by Max Wheeler
They would do it differently if they had to hand all the tools they need.
Si ho sabés, et juro que t’ho diria/deia.
If I knew, I swear I’d tell you.
Si donés una explicació clara, el perdonaríem/perdonàvem.
If he were to give a clear explanation we would forgive him.
There is obviously an overlap between hypothetical and remote conditions, as is seen in the last example above: the formulation with the past subjunctive implies that the condition is unlikely to be fulfilled or contrary to fact (‘If he gave a clear explanation (but he probably won’t/but he hasn’t so far)…’), but it is only a short step to adapt it back (via Si donava …) to Si dóna una explicació clara, el perdonarem ‘If he gives a clear explanation we will forgive him’, as in the sentences (i)-(iii) discussed above. Thus the use of the imperfect indicative instead of the past subjunctive is still possible in these remote condition ‘if’-clauses:
No els resultaria tan difícil si tenien (for tinguessin) a mà les eines que necessiten.
It wouldn’t prove so difficult for them if they had available the tools they need.
Si no cridaves (for cridessis) tant, et sentiríem més bé.
If you didn’t shout so loud we would hear you better.
And even a close alternation between the past subjunctive and the imperfect indicative in this context does not sound unusual:
Si jo parlés, si jo us deia tot el que em ronda pel cap, si jo obrís les comportes de la meva consciència, veuríeu baixar tota la porqueria que tinc acumulada. (R. Solsona)
If I were to speak out, if I told you everything that’s going round in my head, if I were to open the floodgates of my conscience, you’d see all the accumulated filth dropping out.
A particular nuance is sometimes conveyed by use of the imperfect indicative in the ‘if’ -clause. A fine distinction may be drawn between Si descobria que m’enganyava, no m’hi casaria ‘If I discovered he was deceiving me I wouldn’t marry him’ and Si descobrís… The first can be interpreted as an open condition in the past ‘If I discovered that…’ rather than, with the subjunctive, the hypothetical ‘If I were to discover that…’
English speakers, (especially those familiar with French: cf. si j’étais riche ‘if I were rich’) may be tempted to make life easier by resorting always to the imperfect indicative in expressing both remote and unfulfilled conditions. The temptation should be avoided, nevertheless, in favour of the more authentic alternation between this tense and the past subjunctive (with the latter prevalent), with attention to some of the nuances involved.
Alternative verb forms for the conditional in the consequence clause are discussed in 34.6.
34.6 ALTERNATIVE CONDITIONAL VERB FORMS
34.6.1 SER AND HAVER
Ser and haver have alternative forms for the conditional tense: fóra, etc., and haguera, etc., respectively (see 16.5.8). While more widely encountered in the written language, these forms can replace the normal conditional (seria, etc., hauria, etc.) in any context. The ser forms are a good deal more often encountered than the haver ones:
Fóra/Seria millor no parlar-ne.
It would be better not to talk about it.
Si no m’ho haguessin demostrat amb proves, no ho haguera/hauria sospitat mai.
If I hadn’t been given evidence, I never would have suspected it.
34.6.2 FÓRA AND HAGUERA AS PAST SUBJUNCTIVES
Valencian varieties have the -ra form for the past subjunctive of all verbs (see 16.5.10.1). In these dialects fóra, etc., and haguera, etc., are the usual past subjunctive forms for ser and haver (instead of fos, etc., and hagués, etc.,) and they do not substitute for the conditional (seria and hauria being preferred). Valencian Catalan accordingly uses haguera, etc., in the ‘if’-clause of the types of sentence described in 34.4 and 34.5, with the conditional or conditional perfect in the main clause taking the hauria form:
‘Si m’haguera embolcallat amb la senyera, hauria fet impossible el projecte de la RTVV.’ (Amadeu Fabregat, reported in Avui)
If I’d wrapped myself in the Catalan flag, it would have made the RTVV (autonomous Valencian broadcasting body) project impossible.’
Es barallaven com si foren xiquets petits.
They were falling out as though they were young kids.
34.6.3 PLUPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE REPLACING CONDITIONAL PERFECT IN THE CONSEQUENCE CLAUSE
Some dialects consistently replace the conditional perfect (hauria or haguera + past participle) with the pluperfect subjunctive in the consequence clause of an unfulfilled (counterfactual) condition:
Si hagués fet mal temps, no haguessis (= hauries/hagueres) pogut sortir.
If the weather had been bad you wouldn’t have been able to go out.
Si m’haguéssiu avisat a temps, ho hagués (= hauria/haguera) pogut arreglar.
If you’d let me know in time I could have sorted it out.
The tendency to use hagués, etc., instead of the conditional perfect in main clauses seems to be very strongly rooted and even to be coming more widespread (possibly under the influence of Spanish) though grammarians generally recommend the conditional perfect.
34.6.4 IMPERFECT INDICATIVE FOR CONDITIONAL
Speakers of central Catalan often resort to the imperfect indicative instead of the conditional in a consequence clause. This usage raises no objections for relaxed conversational contexts, but it is viewed as out of place in formal styles:
És clar: si pogués jo també em comprava (= compraria) un xalet així.
Obviously, if I could afford it I’d buy myself a villa like that.
Si no ho posessin tan difícil, molts més se n’hi inscrivien (= inscriurien).
If they didn’t make it so difficult, many more of them would sign up.
34.6.5 CONDITIONAL PERFECT: VERB WITH INFINITIVE
When the conditional perfect category is applied to a construction involving a modal verb (poder, voler, deure, haver de, and so on) plus an infinitive, two alternative patterns are available, somewhat as in English ‘would have been able to do it’/‘could have done it’. In Catalan the alternatives are:
(i) Conditional of modal + infinitive haver + past participle: podria haver-ho fet.
(ii) Conditional perfect of modal (= conditional of haver + past participle of modal) + infinitive: hauria pogut fer-ho.
Si no haguéssiu insistit tant, no haurien volgut accedir-hi/no voldrien haverhi accedit.
If you had not insisted so strongly, they would not have wanted to agree to it.
Si ell hagués caigut malalt, haurien hagut d’ajornar/haurien d’haver ajornat la sessió.
If he had fallen ill, they would have had to adjourn/would have to have adjourned the session.
The normal rules for the positioning of pronominal clitics also apply in such constructions. Clitics (see 12.2) can precede the modal (conditional or conditional perfect) or they can be attached to the infinitive (simple or perfect), giving four possible alternatives:
Ho podria haver fet.
Podria haver-ho fet.
Hauria pogut fer-ho.
Ho hauria pogut fer.
He would have been able to do it/could have done it.
34.7 FURTHER REMARKS ON SI
34.7.1 SI ‘IF’: GENERAL
Even though a clause introduced by si will present a hypothesis rather than a fact or a reality, the subjunctive mood is used only in the conditions described in 34.4 and 34.5. The present subjunctive never appears after si, and this, from the foreign learner’s point of view, may be seen as a major exception to some primary considerations about the use of the subjunctive. Syntactic convention alone can account for the contrast between: Si ve, ja li cantaré les veritats ‘If he comes, I’ll give him a piece of my mind’, and Quan vingui, ja li cantaré les veritats ‘When he comes, I’ll give him a piece of my mind’.
See, however, 34.8 for examples of the present subjunctive after some other conditional conjunctions.
&nb
sp; English speakers should also avoid the temptation to use a future indicative after si in conditional clauses (corresponding to ‘if …will + infinitive’ in English):
Si mires les proves, hauràs de concloure …
*Si miraràs les proves, hauràs de concloure …
If you will look at the evidence, you will have to conclude …
The verb ser ‘be’ cannot be omitted after si:
M’hi conformaré, si és absolutament necessari.
I’ll agree to it, if absolutely necessary.
Vine abans, si és possible.
Come earlier, if possible.
On the other hand, si itself can sometimes be dropped before a past subjunctive expressing a wish or a regret, (‘if only …’, 19.6), with the consequence clause itself often suppressed in this construction:
Ho haguessis vist… If only you’d seen it…
It is quite common in colloquial speech to find si used without conditional force and with a merely emphatic function (often coming after però ‘but’):
Però si jo no havia dit res. But I hadn’t said anything.
Però si… But, but…
34.7.2 COM SI ‘AS IF’
Clauses introduced by com si ‘as if’ express unfulfilled or hypothetical/remote conditions, with the verb always in the pluperfect or past subjunctive:
Van arribar tots alhora, com si s’ho haguessin proposat.
They all arrived together, as though they had planned it.
Fes com si no en sabessis res.
Behave as though you knew nothing about it.
34.8 OTHER CONDITIONAL CONSTRUCTIONS
Other conjunctions that introduce conditional clauses, including those conveying ideas of ‘if by chance’, ‘just in case’ are en cas que ‘in case’, per si (de cas) ‘(just) in case’, a condició que ‘on condition that’, només que ‘if…just’, mentre que ‘while’ and others like just que, amb que ‘if only’ which overlap with concessive senses (see 33.3.3).
Agafa el xandall, en cas que vulguis/per si vols anar a córrer.
Take your tracksuit, in case you feel like going for a run.
Comprarem un parell d’ampolles més, per si de cas.
We’ll buy a couple more bottles, just in case.
Acceptem aquest encàrrec, a condició que se’ns pagui al preu convingut.
We’ll take this job on, provided we are paid at the agreed price.
Només que li posis quatre ratlles, la faràs contenta.
If you just drop her a line or two you’ll make her happy.
Mentre que això sigui així, pots comptar amb mi.
As long as/While that’s the case, you can count on me.
Just que/amb que ens donin la subvenció, ho podrem tirar endavant.
Provided/If only we get the grant, we’ll be able to go ahead.
Further expressions corresponding to negative ‘unless’, are:
(i) Llevat que, fora que, tret que; these may also be followed by de + an infinitive construction:
No enllestirem aquesta feina, fora que ens hi vinguin a ajudar.
We won’t finish this job unless they come and help us.
És impossible, tret que es faci així.
It’s impossible, unless you do it like this.
Fora de parlar amb els de la teua edat, res no vares aprendre a escola.
(Raimon)
Except for talking with your schoolmates, you learnt nothing at school.
Llevat de matar, ja has fet de tot.
Except murder, there’s nothing you haven’t done.
(ii) Que no ‘without’:
No l’escolto que no m’esclati de riure.
I can’t listen to him without bursting out laughing.
(iii) Sense que ‘without’, ‘unless’:
No prendrà cap iniciativa sense que algú l’hi inciti.
He won’t take any initiative unless someone incites him to/without someone prompting him to.
It is to be noted how these other conjunctions admit the present subjunctive, which never appears after si ‘if’.
34.8.1 NON-STANDARD CONDITIONAL CONSTRUCTIONS
(i) Com instead of si
Although proscribed by normative standards, colloquial habit allows the occasional use of com followed by the present or past subjunctive instead of si with the indicative. This occurs only with open conditions, usually in voicing a threat or a warning:
Com no callis, et mato.
If you don’t shut up I’ll kill you.
I li va dir que com es tornés a portar així, en pagaria les conseqüències.
And he told him that if he behaved like that again, he’d pay for it.
(ii) Preposition + infinitive replacing ‘if ‘-clause
Where the verbs in the condition clause and in the consequence clause have the same subject, some dialects (and non-standard speech generally) allow replacement of si + conjugated verb by de plus the infinitive:
De no haver-ho sabut a temps, hauríem ficat la pota.
If we hadn’t found out in time, we’d have put our foot in it.
This structure is also possible with different subjects if the infinitive shows its subject explicitly:
De no haver-ho sabut ells a temps, hauríem ficat la pota.
If they hadn’t found out in time, we’d have put our foot in it.
The preferred alternative to both of these constructions is the normal conditional clause with si: Si no calles …;… si es tornava/tornés a portar …; Si no ho haguéssim sabut…; Si no ho haguessin sabut…
On the other hand, in a certain range of idioms, a + infinitive is recognized as genuine in a conditional function:
Α jutjar pel que diuen …
To judge/If we go by what they say …
No hem rebut la seva quota, a no ser que l’hagi pagada per transferència bancària.
We haven’t received his subscription, unless he’s paid it by banker’s order.
34.8.2 SYNTACTIC STRATEGIES AVAILABLE TO INTRODUCE A CONDITION OTHER THAN WITH SI
Both (i) the gerund (see 22.2.4.1) and (ii) the past participle (see 21.1.3) can stand in absolute constructions (i.e. not governed by a conjunction) that are alternatives to si clauses. As well as with the range of constructions described so far in this section, there are yet other syntactic strategies for conveying conditional meaning. The commonest of these involve the simple copulative conjunctions i ‘and’ and ο ‘or’:
Només em mira amb aquells ulls i jo em desmaio.
If she just looks at me with those eyes, I swoon.
Fas això i t’escanyo.
Do that and I’ll throttle you./If you do that I’ll throttle you.
Ο em retornen els diners ο els denuncio a la policia.
If they don’t return my money I’ll report them to the police.
Obviously, in these cases, the conditional meaning is equally implicit in the more literal English translation: ‘She just looks at me …and …’, ‘You do that and …’, ‘Either they give me …or I…’.
A related construction is one in which the condition clause is formed without si. There is generally dislocation of the object, doubled by a clitic, with the main clause, equivalent to the condition clause, being introduced by i ‘and’:
Les declarés en públic, aquestes coses, i l’empaperaven.
Were he to say these things in public he’d be prosecuted.
Ho digués jo, això, i no em creurien pas.
If I were to say that, I wouldn’t be believed.
34.9 TRANSLATING IF I WERE YOU…
‘If I were you’ and the like are most economically done by using de, without any verb:
Jo de tu, callaria/callava.
If I were you I’d keep quiet.
Jo d’ella, hi hauria quedat a veure com acabava allò.
If I’d been her/in her place, I’d have stayed to see how it ended.
Otherwise a full conditional clause is required:
Si ens trobéssim/trobàvem
en el seu cas/en aquesta circumstància, etc.
If we were in their position/in this circumstance, etc.
34.10 MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
Catalan, like English, has a flexible and nuanced system for constructing conditional sentences. Structurally the two systems overlap up to a point, but expression in or translation into Catalan will frequently involve recasting English patterns, following the conventions of usage and the grammatical principles outlined in the preceding sections. The point is illustrated by the following examples (adapted from standard studies on English grammar):
Had they been here, they would have cried too.
Si haguessin estat aquí, també haurien/hagueren plorat.
Were it not so, we’d have to think again.
Si no fos així, ens ho hauríem de replantejar.
Were it to depend on me, there’d be no problem.
Si de mi depengués, no hi hauria problema.
I won’t compromise, even if he offers/offered/were to offer me a fortune.
No transigeixo, ni que m’ofereixi/m’oferis una fortuna.
No transigeixo, ni tan sols si m’ofereix/m’oferis/m’oferia una fortuna.
I can’t think of an alternative, unless it’s to change the engine.