Catalan

by Max Wheeler

  (non-standard) T’hi acostumaràs aviat a la nova feina.

  You’ll soon get used to your new job.

  This pattern is never found with direct objects, so we do not find in any style:

  * Ja l’he tancada la ràdio.Ja he tancat la ràdio. I’ve already turned the radio off.

  But it is very common with indirect objects and adverbial/prepositional objects (represented by en or hi). Constructions on the lines of Li dius a en Frederic …, Li hem d’entregar això al director are commonly encountered in speech and even in writing (see 25.4 and 36.5), but are considered to be non-standard. The following are colloquial:

  (non-standard) No vull posar-hi sucre al cafè.

  I don’t want to put sugar in the coffee.

  (non-standard) No en saben res de l’accident.

  They know nothing about the accident.

  A rather different kind of of structural redundancy is the appearance of en in the formulaic opening of folk tales and ballads (Si n’eren tres tambors There were these three drummers’, Si n’hi havia en Jan Bonhome Once there was a person called Jan Bonhome (= Jack Goodman)’).

  Uneducated non-standard speech produces repetitions of pronominal en and hi themselves. Redundancy here is created by clitic raising without the corresponding suppression, as in:

  (non-standard) Te’n vaig parlar-ne ahir.(for Vaig parlar-te’n ahir or Te’n vaig parlar ahir.) I spoke to you about it yesterday.

  (non-standard) A casa hi hauré d’anar-hi.(for A casa hauré d’anar-hi or A casa hi hauré d’anar.) I shall have to go home.

  Pleonastic clitics in relative clauses

  The phenomenon (which is mentioned in 31.2.2) whereby a weak pronoun in a relative clause syntactically complements a bare relative marker (que), tends to occur spontaneously and frequently in popular speech with other relative pronouns, in constructions where the pronoun is logically quite redundant. In the examples below the item shown in parentheses would not appear in writing (unless reproducing colloquial usage):

  Són coses que ja (les) sabem de memòria.

  They are things that we know off by heart.

  El nostre comportament, en què tots (hi) podeu veure una gran voluntat de complaure-us.

  Our behaviour, in which you can all see a great concern to please you.

  Aquell poble on (hi) vam passar una nit espantosa.

  That village where we spent a dreadful night.

  In the case of dative subject verbs (25.4), however, the pleonastic clitic cannot be omitted.

  Coneixem moltes persones a les quals els agrada xafardejar.

  We know a lot of people who like gossiping.

  12.9 WEAK OBJECT PRONOUNS IN COMBINATION

  12.9.1 GENERAL

  Sections 12.1–12.8 have covered functions and forms of single pronouns (although combinations of two pronouns have appeared in some of the examples given). Normal usage frequently requires that two or three (occasionally even four) items in a sentence be represented in weak pronoun form: thus, Dóna’m el llibre ‘Give me the book’ → Dóna-me’l ‘Give it to me’, Et duran els paquets a casa ‘They will take the parcels to your house for you’ → Te’ls duran a casa (two-pronoun group) ‘They will take them to your house for you’ → Te’ls hi duran (three-pronoun group) ‘They will take them there for you’.

  The general rules for positioning of pronoun groups are as for single pronouns, described in 12.2 above, although some aspects of clitic mobility are affected by the presence of more than one weak pronoun in a sentence (12.9.4).

  Displacement of stress to the final syllable of enclitic groups occurs in Balearic dialects, as for single enclitics (12.1.2vi): trobar-t’hi [trobaɾ’ti], anarse’n [ənaɾ’sən].

  The intricacies of spelling conforming to phonetic modifications of pronouns in contact with other pronouns and with the verb are covered in detail in 12.9.2 and 12.9.3. In general, all enclitic pronoun groups are (like single enclitics) attached to the verb with either a hyphen (where no elision occurs) or an apostrophe (where there is elision): Acompanya-m’hi ‘Go there with me’, Acompanya’ls-hi ‘Go there with them’, Has d’acompanyar-les-hi ‘You should go there with them’. Proclitic groups are internally ‘punctuated’ only with the apostrophe (showing elision).

  12.9.2 ORDER OF CONSECUTIVE PRONOMINAL CLITICS

  Some old-fashioned grammarians considered the functional sequence indirect object – direct object as the major determinant of the order of weak pronouns in combination. This analysis, however, is clearly inadequate as a global description, and is useful only as a rule of thumb for certain regularly occurring groups: e.g. Envia-m’ho ‘Send it to me’, Ja te’ls portaré ‘I’ll bring them to you’, Us la presentarem ‘We will introduce her to you’, Se l’ha menjat ‘He has eaten it up’, etc. (See 12.9.3.2 for the special case of pronoun order in Balearic.)

  The invariable order of pronominal clitics when two or more appear together is fully represented in the following diagram:

  Figure 12.1 Order of weak pronouns in combination

  Note 1: The forms given in the diagram are the reinforced ones em, et, etc. Spelling in particular groupings depends upon points of contact between pronouns and verb and between individual pronouns, as is laid out in detail in the table in 12.9.4 (and subsequently explained): te n’has recordat, recorda-te’n, poseu-vos-els, posat-te’ls, and so on.

  Note 2: Arrows in the diagram indicate the only viable order: e.g. me l’ha donada, n’hi havia cinc, ni me’n recordava, s’hi conformarà, se’ns els menjarà, etc.

  Note 3: Broken horizontal arrow els ←----- li relates to the Valencian solutions li’ls, li les, li’l, li la corresponding to els hi, les hi, l’hi, la hi prevalent in other dialects. See 12.9.3.3.

  The information in the diagram above can be reduced to five key points, each of which is inclusive of the subsequent one(s):

  (i) Ho, en, and hi occupy the final place in any group where one of them appears: Te n’has anat ‘You left’, Ens en faran ‘They will make some for us’, Han de trobar-s’hi ‘They are to meet there’, No us ho puc dir ‘I can’t tell you’. Of these three pronouns, only en and hi can appear together, invariably in the order en + hi: No n’hi ha ‘There isn’t any’, Deuen haver-n’hi posat ‘They must have put some in’.

  (ii) Es comes first in any group in which it appears: S’ho ha empassat ‘She has swallowed it’, Volien emportar-se’ls ‘They wanted to take them away’.

  (iii) A first- or second-person pronoun (em, ens, et, us) will precede any third-person pronoun in a group: Tradueix-m’ho al català ‘Translate it into Catalan for me’, Hauríeu de guardar-vos-els ‘You ought to keep them’, No ens les vendran ‘They won’t sell them to us’, Me li van presentar ‘They introduced me to him/her’.

  (iv) A second-person pronoun will precede any first-person pronoun in a group: Poseu-vos-em al davant ‘Stand in front of me’, No te’ns posis tan exigent ‘Don’t be so demanding of us’.

  (v) Li or els precede any other third-person pronoun with morphemic base [1]: No cal dur-li’l ‘There’s no need to take it to him’ (Valencian), Has de deixar-los-el llegir ‘You must let them read it’, Envia’ls-els ‘Send them to them’.

  The spelling of pronouns in groups conforms to five basic points:

  (i) Before or after the verb, the full forms me, te and se are used when these pronouns come first in any group, except when they precede ho or hi, in which case the elided forms m’, t’, and s’ are used: Me’l vendrà, Me l’ha venut, M’ho vendrà, Ven-me’l, Ven-me-la, Has de vendre-me’l, Has de vendre-me-la.

  (ii) Pronouns other than me, te, and se coming first in a group adopt the form they would have if they were single pronouns (12.2.1): Ens la portaran, Us ho explicarem, Traduïu-nos-el, Compra’ns-en, Els ho demanaré.

  (iii) In a two-pronoun group standing before the verb, the second pronoun behaves as though it were standing alone (see again 12.2.1) with the verb in question: Me l’arreglarà, Ens els ha arreglat, Te l’envia
ré, Els ho explicarem, Les hi posarem.

  (iv) In a two-pronoun group standing after the verb, the second pronoun takes the reduced form if it possesses one or keeps the hyphenated full form if it cannot be reduced: Torna-me’l, Torna-me-la, Torna’ns-els, Torna-li’l, Torna-li-ho.

  (v) With proclitic groups, pronoun–verb elision (where possible) has priority over pronoun–pronoun elision: with enclitic groups, pronoun–pronoun elision has priority over verb–pronoun elision. In other words elision, if it is to occur, will be as far to the right as possible: Me I’has tret, Has de treure-me’l, Se’n va, Se n’ha anat, Te’n recordes, Te n’has de recordar, Recorda-te’n. The only exception to this is l’en (and this is justified on the grounds that *le’n would imply the existence of a form *le which does not otherwise occur).

  The application of these general principles is fully illustrated in the table given on pp. 204–5.

  12.9.3 TABLE OF TWO-PRONOUN GROUPS

  The table given on pp. 204–5 (adapted from Badia, Gramàtica) shows the combination and spelling of all two-pronoun groups. The following observations will facilitate consultation.

  First- and second-person pronouns (i.e. em, et, ens, us) are undifferentiated for direct object and indirect object functions; third-person forms (identical for vostè(s)) are differentiated according to function (e.g. li, indirect object singular m. and f.; el, direct object singular m.; els, direct object plural m.; els, indirect object plural m. and f.).

  Each box contains the result of combining the head of each horizontal row with the head of each vertical column. Four combinations are given in each box, even when some are identical. The numbers 1–4 in each box correspond to the four situations affecting pronunciation and spelling according to whether the group stands:

  1 after a verb ending in a consonant or semivowel -u

  2 after a verb ending in a vowel (excluding semivowel -u)

  3 before a verb beginning in a consonant

  4 before a verb beginning in a vowel or h-

  The forms presented in the table are those which are recognized as correct and universally applicable in the standard written language. The Valencian solution for li + another [l]-base third-person pronoun (row VII) has some currency in the literary language, alongside the more widespread solution shown in row VI a–d; see 12.9.3.3, Informal written registers and colloquial usage diverge considerably from the pattern of the formal standard which is based on eastern dialects, particularly the language of Barcelona and environs. These deviations from the standard, already introduced in relation to single pronouns, are discussed in general terms in the sections following the table.

  Note that the logical combination of direct object ho + adverbial hi is in fact realized l’hi: see 12.9.3.4iv.

  12.9.3.1 Formation of two-pronoun groups

  The table on pp. 204–5 supplies the model for every combination of two pronominal clitics according to the point of contact with the verb and its pronunciation/spelling. It would be tiresome and redundant to provide an example of each single one of the more than three hundred instances laid out in the table. What follows below is a relatively full sample of cases involving first-person singular indirect objects (em, ens), in combination with various third-person direct objects.

  The sentences Em llegiràs l’anunci ‘You will read the notice to me’ and M’has llegit l’anunci ‘You have read the notice to me’ correspond to Me’l llegiràs ‘You will read it to me’ and Me l’has llegit ‘You have read it to me’ when the direct object (l’anunci) is represented by a pronoun. Similarly Llegeix-me l’anunci and Llegeixi’m (vostè) l’anunci ‘Read the notice to me’ correspond to Llegeix-me’l and Llegeixi-me’l. Then, with feminine direct objects (singular la proposta ‘the proposal’, plural les propostes), we have:

  Me la llegiràs. Me les llegiràs.

  Me l’has llegit/llegida. Me les has llegit/llegides.

  Llegeix-me-la. Llegeix-me-les.

  Llegeixi-me-la. Llegeixi-me-les.

  The same direct object pronouns combine in groups with ens as follows:

  (l’anunci) (els anuncis)

  Ens el llegiràs. Ens els llegiràs.

  Ens l’has llegit. Ens els has llegit/llegits.

  Llegeix-nos-el. Llegeix-nos-els.

  Llegeixi’ns-el. Llegeixi’ns-els.

  (la proposta) (les propostes)

  Ens la llegiràs. Ens les llegiràs.

  Ens l’has llegit/llegida. Ens les has llegit/llegides.

  Llegeix-nos-la. Llegeix-nos-les.

  Llegeixi’ns-la. Llegeixi’ns-les.

  Further examples, showing two complements represented as pronouns:

  Et concediran l’autorització.

  They will grant you permission.

  → Te la concediran.

  Table of combinations of two weak object pronouns

  Note 1: In the tablc above. references are to row followed by column: thus Ib refers to row I column b, combinations of em with f: direct object la. More precise reference to rows is made by small arabic numcrals 1–4.

  Note 2: Ib 4, IIb 4, IIIb 4, IVb 4, Vb 4: before unstressed (h)i- or (h)u- the Sull rorm la is preferred to elided l’: e.g., Me la informaran, Me la humilien.

  Note 3: IVg 1: for the first- and second-person plural imperative -nos- and -us- may be replaced in speech aster imperatives by’s (pronounced [z]; see 12.1.3i) even though this is not admitted as standard: e.g., Anem’s-en for Anem-nos-en, Felicitem’s-en for Felicitem-nos-en; Aneu’s-en for Aneu-vos-en, Feliciteu’s-en for Fcliciteu-vos-en.

  Note 4: Va–j 3 4a nd V1 3–4: vos can replace us in all these groups, e.g., Vos ho diré for Us ho diré, Vos en portarem for Us en portarem.

  Note 5: VIb–d, VIg–i: sec below, sections 12.9.3–12.9.3.5 for full discussion of variant combinations and of non-standard forms involving third-person indirect objects.

  Hauríem de queixar-nos del seu comportament.

  We ought to complain about their behaviour.

  → Hauríem de queixar-nos-en./Ens n’hauríem de queixar.

  Treu el cotxe del garatge.

  Take the car out of the garage.

  → Treu-l’en.

   (cf. Tregui’l (vostè) del garatge.

   → Tregui-l’en.)

  Us hem parlat sovint d’aquest problema.

  We have often talked to you about this problem.

  → Us n’hem parlat sovint,

   (cf. Hem de parlar-vos-en.)

  Ha desat els estris a l’armari.

  He’s put the utensils away in the cupboard.

  → Els hi ha desat.

  No sé si queda gaire benzina al dipòsit.

  I don’t know if there’s much petrol left in the tank.

  → No sé si n’hi queda gaire.

  Poc es pensava que ho faríem.

  Little did she think we’d do it.

  → Poc s’ho pensava.

  Em vaig trobar/M’he trobat en Pere a la cantonada.

  I met up with Pere on the corner.

  → Me’l vaig trobar/Me l’he trobat a la cantonada.

  Fixa’t en les seves paraules.

  Take notice of her words.

  → Fixa-t’hi.

  Us recordareu d’aquests detalls?

  Will you remember these details?

  → Us en recordareu?

   (cf. Us heu recordat d’aquests detalls.

   → Us n’heu recordat.)

  S’han rentat els peus/les mans.

  They have washed their feet/hands.

  → Se’ls/Se les han rentat.

  12.9.3.2 Inversion of clitic order in Balearic dialects

  Balearic Catalan conserves the construction from the old language where third-person non-reflexive direct objects (el, els, la, les) precede the indirect object pronoun: thus, Els m’ha llegit for Me’ls ha llegit ‘He has read them to me’, La’t duré/La te duré for Te la duré ‘I’ll bring it to you’. When pronouns follow the verb (e.g. Posa-la’t/Posa-la-te for Posa-te-la ‘Put it on
’) the stress shifts to the final syllable, as remarked in 12.1.2vi. Balearic dialects also prefer weak pronouns before the third-person forms (vostè(s)) of the positive imperative: Els me posi aquí ‘Put them here for me’, as well as Posi’ls-me aquí (standard: Posi-me’ls aquí).

  While deemed informal, these colloquial features are retained in written reproduction of local Balearic speech and in texts that adopt a popular tone.

  12.9.3.3 Combinations of two third-person pronouns

  Valencian dialects systematically combine indirect object li and els with direct object el, els, la and les, as shown in VII a℃d and VIII a–d of the table on pp. 204–5.

  Esta cadira és per a Roser; porta-li-la.

  This chair is for Roser; take it over to her.

  Si la pianista necessita algú que li gire els fulls, per què no li’ls gires tu?

  If the pianist needs someone to turn the pages, why don’t you turn them for her?

  In normal usage, elsewhere, however, the substitution of li by hi is virtually ubiquitous, producing the combinations shown in VI a–d. (The behaviour of plural indirect object els is commented on below in this section and further in 12.9.3.5.) Here the notional order of indirect object followed by direct object is inverted, with direct object el, la, els, and les preceding indirect object hi. (In fact, hi in this arrangement conforms to the rule, expressed in 12.9.2, by which this pronoun comes last in any group where it occurs.)

  Em va deixar el seu diccionari i encara no l’hi he tornat.

  She lent me her dictionary and I still haven’t given it back to her.

  Sap quins llibres vol i diu que els hi enviem de seguida.