by Max Wheeler
Ja ho faran. They will do it (I’m sure).
Ja veurem si és veritat ο no. We’ll (soon) see whether it is true or not.
encara still, yet (in negative contexts)
Encara treballes a l’ajuntament? Are you still working for the council?
No l’he vista encara, la pel·lícula. I haven’t seen it yet, the film.
adés, suara (Bal.) just now, in a moment
Adés s’hi negava. Just now she refused to do it.
Espera-la, que suara tornarà. Wait for her; she’ll be back in a moment.
Adés is current in Valencian, and suara is current in the Balearics and Valencian; in Catalonia they are rather literary.
ara mateix right now, this minute
abans de gaire before long
aviat, prompte (Val.), prest (Val., Bal.) soon
com més aviat millor as soon as possible
de seguida, tot seguit, tot d’una (Bal.) immediately
sempre, tothora (literary) always
sovint often
tot sovint, ben sovint very often
freqüentment, espesses vegades (Bal.) frequently
a vegades, de vegades, a voltes (esp. Val.) sometimes
a la llarga, més tard ο més d’hora sooner or later
de tant en tant, ara i adés (literary), adesiara (literary, Bal.) from time to time
rarament, rares vegades, poc sovint, de tard en tard rarely
una vegada, un cop, una volta (Val.), un pic (Bal.) once
d’hora, dejorn (Val., Bal.) early
sopar d’hora have dinner early
tard late
mai, jamai (literary) never, ever (see 26.1.5)
mai més, pus mai (Bal.) never again, ever again (see 26.1.9)
No hi tornaré mai més. I’ll never go there again.
alhora, a la vegada at the same time, at once
Hem arribat tots tres alhora. We all three arrived at once.
a deshora, inoportunament at the wrong time
abans before
dos dies abans two days before
per endavant in advance
després after(wards)
mentrestant, entretant, en l’endemig (literary), mentrimentres (Val.) meanwhile
Tu, què feies mentrestant? What were you doing in the meantime?
Temporal deictics
avui, hui (Val.) today
ahir yesterday
demà tomorrow
aquest matí, avui (de)matí this morning
aquest vespre, avui vespre this evening
enguany this year
l’endemà the next day
anit tonight, last night
On dormirem anit? Where shall we sleep tonight?
Tota la família va venir anit. All the family came last night.
Though current elsewhere, anit is usually replaced in Barcelona by aquesta nit ‘this night’, which can refer to the night at either end of today. Similarly enguany is replaced by aquest any in Barcelona.
anit passada last night
abans-d’ahir, despús-ahir (Val., Bal., etc.) the day before yesterday
demà passat, despús-demà (Val., etc.) the day after tomorrow
demà passat l’altre three days from now
(L’altre may be added to the other ‘day before yesterday’ and ‘day after tomorrow’ forms in the same way.)
To situate a state or event at a specific moment in time, a noun with some kind of modifying expression needs no preposition:
El veiem cada dia. We see him every day.
El vam veure aquell cap de setmana. We saw him that weekend.
l’any passat last year
l’agost de l’any passat in August last year
el dia trenta on the 30th
aquest vespre, avui vespre this evening
el 1958 (any understood) in 1958
el quinze de gener on January 15th
el mes vinent next month
el segle passat (or al segle passat) last century
Va arribar l’u de setembre. She came on the first of September.
ahir vespre yesterday evening
demà matí tomorrow morning.
(Valencian and Balearic use dia x without article or preposition: Una nota que es publicà dia 26 de febrer ‘A note which was published on 26 February’. On the general use of the article with days and dates, see 3.1.4.4.)
There are alternative ways to express the year of some event: J.S. Bach va néixer l’any 1685/va néixer el 1685/va néixer en 1685 ‘J.S. Bach was born in 1685’.
The names of the days of the week are used alone indicating ‘time at which’: Van arribar diumenge ‘They came on Sunday’, but if preceded by an adjective there needs to be an article: Dissabte passat hi hagué un robatori ‘Last Saturday there was a burglary’ = El passat dissabte hi hagué un robatori. Note Avui som dilluns ‘Today is Monday’ (lit. Today we are Monday). The plural form of the weekdays, with definite article but no preposition, expresses weekly occurrences: Els dimecres mengem arròs ‘On Wednesdays we eat paella’. (Some normative grammarians prefer the singular here: El dimecres mengem arròs, but the plural is used more spontaneously.)
Distributive expressions like ‘five times a week’ use the definite article in Catalan, with el generally preceded by a to give the form al; the forms l’, la, more often occur without a:
cobrar 15.000 pessetes al mes get 15,000 pesetas a/per month
Guanya mil pessetes (a) l’hora. She earns 1000 pesetas an hour.
Tinc lliçó dues vegades (a) la setmana. I have a lesson twice a week.
To express ‘ago’ Catalan uses the verb fer ‘make’ (third-person singular only): thus Ha sortit fa deu minuts ‘He went out ten minutes ago’, Hi treballa des de fa uns quants anys ‘She has been working here for several years’ (lit…. since it makes several years, i.e…. since several years ago), Deu fer uns deu anys d’ençà que va morir ‘It’ll be about ten years ago that he died’ = ‘It’ll be about ten years since he died’, Quant fa que vas canviar de feina? ‘How long ago did you change your job?’, ‘How long is it since you changed your job?’, Fa només un quart que han marxat ‘They left only a quarter of an hour ago’. Unlike ‘ago’ in English which is restricted to present tense contexts, the Catalan fer construction can shift to other tenses. Thus we can say Feia només un quart que havien marxat ‘They had left only a quarter of an hour before/previously’. On tense usage in such constructions see 17.2.2 and 32.2.24.
Times of day
de dia, de dies by day
de nit, de nits by night
a punta de dia, a trenc d’alba at daybreak
de matí, de bon matí early in the morning
al matí in the morning
a mig matí mid-morning
a(l) migdia at noon
a l’hora de dinar at lunch time
havent dinat after lunch
a la tarda, a la vesprada (Val.), (a) horabaixa/s’horabaixa (Bal.) in the afternoon
a hora baixa late afternoon
cap al tard, al capvespre, a entrada de fosc late afternoon, early evening, when it gets dark
al vespre in the evening
havent sopat after dinner
a la nit at night
13.4 ADVERBS/ADVERBIALS OF MANNER
There is an extensive, open, list of adverbs of manner and manner phrases, including the majority of the adverbs derived from adjectives by means of the suffix -ment (13.1.1). The simple ones are:
com how, as (interrogative, exclamation, and relative)
Com t’ho has fet, això? How did you (manage to) do that?
Fes-ho com et sembli. Do it how you choose.
així thus, in this way
ben, bé well, very
mal, malament badly
The forms ben and mal are used only preceding what they qualify, thus ben fet ‘well done’, ben difícil ‘quite difficult’, ben a la vora ‘quite near’; ‘very near’, mal ad
obat ‘badly repaired’, mal vist ‘disapproved of’ (lit. badly seen). Bé and malament are used in other positions: Ho fas molt bé ‘You’re doing very well’.
To express the comparative and superlative (‘better’, ‘best’, ‘worse’, ‘worst’), the regular més ‘more’ can precede all these forms (més ben, més bé, més mal, més malament); alternatively, the forms millor ‘better’, ‘best’, pitjor ‘worse’, ‘worst’ can be used (see 5.2.1).
Avui va tot més malament/pitjor.
Today it’s all going worse.
El finestró ha quedat més ben pintat que la porta.
The shutter has turned out better painted than the door.
Other simple manner adverbs
debades, endebades in vain, (Val.) gratis
corrents quickly, in a hurry
arreu in succession
dempeus (literary) standing
‘Standing, on foot’ is more commonly expressed with the adjective dret.
Posa’t dreta! Stand up straight!
exprés (= expressament, a posta, a dretes) on purpose
ensems (literary) together
‘Together’ is more commonly expressed by means of the plural adjectives junts, plegats, or with the temporal adverb alhora ‘at the same time’:
Ara estem junts. Now we’re together.
Sempre van plegats. They’re always together.
No podeu entrar tots alhora. You can’t all get in together.
igual in the same way
Unlike English, Catalan readily puts a manner adverb between a verb and its direct object (particularly if the adverb is shorter; see also 36.8):
Escriu-me corrents aqueixa carta.
Write me that letter quickly.
Va resoldre hàbilment la difícil situació.
He skilfully sorted out the difficult situation./He sorted out the difficult situation skilfully.
Note:
d’alguna manera/en alguna manera somehow
d’altra manera otherwise
M’han convidat; d’altra manera no hi aniria. They invited me; I wouldn’t go otherwise.
See 17.2.1.2 for the use of adverbs with compound tenses.
13.4.1 USAGE OF MANNER ADVERBS
Catalan uses derived manner adverbs in -ment rather less than English uses corresponding adverbs in ‘-ly’. Adverbial notions will often be expressed in prepositional phrases as below, or using an adjective, in apposition with the subject of the clause.
d’una manera honesta honourably
d’una manera impacient impatiently
amb sinceritat sincerely
amb impaciència impatiently
Va respondre irritat. He replied irritably.
13.5 ADVERBS/ADVERBIALS OF QUALIFICATION AND INCLUSION
Traditionally these adverbs/adverbials are not identified as a separate semantic or pragmatic category; one finds them scattered among adverbs of manner, of degree, sentence adverbs, and elsewhere.
ben bé, exactament, precisament, just exactly
No és ben bé el mateix. It’s not exactly the same/not quite the same.
És precisament el que volia. It’s just what I wanted.
just darrere la comissaria right behind the police station
més aviat, més aïnes (Val.), més tost (Bal.) rather
Sentia més aviat compassió que por. I felt pity rather than fear.
El trobo més aviat dolç. I find it on the sweet side.
sobretot, més que més especially, above all
No hi volen anar, més que més anant-hi tu. They don’t want to go there, especially since you’re going.
només, sols, solament, tan sols, únicament only
fins, fins i tot, àdhuc (literary), inclús form not accepted by IEC) even
L’aplaudiren tots, fins i tot els seus adversaris. They all applauded him, even his opponents.
(non-standard) Inclús arribarà a parlar català. She will even manage to speak Catalan.
ni, ni tan sols not even (see 26.1.6)
almenys, si més no, si altra cosa no, almanco (Bal.) at least
Almenys voldria que em contestessin. I wish at least they would answer.
Digueu-me, si més no, qui us ho ha dit. Tell me, at least, who told you.
si fa no fa, més ο menys, més ο manco (Bal.), aproximadament approximately, more or less
L’habitació feia si fa no fa sis metres de llarg. The room was approximately six metres long.
amb prou feines, amb prou faena (Val.), a penes hardly, no sooner
Eren tants, que amb prou feines els hem poguts comptar. There were so many that we could hardly count them.
A penes havíem sortit de casa que es va posar a ploure. No sooner had we gone out than it started to rain.
pel cap alt at most
pel cap baix at the least
també also, as well
tampoc either, neither (see 26.1.7)
L’endemà tampoc no feia bon temps. The weather wasn’t good the next day either.
gairebé, quasi almost, nearly
Gairebé no poguérem parlar. We were hardly able to speak.
Quasi no me n’adonava. I was hardly aware of it.
Aproven gairebé sempre. They nearly always pass.
13.6 DEGREE ADVERBS/ADVERBIALS
Degree adjectives have been discussed at 8.2; many degree adverbs have exactly the same form as the adjectives. These are exemplified first below. Degree adverbs and adverbials can modify verb phrases, adjectives, or other adverbs.
que, com … de (exclamative; see 27.2.2.2 and 27.2.3) how!
Que malament que canten! How badly they’re singing!
Com és de lleig! How ugly it is!
In current Catalan there is no interrogative degree adverb corresponding to ‘how …?’, hence no convenient way of expressing exactly, for example. ‘How soon can you let us know?’, ‘How near are we to our destination?’ For the former, one might say, Quan ens ho faràs saber? ‘When will you let us know?’ or Ens ho faràs saber aviat? ‘Will you let us know soon?’; for the latter, Falta gaire per arribar a la nostra destinació? (lit. Is there much missing for us to arrive at our destination?). Consider also Passa gaire sovint? ‘How often does it happen?’ (lit. Does it happen very often?), Ens sorprenia que el camí fos tan curt ‘We were surprised at how short the distance was’ (lit…. that the way was so short).
molt very, a lot, much
Treballaven molt de pressa. They worked very fast.
Treballaven molt. They worked hard (i.e. a lot).
És molt menys acceptable. It is much less acceptable.
gaire (not) much, very (in negative, interrogative and conditional contexts)
Tardaràs gaire a eixir del bany? Will you be very long in (lit. in coming out of) the bathroom?
una casa no gaire espaiosa a not very spacious house
poc not very, not much
Era poc divertit. It was not very entertaining.
molt poc intel·ligent very unintelligent (i.e. pretty stupid)
El blau m’agrada poc. I don’t like the blue one very much.
Poc (or the more emphatic gens) frequently negates an adjective where English prefers the prefixed negative form: poc freqüent ‘infrequent’, poc sofisticat ‘unsophisticated’, poc acostumat ‘unaccustomed’, gens airós ‘most ungraceful’. (Note also a poc (a) poc ‘slowly’, ‘gradually’.)
tan,tant as, so (much) (tan is used when it precedes what is qualified)
No vagis tan de pressa. Don’t go so fast, (tan modifies de pressa)
M’agradava tant com l’altre. I liked it as much as the other one. (tant modifies m’agradava)
El riu va tan pie que l’aigua frega el pont. The river is so full that the water is touching the bridge.
més more
Ho has deixat més enllà. You’ve left it further away (over there).
Hauríem de viatjar
més. We ought to do more travelling.
d’allò més extremely
Els va agradar d’allò més. They were extremely fond of it. (lit. It pleased them extremely.)
menys, manco (esp. Bal.), més poc less
Tens deu anys manco que jo. You are ten years younger than I am. (lit. You have ten years less than I.)
Com més el necessito, menys el tinc. The more I need him, the less I have him.
tot all, quite
Vingueren tot sobtadament. They came very suddenly.
There is unexpected agreement of the degree adverb tot with a following adjective in the following examples:
Les he deixades totes soles. I have left them (f.) all alone.
La pobra noia estava tota avergonyida. The poor girl was quite embarrassed.
Ho ha fet tota sola. She has done it all on her own.
(Adverbial tot (invariable) occurs in some set expressions, before a noun used adjectivally:
Érem tot orelles/ulls. We were all ears/eyes.)
The adverbial function of tot is also to be noted in common expressions like tot sovint ‘very often’, tot recte/dret ‘straight on’, tot seguit ‘immediately afterwards’, tot d’una ‘all of a sudden’ The use of tot introducing a gerund with the meaning of ‘while’, ‘as’ is discussed in 22.2.4.1.
massa too, too much
Anem massa a poc a poc. We’re going too slowly.
Estudia molt, potser massa. She studies a lot, perhaps too much.
força quite, very, quite a lot
Es fa força difícil. It is becoming quite difficult.
Ens coneixem força. We know each other pretty well.
prou enough, quite, sufficiently
Ja ets prou gran. You’re old enough now.
Has menjat prou? Have you eaten enough?
bastant fairly, quite a lot (less than prou)
Ho fan bastant malament. They do it fairly badly.
Va resultar bastant més delicat It proved to be rather more delicate
que no ens havíem imaginat. than we had imagined.
mig half (see below)
Venien mig convençuts. They came half persuaded.
