by Max Wheeler
Subject:
Nedar és bo per a la teva salut.
Swimming is good for your health.
M’agrada sortir amb tu.
I like going out with you.
Serà difícil controlar-los.
Keeping a check on them will be difficult./It will be difficult to keep a check on them.
Object:
Detesto haver de fer cua.
I hate having to queue.
Ha procurat persuadir-me, però només ha aconseguit irritar-me.
She has tried persuading me but has managed only to annoy me.
S’estimaven més morir que trair la causa.
They preferred dying to betraying the cause.
Sometimes a specific Catalan noun is available for such contexts: La natació és bona per a la salut ‘Swimming is good for one’s health’, El ciclisme/La pesca és un passatemps molt sa ‘Cycling/Fishing is a healthy pastime’.
When the English main verb and gerund do not have the same subject, in Catalan a subordinate clause with the subjunctive must be used, as described in 19.2. (Observe how many of the examples in 19.2 have an English gerund in the translation.)
No m’agrada que tornin a aquestes hores de la nit.
I don’t like them coming back at this time of night.
Proposo que se li imposi una multa.
I propose fining him.
Et molesta que fumi?
Do you mind my smoking/if I smoke?
22.3.3 PREPOSITIONAL OBJECTS
Here again the Catalan infinitive or subordinate clause corresponds to ‘-ing’ in the function of a verbal noun:
Teníem moltes ganes de tornar-hi.
We were looking forward to going back there.
Se n’han anat sense acomiadar-se de ningú.
They have left without saying goodbye to anybody.
Li han posat una multa per haver aparcat en una zona prohibida.
They have fined him for parking (having parked) in a prohibited zone.
És una manera d’evitar que et vinguin a empipar amb nicieses.
It’s a way of avoiding them coming and annoying you with silly things.
22.3.4 PASSIVE USES OF ‘-ING’
English ‘-ing’ frequently substitutes a passive infinitive (e.g. ‘This needs repairing’ = ‘This needs to be repaired’). A Catalan passive may be the equivalent (Això ha de ser rectificat ‘This needs rectifying’), but the solution is usually an impersonal construction with an infinitive or a subordinate clause:
Cal estudiar-ho a fons.
It needs studying in depth.
Convé redactar de bell nou el paràgraf sencer.
The whole paragraph needs rewriting.
No fa falta que li ho repetim.
She doesn’t need it repeating (to her by us).
22.3.5 ENGLISH GERUND MODIFYING A NOUN
English ‘-ing’ + noun phrases usually correspond to Catalan noun + de + infinitive when the ‘-ing’ word is itself a noun: botes de muntar ‘riding boots’, carnet de conduir ‘driving licence’, canya de pescar ‘fishing rod’ (but un vaixell pescador ‘a fishing boat’), màquina de cosir ‘sewing machine’, etc. Sometimes a Catalan noun provides the qualification, as in saló de lectura ‘reading room’, lliçons de cant i de ball ‘singing and dancing lessons’, embarcació de vela ‘sailing boat’.
If ‘-ing’ is a participial adjective, Catalan will have a relative clause, unless a specific participle in -ant or -ent exists (see 21.2.1): notícies preocupants ‘worrying news’, objecte volant no identificat, ‘unidentified flying object’, líquid bullent ‘boiling liquid’, gràfica ascendent ‘rising curve’, raons convincents ‘convincing reasons’, etc., but una nina que plora ‘a crying doll’.
The above solutions, however, do not apply to every case. Other instances will be covered by:
(i) Specific nouns: falç ‘reaping hook’, volant ‘steering wheel’, bata ‘dressing gown’, menjador ‘dining room’, etc.
(ii) Specific qualifying adjectives: una notícia dolorosa ‘distressing news’, una resposta decebedora ‘a disappointing reply’, la pressió intensificadora ‘intensifying pressure’, un dependent atent/servicial/obsequiós ‘an obliging shop assistant’, la línia divisòria ‘dividing line’, la companyia naviliera ‘shipping company’, l’agent marítim ‘shipping agent’, un home extraordinari ‘an amazing man’, etc.
(iii) Analytical formulae or idiomatic equivalents: un llibre que val la pena de llegir ‘a rewarding book’, uns fets que causen perplexitat ‘perplexing facts’, l’edat de tenir fills ‘child-bearing age’, avions en vol ‘flying aircraft’, l’esperit de lluita ‘fighting spirit’, la dona de la neteja ‘cleaning lady’, el Mur de les Lamentacions ‘the Wailing Wall’, sala d’espera ‘waiting room’.
23 PRONOMINAL VERBS
23.1 GENERAL
Pronominal verbs are those which appear with an object pronoun (i.e. em, et, es, ens, us, es, in the appropriate form) of the same person as the subject of the verb: M’he llevat ‘I got up’, Pentina’t ‘Comb your hair’, Aneu-vos-en ‘Go away’. Verbs in the third person, including vostè(s), take the reflexive pronoun es (s’, -se, ’s) for both singular and plural. When standing alone or as a verbal noun, the infinitive takes enclitic -se or’s (identificar-se ‘identify oneself’, renovar-se ο morir ‘be renewed or die’, moure’s ‘move’ (intransitive)), which is how pronominal verbs are given in word lists, dictionaries, etc.
Many Catalan verbs can be used in this way, and there is an important group (see 23.5ii) which exist only in the pronominal form. Older grammars refer to all such cases as ‘reflexive verbs’, but this is misleading. A true reflexive verb is a transitive one whose direct or indirect object, expressed as a pronoun, is one and the same as its subject, i.e. a verb expressing an action done by a subject to or for him/herself: M’afaito ‘I have a shave’, Talla’t les ungles ‘Cut your nails’. However only a small percentage of pronominal verbs have this truly reflexive sense (23.2). Reciprocity is also expressed by this pronominal construction (23.3):
Ens estimem de debò.
We really love each other.
Es van repartir els caramels entre ells.
They shared out the sweets among themselves.
Beyond these two cases (reflexivity and reciprocity) the behaviour of Catalan pronominal verbs cannot be neatly described by reference to English structures.
The subtleties of the Catalan weak-object-pronoun system (discussed in Chapter 12) and the passive or impersonal uses of es (covered in Chapter 29) affect the complexity of this phenomenon, as do several other contrasts between Catalan and English. The following points affecting translation are to be borne in mind:
(i) Nuances of the ethic dative (12.3.2.3 and 25.4):
Me’ls vaig trobar al supermercat.
I came across them in the supermarket.
Te l’hauries de vendre.
You ought to sell it.
Here pronominalization of the verb expresses the subject’s close involvement or interest in the event. In other similar cases the ethic dative stresses totality of an event:
Me l’he llegit d’una tirada.
I read it at one go.
Es va cruspir un plat de canelons.
He scoffed down a plateful of cannelloni.
(See 23.8.)
(ii) Transitivity and intransitivity:
Pronominalization through the ‘reflexive passive’ (discussed in 23.4 below; see also 29.2) may make a transitive verb intransitive:
Es va obrir la porta. The door opened.
S’ha embussat l’aigüera. The drain is blocked.
Many transitive verbs have pronominal intransitive counterparts, where the pronominalized form acquires one or more additional senses. Enfilar ‘thread (a needle)’ has the pronominal counterpart enfilar-se, an intransitive verb of motion meaning ‘go up’, ‘climb’ (presumably via the notion of ‘thread one’s way’), which can take an adverbial or prepositional complement
:
S’enfilava penya amunt xiulant, com si no li costés gens.
She was going up the hill whistling, as though there were nothing to it.
Els nens s’han enfilat a l’arbre més alt.
The children have climbed the highest tree.
While the logic in this kind of process is clear, there is no simple pattern of equivalence in English to match all cases. Sometimes a single English verb, used both transitively and intransitively, corresponds to non-pronominal and pronominal forms in Catalan (as with obrir/obrir-se in Es va obrir la porta, above):
Para el motor! Stop the engine!
S’ha parat el motor. The engine has stopped.
In other cases, a single verb in Catalan is differentiated through pro-nominalization where two different verbs are used in English:
llevar lift off, lift up llevar-se get up
acostar bring near(er) acostar-se approach
portar carry portar-se behave
More details and examples are given in 23.5.
(iii) ‘Become’:
The single English verb ‘become’ is rendered by a range of Catalan verbs, many of them pronominal: fer-se, posar-se, tornar-se, convertir-se (en), transformar-se (en). Examples are given and translation issues discussed in 30.6.
(iv) Exclusively pronominal verbs (23.5ii), pronominal verbs that take prepositional objects (23.5 and 23.7), and verbs whose pronominal form has a specialized meaning (23.6 and 23.9).
23.2 PRONOMINAL VERBS WITH REFLEXIVE FUNCTION
This use – not, it should be stressed, the commonest incidence of the pronominal form – expresses an action done by someone to themself. Three characteristic features of this reflexive construction are that:
(i) The verb is always transitive.
(ii) The subject is usually animate (contrasting with the so-called ‘reflexive passive’: Es va obrir la porta ‘The door opened’, Es lloguen cotxes ‘Cars for hire’, see 23.4 and 29.2).
(iii) The pronoun may represent either the direct or the indirect object: Ens hem rentat ‘We’ve had a wash’, Ens hem rentat les mans ‘We’ve washed our hands’.
Examples of reflexive constructions:
S’estan dutxant. They’re having a shower.
Tregui’s l’americana. Take your jacket off.
Compte, que t’esquitxaràs! Watch out, you’ll get splashed!
S’ha trencat una cama. He’s broken a leg.
Em vaig tallar amb un tros de vidre. I cut myself on a piece of glass.
No s’han preparat per a la cursa. They haven’t prepared (themselves) for the race.
Other observations on true reflexives:
(iv) The subject in these reflexive constructions may be emphasized by use of the subject pronoun, frequently reinforced by the appropriate form of sol ‘alone’ or mateix ‘-self’:
La nena ja es vesteix (ella) sola.
The little girl now dresses herself.
Ens hem de felicitar nosaltres mateixos.
We must congratulate ourselves (lit. We ourselves must congratulate us. See (vii) below.)
Si vols estar ben servit, fes-te tu mateix el llit. (proverb)
If you want a job done properly, do it yourself. (lit. If you want to be well served, make your bed yourself.)
(v) The reflexive object may be emphasized by use of the appropriate strong pronoun reinforced by mateix, introduced by a for both direct and indirect objects:
Us heu delatat a vosaltres mateixos. You have betrayed yourselves.
T’has de conèixer a tu mateix(a). You have to know yourself.
The third-person (singular and plural) strong reflexive pronoun si may appear in formal style:
S’odia a si mateix. He hates himself.
S’hauran defraudat a si mateixos. The will have cheated themselves.
But except when it corresponds to ‘oneself’, this use of si tends to be avoided in favour of ell/ella, ells/elles (11.4.2):
S’ha estafat a ell mateix.
He has swindled himself.
Es concediren a ells mateixos un augment de sou.
They gave themselves a pay increase.
(vi) Prepositions other than a may introduce the strong (object) pronoun to modify the subject/object of a reflexive action:
T’ho hauries de mirar per tu mateix.
You ought to take a look at it for yourself.
S’han repartit els beneficis entre elles mateixes.
They have shared the profits out among themselves.
(vii) Verbs expressing harm or hurt may use mateix reinforcing either the prepositional strong pronoun (emphasizing the reflexive object) or the subject pronoun:
Jo mateix em complico la vida./Em complico la vida a mi mateix.
I make life difficult for myself.
Us perjudiqueu (a) vosaltres mateixos.
You make things worse for yourselves.
(viii) With certain common verbs the reflexive form can mean ‘get/have something done (for oneself)’ as well as the true reflexive ‘do something to/for oneself’:
S’han construït una torre a la costa.
They have built themselves a chalet/had a chalet built (to their specifications) on the coast.
M’he de tallar els cabells.
I must cut my hair./I must have a haircut.
In many such cases there is no ambiguity, as the action is not likely to be performed by the subject:
S’ha hagut d’operar d’una apendicitis.
He has had to have an operation for appendicitis.
Si et fa mal aquest queixal, treu-te’l.
If that tooth hurts, have it taken out.
Where ambiguity might occur it may be avoided either by use of fer or deixar, or by use of the personal pronoun with sol or mateix:
M’he fet tallar els cabells.
I have had my hair cut.
No us heu de deixar operar, llevat de casos d’extrema urgència.
You must not have an operation, except in cases of extreme urgency.
Et pots fer la manicura tu mateixa a casa.
You can give yourself a manicure at home.
23.3 PRONOMINAL VERBS WITH RECIPROCAL MEANING
The reciprocal sense, logically, involves only plural verbs. A pronominal verb in the plural may express reciprocity of event, that is, an activity done ‘to/for one another’.
‘Ajudem-nos’ ha de ser la nostra consigna.
‘Help one another’ must be our watchword.
Es van conèixer a Palamós.
They met in Palamós.
S’abraçaven i es donaven cops a l’esquena.
They were embracing and patting each other on the back.
L’un a l’altre/els uns als altres may clarify or reinforce the reciprocal meaning, an effect which can also be achieved by the adverbs mútuament or recíprocament. Thus S’irriten could mean ‘They get irritated’, but S’irriten l’un a l’altre or S’irriten mútuament makes it clear that ‘They irritate each other’.
Where the plural subject includes both male and female, masculine pronouns are always used:
En Francesc i la Marta s’elogien sovint l’un a l’altre.
Francesc and Marta often sing each other’s praises.
Els homes i les dones s’han de respectar tots els uns als altres.
Men and women must all respect one another.
(cf. Les joves i les velles es miraven amb recel les unes a les altres.
The old women and the young ones were looking suspiciously at one another.)
23.4 PRONOMINAL VERBS WITH INANIMATE SUBJECTS
The construction, known as the reflexive passive, is semantically equivalent to a passive, but has the apparent form of a transitive construction. The underlying direct object appears as subject while the direct-object position is occupied by a (third-person) reflexive pronoun: Els seus llibres es van editar a València ‘His books were published in Valencia’. Detailed discussion is provided in 29.2 of this complex grammatical construction. Here
attention is paid to one function in which it is frequently found, that corresponding to an English intransitive (or detransitivized) form – El tren es va parar ‘The train stopped’ – or to the colloquial passive construction with ‘got’ – Aquí s’ha esborrat una línia ‘A line has got deleted here’. From the point of view of English, it appears to involve the featuring of inanimate (invariably third-person) subjects in reflexive actions:
Les coses s’han embolicat de mala manera.
Things have got into an almighty mess.
La vaixella s’haurà de tornar a l’armari.
The crockery will have to be put back in the cupboard.
S’ha enfonsat el vaixell.
The ship has sunk.
La grip no es cura amb aspirines.
Flu isn’t cured with aspirins.
An indirect object pronoun (em, et, li, ens, us, els, in the appropriate form) can combine with es to indicate ownership or interest of the person(s) affected by the situation:
Se’ns acaba d’espatllar el vídeo.
Our video has just gone wrong.
Se m’han barrejat els papers i ara no trobo la carta que buscava.
My papers have got mixed up and now I can’t find the letter I was looking for.
el premi que se li ha concedit
the prize she has been awarded
Se’ns perfila una conclusió alternativa.
An alternative conclusion is becoming visible (to us).