worth identifying at this stage what the other principal factors are, both formal and functional, that contribute further to this complexity:
(i) the range and subtleties of functions (see especially 12.3.2);
(ii) non-standard forms, and phonetic and dialectal variations (see 12.1.2, 12.3.2.2, and 12.9.3.2 to 12.9.3.5);
(iii) discrepancies between widespread colloquial habits and formal, written conventions, combined with some instability of normative grammar applied to this area;
(iv) the integration of pronominal and reflexive verbs (Chapter 23, 12.4, and 12.9);
(v) the integration of the pronominal adverbs en and hi in the total system of pronominal clitics (12.6, 12.7 and 12.9);
(vi) the increased complication of orthographic detail when two or more clitics combine with a verb (12.9).
12.1.1 FORMS OF SINGLE PRONOUNS
Forms shown in brackets in the table below are those which appear when there is no specific variant for that particular pronoun corresponding to the column heading: e.g. the full form li occurs in contexts where other pronouns would display reinforced, elided, or reduced forms.
before the verb after the verb
Areinforced Belided Cfull Dreduced
singular 1st person em m’ -me ’m
2nd person et t’ -te ’t
3rd person m. DO el l’ -lo ’l
f. DO (la) l’* -la (-la)
IO (li) (li) -li (-li)
reflexive es s’ -se ’s
neuter (ho) (ho) -ho (-ho)
plural 1st person ens (ens) -nos ’ns
2nd person (us) (us) -vos -us
3rd person m. DO els (els) -los ’ls
f.DO (les) (les) -les (-les)
10 els (els) -los ’Is
reflexive es s’ -se ’s
adverbial en n’ -ne ’n
(hi) (hi) -hi (-hi)
A = verb beginning with consonant
Β = verb beginning with vowel
C = verb ending with consonant or u
D = verb ending with vowel
DO = Direct Object
IO = Indirect Object
Note: * In accordance with fluctuation in pronunciation, la before unstressed i- or u- (or hi-/hu-) may be written with the reinforced or the elided form: la inquietal I‘inquieta ‘troubles her’; prescriptive norms prefer the former.
Observe that when used enclitically all the pronouns are attached to the preceding verb by a punctuation mark, either the hyphen or the apostrophe.
Information from the above table can be represented differently to show how these clitics variously display all or some of the form variations (reinforced, elided, full or reduced):
reinforced em et el es en ens els us la
elided m’ t’ l’ s’ n’ (ens) (els) (US) l’
full -me -te -lo -se -ne -nos -los -vos (-la)
reduced ’m ’t ’l ’s ’n ’ns ’ls (-us) (-la)
Li, les, ho and hi are invariable (except for the hyphen which always affixes them to a preceding verb). When the variable items appear in dictionaries, word lists, etc., or when they are mentioned in grammatical discussion, it is conventional to refer to them by the reinforced form, as in the top row of the preceding table.
It is common for the full form se to be used instead of reinforced es before verbs beginning with [s] (s- or ce-, ci-): No se sentia res ‘Nothing could be heard’. The full forms me, te, se, ne, are often used also instead of reinforced forms before a verb, after one of a small list of adverbs/pronouns: tant ‘so much’, quant(s) ‘how much’, ‘how many’, com ‘how’, on ‘where’, quan ‘when’:
Com te trobes? How do you feel?
Quants ne vols? How many (of them) do you want?
Tant se val. It makes no difference.
Tant me fa. I don’t care.
Com se diu? What is he called?
In some varieties, especially Balearic and in certain parts of Valencia, it is common to use the full forms me, te, se, ne, in sentence-initial position, as in Me sembla que … ‘It seems to me that…’, and sometimes in other contexts where the more general tendency is to favour the ‘reinforced’ form.
An underlying pattern of morphological structure can be discerned in the above written conventions. Explaining this may help to make sense of the apparent complexity of the system. Firstly the marker s figures in all plural forms. Then it can be seen that there is a single morphemic base for the thirdperson and each of the first- and second-person forms, singular and plural. This pattern also incorporates the [s] base of the reflexive/reciprocal clitic (singular and plural) es.
morphemic base pronoun forms
first person singular /m/ em, me, m
plural /n/ + /s/ ens, nos, ns
second person singular /t/ et, te, t
plural /u/v/ + /s/ us, vos
third person singular /l/ m. el, lo, l;/: la, lindirect object m. and f.: li
plural /l/ + /s/ m.: els, los, Is; f: lesindirect object m. and f.: els, los, ls
reflexive /s/ es, se, s
The first-person singular morpheme m is extended to the plural form by many dialects which have mos for ens/nos. Historical affinities between /u/ and /v/ account for the fact that these same dialects (principally Balearic and Valencian) have vos for the central standard us.
The wide variety of forms of the Catalan pronoun system is reducible to the bases described above. In what follows, whil
e we make reference as appropriate to the principal dialectal variations, the main description refers to the standard language based on the eastern Central (Barcelona) variety.
12.1.2 NON-STANDARD FORMS
The unstressed phonetic value of the pronominal clitics makes them particularly susceptible to erosion and transformation in pronunciation. This feature produces certain abbreviated forms which are widespread in colloquial registers, and which are conventionally represented in written reproduction of such registers. Comprehension of everyday spoken Catalan requires some grasp of these non-standard patterns, because the weak pronouns carry so much of the grammatical information of utterances. The instances of vos for us and full me, te, se, ne for reinforced em, et, es, en (mentioned at 12.1 above) are well established and retain a certain prestige as archaisms. Other main instances of deviation from the standard are as follows:
(i) Voiced sibilant [z] replaces ens or us before a vowel sound. The same [z] followed by an unstressed support vowel [ə] (that is, [zə], written se/s’/-se in conventional representation of non-standard speech) replaces -nos or -vos after a consonant.
Després s’hem (for ens hem) estat una estona xerrant al bar i s’hem (for ens hem) assegut amb la colla. (R. Solsona)
Afterwards we were chatting in the bar for a while and then we sat with our gang.
Asseiem-se (for asseiem-nos) aquí.
Let’s sit here.
Estàvem rentant-se (for rentant-nos) les mans.
We were washing our hands.
Feu-se (for feu-vos) maquillar.
Have your make up put on.
Porteu-se (for porteu-vos) bé.
Behave yourselves.
(ii) Non-standard -use [-wzə] and ’nse [-nzə] occur after an infinitive form ending in a stressed vowel. (Here the [ə] sound can be understood to ‘support’ the reduced ‘ns normally used after a vowel.) Thus arreglâ-use can be used instead of arreglar-vos, and introduî’nse for introduir-nos, etc. (Note that in the non-standard speech represented here the -r of the standard infinitive is pronounced only before those enclitic pronouns containing not more than one consonant.) Forms without the support [ə] occur before another vowel-initial clitic.
Hem de trobâ’nse (for trobar-nos) a les vuit. We’re to meet at 8 o’clock.
Hem de trobà’ns-hi (for trobar-nos-hi). We’re to meet there.
per arreglà-use-la (for arreglar-vos-la) to fix it (f.) for you
per arreglà-us-el (for arreglar-vos-el) to fix it (m.) for you
(iii) Analogously the support vowel [ə] occurs also when ’ls is used instead of -los in dialects which do not pronounce the final -r of an infinitive with an enclitic pronoun:
No calia fê’lse (for fer-los) venir. There was no need to make them come.
per endú’ls-en (for endur-los-en) to take them away
(iv) The final r of second-conjugation verbs ending in unstressed -er is generally not pronounced before any enclitic pronoun. Forms reflecting the most widespread pronunciation, as in Volen convence’ns (for Volen convèncer-nos They want to convince us’) or Pots coneixe’l (for Pots conèixer-lo ‘You can get to know him’) are nowadays deemed acceptable in writing, though they are regarded as somewhat informal; see 16.5.1.
(v) Pronouns beginning with [i] or [u] are colloquially reshaped as diphthongs as in [əj] for hi, [əw] for ho, [əws] for us. Thus hi ha ‘there is’ is commonly pronounced [əja]; hi havia ‘there was’ is pronounced [əj] ‘via; ho confessa ‘he confesses it’ is pronounced [əw] confessa; us veig ‘I can see you’ is pronounced [əwz] veig. None of these non-standard diphthongized forms appears in written texts.
(vi) A particular treatment given to pronominal clitics in the Balearic dialects can be mentioned here. Stress is displaced to the enclitic pronoun itself, or, if this has been reduced to a single consonant because the verb ends in a vowel, to the final syllable of the verb in question. This phonetic variation does not affect spelling, but only pronunciation, as indicated in these examples where the mark ' precedes the syllable on which the stress falls:
indicar-me [indikaɾ'mə]/[indikəɾ'mə]
incloure’ls [iŋklɔw' ɾəls]/[iŋklow'rəls]
incloure-les [iŋklɔwɾə'ləs]/[iŋklowɾə'ləs]
aturant-me [ətuɾam'mə]/[ətuɾəm'mə]
agafa’l [əɣa'fəl]/[əɣə’fəl]
cantau-la [kəntaw'lə]/[kəntəw'lə].
Other alterations and significant dialect particularities will be remarked on at the appropriate points in what follows, e.g., 12.3.2.2 and, regarding pronouns in combination, 12.9.3.2, 12.9.3.4, 12.9.3.5, and 12.9.3.8.
12.2 POSITION OF THE PRONOUN WITH A VERB
The form taken by an individual weak pronoun depends upon whether it precedes or follows a verb, and on whether the verb has a vowel or a consonant at the point of contact. A weak pronoun follows an imperative, and infinitive, or a gerund, and precedes any other verb form. These forms are tabulated in the schema in 12.1.1. We consider first those cases where the pronoun stands before the verb.
12.2.1 PRONOUN BEFORE THE VERB
The weak object pronoun stands before the verb in all cases except those mentioned below in 12.2.2, with the additional consideration covered in 12.2.3.
When the verb begins with a consonant the reinforced (A) form of the pronoun appears:
Em parlen. They speak to me.
Et crida. She is calling you.
El convidem. We invite him.
La coneixíem. We used to know her.
Es desperta. She wakes up.
Es posava la corbata. He was putting his tie on.
No li fan il·lusió. She doesn’t like them.
Ho reciclen. They recycle it.
No ens convenceren. They did not convince us.
Us cridarem d’hora. We’ll call you early.
Els/Les venen. They sell them.
Es pentinen. They comb their hair.
Els va fer por. It frightened them.
No en tenim. We don’t have any (of them).
Hi passem la nit. We spend the night there.
Dialects frequently use the full forms (me, etc.) in this context, especially at the beginning of an utterance; the Balearic preference for vos over us has already been observed.
When the verb begins with a vowel sound (including h + vowel) elided forms (B) are used if these exist:
M’han vist. They have seen me. S’aixeca. He gets up.
T’admiren. They admire you. N’hem parlat. We have talked about it.
L’odien. They hate him/her.
If no elided form is available, we find reinforced ens and els, reduced us, and the full forms of li, les, ho and hi:
Ens admetran. They will admit us. Les organitzem. We organize them (f.pl.)·
Us estimen. They love you. Ho arreglarem. We will sort it out.
Li agradaran. He will like them. Hi hem anat. We have been there.
As remarked in the note to the table given in 12.1.1, normative grammar prefers la to elided l’ when this feminine singular direct object pronoun precedes unstressed (h)i or (h)u-:
La irriten. They irritate her. La ungeix. She anoints her.
La hipnotitzen. They hypnotize her. La humilieu. You humiliate her.
Otherwise, this pronoun elides before a vowel sound. Note L’odien ‘They hate her’: elision here even in those dialects where the unstressed ο is pronounced [u]; L’hissen (la bandera) ‘They raise it (the flag)’: elision here because the initial i is stressed. Western Catalan dialects insistently retain in pronunciation the distinction between L’insultaven ‘They were insulting him’ and La insultaven ‘They were insulting her’.
Also to be noted here is the fact that phonetic elision of reinforced clitics with a preceding vowel sound is not registered in orthography:
Ara el castigaran, (pronounced as if aval castigaran)
Now they will punish him.
No et preocupis. (pronounced as if not preocupis)
Don’t worry.
> Què em dius ara? (pronounced as if quèm dius ara)
What are you trying to tell me?
Tu els has vist. (pronounced as if tuls has vist)
You have seen them.
Ja ens coneixem, (pronounced as if jans coneixem)
We’ve already met.
Així es convenceran. (pronounced as if aixís convenceran)
This is how they’ll be convinced.
A casa en tinc un d’igual. (pronounced as if a casan tine …)
I’ve got one like it at home.
No ho vol fer. (pronounced as if nou vol fer)
She doesn’t want to do it.
Ja hi aniré demà. (pronounced as if jai aniré demà)
I’ll go there tomorrow.
Note that in cases like the last two above, the vowel sounds [i] and [u] of the pronouns hi and ho do not disappear but rather become semivowels forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel sound.
12.2.2 PRONOUNS AFTER THE VERB
Weak pronouns are enclitically attached after the verb when this is an infinitive, a gerund, or a (positive) imperative.
If the verb ends in a consonant or a semiconsonant -u (in the diphthongs -au, -eu, -iu, -ou, -uu) the full forms (C: hyphenated) are used: mirar-me ‘to look at me’, pintant-los ‘painting them’, Oblideu-la ‘Forget her’. If the verb ends in a vowel (other than -u) reduced forms (D: with apostrophe) are used where these exist; otherwise the full (hyphenated) forms are used:
reduced full
Put it there. Posa’l (m.sg.) aquí. Posa-la (f.sg.) aquí.Posa-ho (neuter) aquí.
Put them here.Pick it up.Pick them up. Posa’ls (m.pl) aquí. Posa-les (f.pl.) aquí.Recull-lo/recull-la.Recull-los/recull-les.
Get up.Buy some.You must buy some. Aixeca’t (sg.).Compra’n. Aixequeu-vos (pl).Compreu-ne.Has de comprar-ne.