by Max Wheeler
(b) One does encounter sentences like:
Aquesta política s’ha aprovat per la majoria dels votants.
This policy has been approved by the majority of those voting.
Here there is a real agent, introduced by per, complementing the reflexive passive meaning of the construction (as in Aquesta versió s’ha difós per certs periodistes, commented on in 29.1.3iv above). In normal usage, however, this type of sentence tends to be avoided, and there is a preference for either the long passive (Aquesta política ha estat aprovada per la majoria dels votants) or an active construction (La majoria dels votants han aprovat aquesta política/Aquesta política, l’han aprovada la majoria dels votants).
(c) With imperatives (where es as ‘subject’ is attached enclitically to the verb) the language of bureaucracy does supply frequent examples of expressions like:
Vegi’s la pàgina 123. See page 123.
Demanin-se prospectes al nostre agent. Ask our agent for a prospectus.
Use of the polite vós form of the imperative (11.3) is generally regarded as more genuine in this function (Vegeu la pàgina 123; Demaneu prospectes al nostre agent).
(d) There is no reason why impersonal es should not combine with another pronominal clitic, and instances abound in all levels of language:
Anem a Can Pep, que s’hi menja força bé.
Let’s go to Can Pep; the food’s good there.
Se’ns comunica que demà hi haurà vaga.
We’ve been notified that there will be a strike tomorrow.
However, the basis of the impersonal es construction, as described so far, is that the original object of a transitive verb becomes the surface subject (Se sentia un soroll), or there is no direct object at all (S’hi menja bé). A more recent development is the pattern in which a transitive verb is used impersonally with es while its original direct object remains a surface direct object:
Els metges demanen que no se’ls critiqui i se’ls deixi treballar amb tranquil·litat. (R. Solsona)
The doctors are asking not to be criticized and to be left to get on with their work.
Α casa se la rep sempre amb els braços oberts.
At our house she is always welcomed with open arms.
Many authorities object to this construction, on the grounds that it reflects an encroachment of the Spanish pattern of making the reflexive pronoun function as a subject in transitive clauses. This said, alternatives to Els metges demanen que no se’ls critiqui … could only involve use of un (hom) or hom (see 29.3), or the passive with ser, which are open to stylistic objections (essentially that they are felt to be too formal). The other example above, though, could well be recast in various ways, all natural and, according to several commentators, more authentic:
Α casa la rebem sempre. (active construction preferred to both passive and impersonal es)
At our house we always welcome her.
Likewise, recasting the sentence A Felipe González se l’acusa d’haver tolerat la guerra bruta contra ETA as passive Felipe González és/ha estat acusat d’haver tolerat … ‘Felipe González is accused of having tolerated the dirty war against ETA’ (Avui), would avoid the pleonasm of the clitic object pronoun (l’). The impersonal use of a third-person plural verb is a natural alternative: Acusen Felipe González d’haver tolerat …. In a formal context Hom acusa Felipe González … would be another possibility; see 29.2.2 and 29.3.
It is evident that, apart from instances like those in (a) above, grammatical considerations in this matter shade into the considerations of style that are discussed in the next section.
(ii) Stylistic constraints on impersonal es
Overuse of any communicative or rhetorical feature tends to become monotonous. This principle validates the advice that good style in Catalan will not overwork impersonal es and will deploy equivalent resources possessed by the language, as appropriate to the context and the tone. By way of recapitulation, the main options are as follows:
Passive voice versus impersonal es:
Des d’avui es podrà detenir els conductors que beguin massa. = Des d’avui els conductors que beguin massa podran ser detinguts
From today drivers who drink too much may be arrested.
Impersonal ‘they’ versus impersonal es:
Se m’ha confirmat que el termini acaba demà. = M’han confirmat que el termini acaba demà
I have had confirmation that the deadline expires tomorrow.
Active forms versus impersonal es or passive:
D’aquesta manera es motiven els clients perquè comprin més.
In this way clients are motivated to buy more.
D’aquesta manera motivem (motiveu/motiven) els clients perquè comprin més
In this way we (you/they) motivate clients to buy more.
Impersonal ‘one’ versus impersonal es or passive:
S’ha demostrat/Ha estat demostrat que …
Hom ha demostrat que …
It has been demonstrated that …(see 29.3.)
29.2.2 AGREEMENT OF THE VERB WITH IMPERSONAL ES
In theory, and in most dialects of Catalan, a verb used with impersonal es and a plural noun (surface subject) will be in the plural form. In other words, there is no evident formal distinction between impersonal es and other uses of this clitic.
S’han dutxat aquest matí. (reflexive)
They had a shower this morning.
No es poden veure. (reciprocal)
They can’t stand the sight of one another.
Ja no es queixen pas tant. (pronominal)
They don’t complain so much now.
Se serveixen immediatament, ο bé es poden menjar freds. (i.e. els calamars: E. Millà) (impersonal)
They are served immediately, or they can be eaten cold.
There is little or no vacillation over this agreement when impersonal es relates to a determinate subject standing before the verb:
Les maletes s’han de facturar. The luggage must be checked in.
However, when dislocation, extraction, or relativization of the subject occurs in this construction, there is the possibility of the verb going in the singular (presumably because es now seems more like the subject of the verb). This usage is characteristic of northwestern dialects, and many grammarians regard it as non-standard.
Quants paquets dius que s’ha de facturar?
(recommended) s’han de facturar …
How many packets do you say have to be invoiced?
D’alguns anys ençà no s’ha vist gaires turistes per aquí
(recommended) s’han vist …
In the last few years not many tourists have been seen round here.
Agreement of the verb with a plural subject is always the safe option.
There is no number agreement when an impersonal verb with es governs an infinitive clause (with its own plural object):
Aquí només es tracta de corregir errors
Here it’s just a matter of correcting mistakes.
An indirect question (which happens to begin with a plural noun phrase) is the subject in:
S’ignora encara quines mesures prendran
It is still not known what measures they will take.
However, the link between modal poder ‘can’/‘may’, haver de ‘have to’/‘must’, voler ‘want’ and acabar de ‘have just’ and a dependent infinitive is tighter, so that we generally find agreement in number in impersonal es constructions involving these verbs (whether the underlying object precedes or goes after the verb). Notice that the plural noun phrase may be the subject of the finite verb + non-finite passive verb construction in the English versions:
S’han hagut de llençar els números endarrerits.
The back numbers have had to be thrown out.
Els impostos es poden pagar a finals d’any.
The taxes can be paid at the year end.
With veure ‘see’ and sentir ‘hear’ there is more variation:
S’havien/S’havia vist caure les fulle
s.
One had seen the leaves falling./The leaves had been seen to fall.
No s’havien sentit repetir les instruccions
No one had heard the instructions repeated./?The instructions had not been heard to be repeated.
29.3 OTHER IMPERSONAL CONSTRUCTIONS
The foregoing sections disclose a grey area in which passive and impersonal functions are hard to differentiate syntactically or in theory. Grammarians are exercised by matters of topicalization and the identification of true and underlying subjects in such constructions. Does Així no es resol res equate to passive Així res no és resolt ‘Nothing is solved this way’, with ‘nothing’ as the subject, or is the idea of an impersonal subject ‘Nobody solves anything this way’ uppermost? These considerations can be subtly affected by whether the subject/underlying object stands before or after the verb: Els candidats es distribueixen segons el lloc de naixement might be felt to correspond closely to the passive Els candidats són distribuïts … ‘Candidates are distributed according to their place of birth’ (with ‘the candidates’ as animate subject of an intransitive verb), whereas Es distribueix(en) els candidats segons el lloc de naixement could foreground the idea of ‘somebody’ distributing the candidates as ‘object’ of the verb. (This question is independent of more specific ambiguities which might arise from use of impersonal es, as mentioned at 29.1.3iv above.)
Some of the constructions described below occur only rarely in the spoken language and may sound stilted; their availability nevertheless enriches the expressive repertoire with genuine forms appropriate to formal and literary discourse.
Although use of the reflexive es (see 29.2) is by far the commonest and most natural way of rendering impersonal constructions in Catalan, there are occasional cases where recourse to horn (un horn or un) is more appropriate. It may avoid ambiguity, as in Hom va felicitar el guanyador ‘The winner was congratulated’, where Es va felicitar … could mean that the winner congratulated himself. And when the verb involved is itself reflexive then impersonal es cannot be used in any circumstances (29.2.1i(a)).
Hom/Un hom/Un/Una es pregunta com acabarà tot això.
One wonders how all this will end.
Hom etc. s’hi ha de presentar abans de les nou del matí
One has to turn up/It is necessary to be there before 9 a.m.
(i) Hom
Old Catalan had the indefinite subject pronoun hom (related to home ‘man’; cf. German man, French on ‘one’). Modern prescriptive grammar has favoured its revival, with some degree of success, and this pronoun can be used, without sounding pretentious, in formal contexts and cultivated oral or written styles. Its effect can be considered roughly equivalent to ceremonious use of ‘one’ in English, although it overlaps also with impersonal expressions:
En aquestes circumstàncies hom prefereix sempre la solució més pragmàtica.
In these circumstances one always prefers the most pragmatic solution/the most pragmatic solution is always to be preferred.
Hom distribueix els candidats segons el lloc de naixement. = Es distribueixen els candidats segons el lloc de naixement.
Candidates are distributed according to their place of birth.
Hom no parla anglès aquí. = No es parla anglès aquí
English is not spoken here.
Hom also appears as the subject of pronominal verbs used impersonally (see 29.2.1i):
Hom es reserva el dret de contestar. One reserves the right to reply.
Hom, llavors, es pregunta com concloure. One wonders, then, how to conclude.
Prescriptive grammar traditionally assigns this last function to un hom (see (ii) below), but usage consistently defies the prescription, as in the examples.
(ii) Un hom
In normative theory un hom is limited to the function of impersonal subject of pronominal verbs:
Mentre un hom se’n surti! As long as one can get away with it!
Un hom no s’atreveix a parlar tan clar. One dare not be so outspoken.
In practice hom and un hom are interchangeable as impersonal subject. Thus the examples given in (i) above could all be written with un hom, while the last two instances with un hom could be written with hom. Likewise,
Són casos en què (un) hom no sap què fer.
They are cases where one doesn’t know what to do.
Quan (un) hom s’aixeca d’hora, ha d’esmorzar fort
When one gets up early one needs a good breakfast.
With un hom there is perhaps the slight difference that the user has himself more clearly in mind as the subject than if hom alone is used:
Quan un hom està malalt … When one is ill…
(iii) Un/una
These functions of (un) hom are covered, in rather more spontaneous usage, by the indefinite article un as subject pronoun. This also enables gender distinction to be expressed; thus a female speaker might say Una no sap mai què pot passar One never knows what might happen’ or En casos així una s’estima més callar ‘In cases like this one prefers to remain silent’, whereas the same ideas would be expressed by a male as Un no sap mai … and … Un s’estima més … It is clear from this, moreover, that the speaker has him/herself in mind despite resorting to the formal distancing of the impersonal pronoun. (The logic here is completed by conversational use of the second-person singular tu for this function – No saps mai …, … t’estimes més …, in these examples – as is described in (v) below.)
Un sempre es pregunta … One always wonders …
Si un et demanava un favor … If one were to ask you a favour …
When a female is making the utterance with self-reference intended:
Una se sent molt ofesa.
One feels very offended.
Una no pot sinó admirar un tal comportament.
One cannot but admire such behaviour.
(iv) La gent
It is common to find la gent ‘people’ used colloquially when the speaker conceives (and thus needs to construct) an impersonal sentence as having an identifiable, albeit indefinite/impersonal, subject:
La gent els va aplaudir, però sense gaire convicció
They were applauded/People applauded them but without much conviction.
(v) Tu
Catalan has its equivalent of impersonal ‘you’ which is the conversational equivalent of formal (un) hom:
Puges per aquesta vorera i agafes el primer trencant a mà dreta.
You go up this side of the street and you take the first turn on the right.
Per molt que protestis, ningú no et fa cas
However much you protest, nobody takes any notice.
Vostè(s) is heard in more formal circumstances, but then the person listening usually feels him/herself to be addressed directly: Vostè puja per aquesta vorera i agafa el primer trencant a mà dreta; Per molt que vostè protesti … The speaker may achieve the impersonal effect by resorting to es: Es puja per aquesta vorera i s’agafa el primer trencant a mà dreta; Per molt que es protesti…
(vi) Third-person plural
Frequent use is also made of third-person plural verb forms (with unspecified subjects) as mentioned above 29.1.4i and 29.2.1ii.
Em van presentar el nou director. I was introduced to the new manager.
30 COPULAR SENTENCES (SER, ESTAR, ETC.)
This chapter is in essence concerned with constructions which in English involve the verb ‘be’. There are two kinds of difficulties the user may experience. The first is that in Catalan more than one verb corresponds to English ‘be’: these are primarily ser (or ésser) and estar, but haver-hi also needs to be mentioned. The second is that in some contexts the preference for ser or estar differs according to dialect; and in some contexts non-standard usage favours estar where normative grammar recommends ser. Below we distinguish several syntactic or semantic contexts. The problematic contexts are discussed in 30.3 (location) and 30.5 (adjective/participle complements). The remainder are largely straightforward. The related concep
t ‘become’ is treated in 30.6.
30.1 EXISTENCE AND COPULAR VERBS WITHOUT COMPLEMENTS
Corresponding to English ‘there is’, ‘there are’, etc., to state that something exists, Catalan uses haver-hi. In the standard language haver-hi is used only in the singular, but informal usage widely makes haver-hi agree in number with its noun phrase argument (see also 25.2.2).
Al diari, hi ha anunciat un pis de lloguer que potser et convindrà.
In the paper there is a flat advertised to let that might suit you.
Allà baix hi havia els documents del cotxe
Down there there were the car documents. (non-standard hi havien els documents.)
Haver-hi may often be made explicit in Catalan where English expresses location using a reduced relative clause (31.10i):
les eines que hi ha a1 calaix the tools in the drawer
Note the use of haver-hi to enquire whether someone is in:
Que hi ha en Pere? Is Pere in?
In positive statements and in questions haver-hi can be used with a definite noun phrase following (els documents, en Pere, in examples above). However, haver-hi cannot appear in a negative statement with a noun phrase in the preceding position, or with an understood or dislocated definite noun phrase; it is replaced by ser-hi, agreeing in number with the noun phrase in question.