by Max Wheeler
Have they not shown you the letters Foix wrote me?
Després us ho explicarem a vosaltres.
Afterwards we’ll explain it to you.
In certain cases, though not all, – the constraints are not yet well understood – an indirect object which is inanimate can be represented by the ‘locative’ clitic hi. This usage is illustrated in 12.7ii.
When an indirect object phrase is placed before the verb, in a dislocation construction, it is usual to ‘double’ it with a clitic pronoun.
A l’home(,) l’experiència li ha ensenyat…
Man has learnt by experience, (lit. To man, experience has taught him …)
Als meus germans, això no els importa gaire.
My brothers and sisters are not very worried about that. (lit. To my brothers, that does not matter much to them.)
In informal styles, this pattern of clitic doubling occurs also in relative clauses and wh-questions, and even when the phrasal indirect object is in its normal post-verbal position. Some grammarians regard this not just as informal, but as non-standard.
?A qui li enviarem la llista de preus. Who shall we send the price list to?
?els clients a qui els vam enviar la llista the customers we sent the list to
?L’Enric li va donar una rosa a la Rosa. Enric gave a rose to Rosa.
?Li ho direm al teu germà. We will tell your brother. (lit. We will tell him it to your brother.)
There are a few so-called dative subject verbs which have an indirect object but no direct object. Their grammatical subject is typically inanimate and their grammatical indirect object is normally animate. These verbs require an indirect object clitic to be present, wherever the indirect object phrase happens to be placed. (The clitic can only be omitted if the understood indirect object is generic/impersonal.) Examples of such verbs are plaure ‘please’, agradar ‘please’/‘like’, convenir ‘suit’, ‘be appropriate’, escaure ‘suit’, ‘fit’, ‘become’, faltar ‘be lacking’, mancar ‘be lacking’, sobrar ‘be in excess’, semblar ‘seem’, parèixer ‘seem’, passar ‘happen’, acudir-se ‘occur’:
Les persones a qui no els agrada l’aigua mineral amb gas n’hauran de beure de l’aixeta.
People who don’t like fizzy mineral water will have to drink tap water.
la Júlia, a qui no li faltava coratge …
Julia, who did not lack courage …
A en Jaume no li sobraven recursos.
Jaume hadn’t an excess of resources.
No li sobraven recursos(,) a en Jaume.
Jaume hadn’t an excess of resources.
Al cotxe li faltava una roda.
The car had a wheel missing.
Mira a veure què els sembla als de producció aquesta foto.
Look and see what those in production think of this photo, (lit…. what seems to them to those of production …)
No falten propostes.
There is no shortage of suggestions. (omitted indirect object generic/impersonal)
As well as indicating the recipient of a verbal action (Envia’m els documents ‘Send me the documents’, Us donaré un consell ‘I’ll give you a piece of advice’), the indirect object pronoun can also indicate different ways in which a person is affected by what a verb phrase expresses. The actual way in which the person is affected is deduced from the meaning of the verb, from context or by common sense. Translation into English (not always comfortably possible) may involve a variety of prepositions according to detail of meaning or implication. The range of such nuances is exemplified in the following examples:
Us han deixat una fortuna. They have left a fortune to you.
Em reservaran una habitació. They will book a room for me.
Em van treure quatre bales. They took four bullets out of me.
M’ha robat el cor. She has stolen my heart away.
No us haurien de tenir enveja. They ought not to be jealous of you.
Va tirar-me un objecte contundent. He threw a sharp object at me.
Em provocà una reacció forta. It produced a strong reaction in me.
Em van trobar un carnet de partit. They found a party card on me.
Em van tirar una flassada al damunt. They threw a blanket over me.
Per què no et compres un d’aquests? Why don’t you buy yourself one of these?
Sempre han de posar-nos entrebancs. They always have to put obstacles in our way.
In Catalan, when a direct object is possessed by a person, it is normal to express the possessor as an indirect object of the verb in question; when the possession is inalienable this is the only idiomatic way to construct the sentence (see 7.4.1):
Van pintar la casa de blau a aquest senyor. They painted this man’s house blue.
El dentista va treure una dent a la Núria. The dentist removed one of Nuria’s teeth.
Es va posar les mans al cap. She put her hands on her head. (lit. She put to herself the hands on the head.)
No ens tocaran els llibres. They won’t touch our books.
No m’haurà vist la cara. She won’t have seen my face.
M’han trencat el braç. They have broken my arm.
Similarly with possessed subjects of intransitive verbs:
Em cauen els cabells. My hair is falling out.
Li rodava el cap. His head was swimming.
Se’ns ha mort el lloro. Our parrot has died (on us).
The foreign learner will need to appreciate that the Catalan indirect object has a range of functions far wider and more nuanced than that of the simple dative (Ens ha parlat en francès ‘He spoke to us in French’), in order to be able to generate naturally expressions like M’han robat la cartera ‘They have stolen my wallet’ and others as illustrated above.
A further function of the grammatical indirect object is the so-called ethic dative (a pronominal clitic referring to a person involved in or affected by a situation, see 23.1), which itself has multiple nuances.
El gos no em menja.
The dog won’t eat.
Les plantes em creixien tortes.
My plants grew twisted./The plants grew twisted, in my case.
Aquella al·lota em camina d’una manera provocadora.
That girl walks in a provocative way (I find/it seems to me/in my experience).
25.4.1 PROBLEMATIC OR DISPUTED INDIRECT OBJECT CONSTRUCTIONS
There are several verbs for which the choice between direct and indirect object is not obvious, or is a matter of variation, or of dispute between grammarians. Some verbs which may in standard Catalan be constructed with either a direct or an indirect object, often with some difference in meaning, are: advertir ‘warn (somebody of something)’, ‘point out (something to somebody)’, al·ludir ‘allude to’, contestar ‘contest’/‘reject’/‘protest against’, ‘answer’/‘reply to’, cridar ‘call’, ‘call (out) to’/‘shout to’, manar ‘order (someone to do something)’, ‘be in charge of’/‘rule over’, obeir ‘obey’, pagar ‘pay’, pregar ‘request’/‘ask’, renunciar ‘renounce’, ‘relinquish’, resistir ‘resist’, ‘bear’, robar ‘steal’, succeir ‘succeed’. The construction of these verbs needs to be consulted in a dictionary.
For the construction of verbs of permitting and prohibiting, see 25.5 below.
Three verbs which are transitive in meaning: pegar ‘strike’, telefonar ‘telephone’, and trucar ‘call’ are constructed with indirect objects in the standard language: Li pegues ‘You strike him/her’, Li telefones ‘You telephone him/her’, Li truques ‘You call him/her’. Construction of these verbs with direct objects is common in informal styles.
No li (la) peguis.
Don’t hit her.
Són les seves filles i no els (les) hauria de pegar.
They’re his daughters and he ought not to beat them.
Li he (l’he) de trucar avui.
I’ve got to phone her today.
Note that, whereas most verbs denoting vocal activity – speaking, shouting, singing, and
so on – take the hearer as an indirect object, xiular ‘whistle (at)’, ‘call by whistling’ takes only a direct object:
Si no el xiules, no et veurà. If you don’t whistle (at him), he won’t see you.
Com les han xiulades, les actrius! How they whistled at the actresses!
Several verbs of ‘mental affect’ have inanimate subjects and an indirect object of the person affected: agradar ‘please’, coure ‘hurt’, doldre ‘grieve’, plaure ‘please’, remordir ‘cause remorse’, repugnar ‘revolt’, saber greu ‘cause regret’ and xocar ‘shock’. Many others, similar in meaning to these, in standard Catalan have the person affected as direct object, but in non-standard usage may be found with indirect objects by analogy with the verbs mentioned above. The following are the ones that take only direct objects in standard Catalan:
afectar affect
amoïnar upset
apassionar thrill
complaure gratify
concernir concern
disgustar disgust
emprenyar annoy (vulgar)
estranyar surprise
fascinar fascinate
fastiguejar sicken, weary
horroritzar horrify
impressionar impress
incomodar inconvenience
indignar anger
meravellar astonish
molestar bother
neguitejar worry
preocupar worry
rebentar rile
satisfer satisfy
sorprendre surprise
The verbs encantar ‘charm’, ‘delight’ and interessar ‘interest’ also take direct objects, but some authoritative dictionaries allow indirect objects as an alternative.
L’òpera les/els encantava. They were very fond of opera.
Li encanta/L’encanta (de) passejar. She loves strolling.
Això ja no li/?la interessa. She isn’t interested in this any more.
A qui l’interessa/li interessa visitar el palau? Who is interested in visiting the palace?
25.5 VALENCY
In Catalan there are several means of reducing or increasing the number of arguments of a verb. The passive is a well-known way of reducing the number of arguments of a transitive verb, by removing the subject (Chapter 29). The impersonal with es has a similar function (Chapter 29). Or a transitive verb may become intransitive by being used pronominally (23.1). In some cases, many fewer than in English, the same verb can be used transitively and intransitively, with the transitive object becoming the intransitive subject, for example, bullir ‘boil’, coure ‘cook’, penjar ‘hang’.
Bullim oli. We are boiling oil.
L’oli bull. The oil is boiling.
Hem penjat les claus a la paret. We hung the keys on the wall.
Les claus pengen de la paret. The keys are hanging on the wall.
Also as in English, some transitive verbs can become ‘intransitive’ by leaving the direct object unspecified. Examples are beure ‘drink’, conduir ‘conduct’, ‘drive’, lead’, estudiar ‘study’, llaurar ‘plough’, menjar ‘eat’.
The causative construction is the major way of increasing valency. In Catalan, two verbs are used in this pattern: fer ‘make’, ‘get’ and deixar ‘allow’, ‘let’. The two verbs make use of the same construction which varies depending on whether the caused situation is expressed by an intransitive or by a transitive verb (which appears in the infinitive form).
With intransitive verbs, the original subject of the intransitive verb becomes the direct object of fer/deixar; if it is a full noun phrase, its regular position is after the infinitive. If the intransitive verb is normally reflexive, the reflexive pronoun is omitted:
El seu pare deixa treballar l’Emili els dissabtes.
His father lets Emili work on Saturdays.
Les va fer seure davant seu.
He made them (f.pl.) sit before him.
Deixarem sortir el camió.
We’ll let the lorry come out.
Fes-lo parlar de Granada.
Get him to talk about Granada.
No em diguis això, que em faràs matar.
Don’t tell me that, or you’ll kill me. (= Faràs que em mati.)
El fan agenollar, i després estirar-se a terra.
They make him kneel, and then lie on the ground. (agenollar-se ‘kneel’)
With transitive verbs, the original subject becomes an indirect object; if it is a full noun phrase, its regular position is after the original object(s):
Faré pintar la paret a en Pere.
I’ll get Pere to paint the wall.
El capellà li va fer donar diners als pobres.
The priest made him give money to the poor.
Arió va demanar que li deixessin tocar la cítara abans de llançar-lo al mar.
Arion requested that they should allow him to play the cithara before throwing him into the sea.
Essentially what is happening in these constructions with deixar and fer is that something resembling a compound verb is constructed, the parts of which are kept as close together as possible, and which can have not more than one direct object (though it may have two apparent indirect objects, as in the above example El capellà li va fer donar diners als pobres).
The construction of other verbs, sometimes of similar meaning to the above (such as obligar ‘oblige’ and permetre ‘allow’), which take infinitive complements is rather different. Two patterns can be distinguished. With one group of verbs the infinitive itself (optionally preceded by de) acts as the direct object, while the logical subject of the infinitive becomes an indirect object. These verbs are also found constructed with other types of noninfinitive direct object. Examples of verbs of this group are: aconsellar ‘advise’, demanar ‘request’, impedir ‘prevent’, ordenar ‘order’, permetre ‘allow’, proposar ‘suggest’, suplicar ‘beg’:
Li han impedit (d’)acostar-s’hi.
They stopped him coming near.
És un art que permet a les dones (d’)atènyer la categoria de sublims.
It is a skill which allows women to attain the category of the sublime.
Als compradors, els aconsellem d’estudiar bé les instruccions per al maneig.
We advise purchasers to study the instructions carefully.
Because the logical subject of the infinitive is a surface indirect object, it cannot be directly passivized, hence, for example:
És prohibit als menors de 16 anys de comprar tabac.
not *Els menors de 16 anys són prohibits de comprar tabac.
People under 16 years of age are forbidden to buy tobacco. (lit. It is forbidden to those under 16 years to buy tobacco.)
The second group of verbs makes the logical subject of the infinitive into a direct object; the infinitive (like an indirect object) is preceded by a. A literal translation of the English passive is possible. Examples of verbs of this type are: acostumar ‘accustom’, animar ‘encourage’, arrossegar ‘drag’, autoritzar ‘authorize’, avesar ‘accustom’, condemnar ‘condemn’, incitar ‘incite’, invitar ‘invite’, forçar ‘force’, habituar ‘accustom’, predisposar ‘predispose’:
Hem d’incitar-les a treballar més bé. We must stimulate them to work harder.
El va forçar a vestir-se de negre. She forced him to wear black.
Fou forçat a vestir-se de negre. He was forced to wear black.
Two verbs, ajudar ‘help’ and obligar ‘oblige’, show a mixed pattern, which recalls that of deixar/fer. (Note that in each case the infinitive is preceded by a.) If the subordinate verb is intransitive (or reflexive), its subject becomes a direct object of ajudar/obligar:
La va obligar a callar. He made her be silent.
La va ajudar a sortir. He helped her go out.
El va obligar a retractar-se. She obliged him to retract.
However, if the subordinate verb is transitive, its subject may become either a direct or an indirect object of ajudar/obligar:
Li/La va ajudar a acabar la redacci
ó. He helped her to finish writing.
Li/La va obligar a firmar el contracte. He obliged her to sign the contract.
Something similar appears also in constructions with veure ‘see’ and sentir ‘hear’ followed by an infinitive phrase:
El vaig veure entrar. I saw him go in.
Li vaig veure llençar el rebut. I saw him throw the receipt away.
La sentiren resar. They heard her praying.
Li sentiren dir l’oració. They heard her say the prayer.
This shift into the indirect object is associated with the status of the infinitive complement as the primary or more active object. A certain fluidity about which object is more active, together with the general vacillation between direct and indirect objects seen above, accounts for the frequency with which this norm is infringed, as in sentences like the following:
El mirà amb una estranya lluïssor als ulls sentint-lo refusar el sobre.
She watched him with a strange glint in her eyes as she heard him refuse to take the envelope.
Cal dir que mai no l’he sentit desqualificar ningú.
It has to be said that I have never heard him exclude anybody.
Ensenyar ‘teach’ can be followed by either a or de + infinitive, the logical subject of which may be either the direct or the indirect object of ensenyar.
Li ensenyen de caminar de pressa
They are teaching her to walk fast.
Li van ensenyar a ser astuta.
They taught her to be cunning.
Un manual ensenyarà els candidats del PP a explicar el seu programa.
A handbook will teach the PP candidates to explain their programme.
In all these cases, just as mentioned in 25.3, if the subject of the subordinate verb is generic/indefinite, it can be omitted altogether (see 20.2.2i):