Catalan

by Max Wheeler

  It is very generally the case that compound verbs (containing prefixes such as con-, de-, en-, ex-, sub-, etc.) have the same inflections as the root verbs they are based on. We shall not attempt to mention all such compounds when dealing with irregular root verbs. Good dictionaries make clear which model a compound verb follows.

  Since the focus of this chapter is on forms, and since the correspondence between Catalan and English verb forms is not straightforward, English glosses will not generally be given here. In this chapter, for convenience we use the following person/number abbreviations:

  1sg. first-person singular 1pl. first-person plural

  2sg. second-person singular 2pl. second-person plural

  3sg. third-person singular 3pl. third-person plural

  The usage of indicative forms is discussed in Chapter 17 and the use of the subjunctive is dealt with in Chapter 19. Non-finite forms are dealt with in Chapters 20–22.

  16.1 QUESTIONS OF ORTHOGRAPHY

  Some of the difficulties or irregularities of Catalan verb forms concern matters of orthography (see Chapter 37). We deal with these here first. Then, in the main part of this chapter, we shall not comment further on those alternations in form which are either purely orthographic, or which correspond to regular phonological alternations not specific to verb forms.

  16.1.1 ORTHOGRAPHY: REGULAR PHONOLOGICAL ALTERNATIONS

  In Catalan, the voiced consonants b, d, g, become voiceless (i.e. p, t, c) when in word-final position or before s. When a vowel precedes, this is regularly represented in the spelling. Thus from rebre we have 2sg. present indicative reps, 3sg. present indicative rep; from poder, pots and pot; corresponding to cregut we have lsg. present indicative crec. When a consonant precedes, this change is not normally represented in spelling (thus we write corb ‘crow’, tard ‘late’, and sang ‘blood’). The verb perdre, 2sg. present indicative perds 3sg. present indicative perd follows this rule; however, 1sg. present indicative is written with -c even when a consonant precedes; thus resolc beside resolgui, etc., tinc beside tingui.

  The Balearic form of the 1sg. present indicative of Conjugation I(-ar verbs), which has no suffix after the stem, is also an exception to the general spelling rule. From trobar we have in Balearic jo trob; from mudar, jo mud; from pagar, jo pag. For the 1sg. present indicative of verbs from other conjugations (which also often have no suffix in other varieties than Balearic) the recommendations of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans are inconsistent; according to one recommendation, they do follow the general rule; thus from penedir-se, we have jo em penet, like tu et penets, ell/ella es penet, and this is the spelling usually found in Valencian: jo cap, jo decep, jo put, jo rep. The other recommendation, specifically in the context of Balearic first-person singulars, is for Conjugation II and III verbs to be spelt according to the same principle as Conjugation I, viz. jo cab, jo deceb, jo pud, jo reb.

  Intervocalic -v- regularly corresponds with -u- in syllable codas; thus escrivim, escrivint, but escriu, escriure, etc., devem, devia, but deus, deuria, etc.

  Word-medial (post-vocalic) –j- (-g- before e or i) regularly corresponds to -ig in final position (thus boja ‘mad(f. sg.)’ corresponds to boig ‘mad(m.sg.)’). This is reflected in a few verb forms, such as 3sg. present indicative fuig from fugir, or, from veure, 1sg. present indicative veig, corresponding to 1 pl. present subjunctive vegem; from haver, 1sg. present indicative haig, corresponding to 1pl. present subjunctive hàgim. (In Balearic the 1 sg. present indicative of Conjugation I verbs with medial -j-, such as envejar, ends in -ig, according to this principle, so jo enveig, and also from alleujar, jo alleuig, from assuaujar, jo assuauig, etc.; but, after a consonant, from menjar: jo menj, from forjar, jo forj, and so forth. Outside verbs, medial -tj- normally corresponds likewise with final -ig; but here, in Balearic lsg. present indicative verb forms, the medial spelling is retained, hence, e.g. desig ‘desire (n)’ but jo desitj ‘Idesire’.)

  Other particularities to note in Balearic lsg. indicatives are: -l·l- becomes -l in final position: instil·lar: jo instil; -nn- and –ss- become –n- and -s- respectively: nannar, jo nan; passar, jo pas; -rr- is retained: xerrar, jo xerr.

  In all varieties, after a stem which ends in a consonant + r or l, the vowel e is added if no other vowel immediately follows, in order to make the sequence pronounceable. This affects the verb córrer (Conjugation II, stem corr-);hence 2sg. present indicative corres, 3sg. present indicatives/2sg, imperative corre, and lies behind the preterite etc. stem correg(u)-: corr- + -g-. Obrir and omplir (Conjugation IIIb) are also affected: 2sg. present indicative obres, omples, 3sg. present indicatives/2sg, imperative obre, omple. (Note in Balearic this rule never applies to 1 sg. present indicative of any verb, so Balearic 1sg. present indicative cobr (from cobrar), entr (from entrar), corr (from córrer), obr, umpl; in the 2sg. present indicative and 3sg. present indicative/2sg, imperative in Balearic it is optional, so obrs/obres/obris, obr/obre/obri.)

  16.1.2 REGULAR SPELLING ALTERNATIONS FOR CONSONANTS

  The general orthographic rule described in 37.3.1 affects inflectional alternations in verbs as follows:

  Hard’ -c- is written -qu before -e or -i-.

  Hard’ -g- is written -gu before -e or -i-.

  -j- is written -g before -e or -i-.

  -tj- is written -tg before -e or -i-.

  -ç- is written -c before -e or -i-.

  Thus: pecar, pecava, pecat, etc., but pequem, pequin, etc.;

   colgar, colgant, colgàrem, etc., but colgues/colguis, colgueu, etc.;

  also crec, crega, cregut, but creguem, creguis, cregué, etc.;

   envejar, envejam, envejaria, etc., but envegem, envegí, envegi,etc.;

   trepitjar, trepitjau, trepitjàs, etc., but trepitgeu, trepitgés, trepitgi, etc.;

   alçar, alçaven, alçada, etc., but alci, alee, alcéssiu, etc.

  also venç, vença, vençut, but vèncer, vencem, vencia, etc.

  16.1.3 DIAERESIS (¨) AND RELATED ISSUES

  The diaeresis is used over i when another vowel precedes, to indicate that the i is syllabic (and does not form a diphthong with the preceding vowel). Hence in Conjugation I verbs, we have, from crear, present subjunctive forms creï, creïs, creïn; so, from canviar: canviï, canviïs, canviïn; from lloar: lloï, lloïs, lloïn; from evacuar: evacuï, evacuïs, evacuïn. A -u- between vowels is consonantal, so does not provoke a diaeresis on a following -i: so from creuar: present subjunctive creui, creuis, etc.

  Conjugation I verbs ending in -aiar, -eiar, -oiar, (with consonantal -i-) replace the expected present subjunctive *-aii, *-eii, *-oii with -aï, -eï, -oï, etc. Thus from esglaiar: esglai, esglais, esglaïn and note also lsg. preterite esglai; similarly, from remeiar: remei, remeis, remeïn and 1sg. preterite remei; and from comboiar: acomboï, acomboïs, acomboïn and 1sg. preterite acomboí.

  In Conjugation III verbs whose stems end in a vowel, the diaeresis will appear over -i- in the ending. By general spelling rule, an acute accent to mark required stress overrides a diaeresis (37.5.1). By special convention, the diaeresis is omitted from Conjugation III verbs in the gerund, the infinitive, and the future and conditional (whose forms are based on the infinitive). These three points can be illustrated from the conjugation of agrair ‘to thank’: present indicative 1 pl. agraïm, 2pl. agraïu; participle agraït/agraïda/agraïts/agraïdes; imperfect agraïa, agraïes, agraíem, agraíeu, agraïen; preterite agraí, agraïres, agrairem, agraireu, agraïren; but gerund agraint, future agrairé, conditional agrairia, etc. Specifically Valencian variants with the diaeresis are: present indicative agraïx, agraïxes, agraïxen; present subjunctive agraïsca, agraïsques, agraïsquen; past subjunctive agraïra, agraïres, agraïren.

  The diaeresis is regularly used over -u- when -q- or -g- precedes to indicate that the -u- is not just a ‘silent’ graphic device. It thus appears regularly in verbs such as adequar with /kw/, and enaiguar with /gw/, whenever the stem is followed by -e- or -i-, hence adeqüem, enaigüés, etc.

&n
bsp; Exceptionally, and rather inconsistently, -ü- is used in two verbs, argüir and aguar to indicate that the -u- is syllabic. Argüir has -ü- throughout its paradigm (and as it is a Conjugation III verb with a vowel-final stem, we get a sequence of diaereses -üï- in several of its forms, such as argüia). In aguar the -u- is written with an accent -ú- when it is stressed, otherwise with a diaeresis -ü- when it precedes -e- or -i-. Because the stressed vowel is marked, the unstressed -i- of the present subjunctive needs no diaeresis. (In fact the anomalous use of diacritics on this rare verb creates more problems than it solves.)

  16.1.4 WRITTEN ACCENTS

  On verbs, as on other words, the normal function of the acute or grave accent is to mark the position of word stress, coupled with the closed or open vowel quality in the case of -e- or -o-. In a few cases, the function of the written accent, on a word which would not require one by the normal spelling rules, is to distinguish homonyms (see 37.5.3). There are a few verb forms so marked.

  They are the following:

  from anar, 2sg. imperative vés (distinguished from ves 2sg. imperative of veure ‘see’);

  from donar, 2sg. present indicative dónes (not usually Val. 2sg. present subjunctive dones), 3sg. present indicative/2sg. imperative dóna (to distinguish from sg. dona, pl. dones ‘woman’);

  from fer, 3sg. preterite féu (distinguished from 2pl. present indicative feu), and, in Balearic, 2sg. imperative fé (distinguished from fe ‘faith’);

  from moldre, participle mólt, mólta, mólts, móltes (to distinguish from the quantifier adjective molt ‘many’/‘much’);

  from saber, 1sg. present indicative sé (to distinguish from the reflexive pronoun se);

  from ser/ésser, 1sg. present indicative sóc (distinguished from soc ‘tree-stump’),1sg. present indicative só (distinguished from so ‘sound’),3sg. present indicative és (distinguished from reflexive pronoun es), 1sg./3sg. past subjunctive/conditional fóra (distinguished from fora ‘out’);

  from tenir, 3sg. present indicative and 2sg. imperative té (distinguishedfrom 2sg. personal pronoun te);

  from venir, 2sg. present indicative véns, 3pl. present indicative vénen (distinguished from the corresponding forms vens, venen from vendre ‘sell’), and in Balearic, additionally vénc 1sg. present indicative, véngui 1sg./3sg. present subjunctive, etc. (Here the corresponding forms in the General variety have stem vowel i: vinc, vingui, etc.);

  from veure, 3sg. preterite véu (distinguished from 3sg. present indicative veu, and from veu ‘voice’).

  Though in other respects compound verbs have the same form of the root as the simple verb they are based on, ‘contrastive’ accents are retained on compounds only to the extent that the contrast remains (or unless required by regular spelling rules). Thus desfer has 3sg. preterite desféu (distinguished from 2pl. present indicative desfeu); contenir, retenir have3sg. present indicative conté, reté respectively, because the accent is now required to mark stress on the final syllable; prevenir has 2sg. present indicative prevens and 3pl. present indicative prevenen, but revenir has revéns, revénen, distinct from revens, revenen from revendre ‘resell’; preveure has 3sg. preterite prevéu (distinguished from 3sg. present indicative preveu); remoldre ‘regrind’ has participle remólt, remòlta, remòlts, remòltes for no very good reason.

  On the other hand, regular spelling rules may require accents on compounds which are not required on simple verbs; thus from desfer, 2sg. present indicative desfàs, 3sg. present indicative desfà; from prevenir 3sg. present indicative prevé (but venir 3sg. present indicative ve); from confondre participle confós (m.sg); from descosir, 3sg. present indicative descús; from reprendre 3sg. present indicative reprèn. In these cases the accent indicates final syllable stress on a word ending in a vowel or -s or -n.

  Reflecting pronunciation, western dialects and Valencian in particular may have -é- in verb forms corresponding to -è- of other varieties. In Valencian this applies to all verb forms; so General atènyer, empènyer, estrènyer, conèixer, aparèixer, crèiem, dèiem, fèiem, admès, atès, imprès, etc., are in Valencian atènyer, empènyer, estrènyer, conèixer, aparèixer, crèiem, dèiem, fèiem, admès, atés, imprès, etc.

  16.1.5 Other Spelling Points

  In the verbs dur, lluir, pruir there are optional alternative spellings for the 2sg. present indicative and 3sg. present indicative (= 2sg. imperative): duus or dus, duu or du; lluus or llus, lluu or llu; pruus or prus, pruu or pru.

  As regularly, medial -ss- becomes -s in word-final position, so from tossir 3sg. present indicative tus.

  16.2 CONJUGATION CLASSES

  On the basis of their inflectional paradigms, Catalan verbs fall into three classes (with some subdivisions). Of the 4,500 or so verbs in the Diccionari General de la Llengua Catalana, some 3,500 are of Conjugation I, and about 700 of Conjugation Ilia, the remainder being divided between II and IIIb. Originally these classes were characterized by their thematic vowels (vowels appearing between root and inflection): -a- for class I, -e-/-u or zero for class II, and -i- for class III. In the modern language, however, the thematic vowels of classes I and II in particular are no longer prominent. The classes are, moreover, not distinct in every tense/mood/aspect sub-paradigm; most notably the imperfect has the same endings in Conjugations II and III, and in the General variety, the present and past subjunctive have the same endings in I and II. There is only a handful of irregular verbs whose forms follow patterns of more than one conjugation (to be mentioned in 16.2.4).

  16.2.1 CONJUGATION I

  Verbs of Conjugation I have their infinitive ending in -ar. The great majority of verbs are in this class, and all of them are regular except for estar and anar. (Among other irregularities, these two verbs have certain forms from other conjugations: 16.2.4.) The characteristic -a- is present in the infinitive -ar (and the related future and conditional -aré, -aria, etc.), the gerund -ant, the participle -at, the preterite -ares, -à, etc., and, in Balearic and Valencian, in the past subjunctive -as/-ara, etc. (One special Balearic irregularity is despert as the participle of despertar.) In so far as forms of dar ‘give’ are still used, they are those of a regular Conjugation I verb with stem d-.

  16.2.2 CONJUGATION II

  Conjugation II contains most of the irregular verbs (16.6); many Conjugation II verbs in particular have irregular participles. The infinitives of Conjugation II are more varied in ending than its other inflections: there are four subtypes.

  (i) Infinitive in -re, as in batre, perdre, estendre, beure, etc. (Note that –d- is inserted before -re, and in the related future and conditional forms, after stems ending in -l- or -n-; thus dolent: doldre, prenent: prendre.)

  (ii) Infinitive in unstressed -er. This ending rather than -re occurs after certain consonants, namely:

  -x-:créixer, merèixer, nàixer, etc. (all irregular)

  -m-: témer, fúmer, prémer (with its compounds in es-, re-), trémer(all regular)

  -ny-: atènyer, empènyer, fènyer, (e)strènyer(with its compounds in con-, de-, re-), plànyer(with its compound in com-), pertànyer (largely regular)

  -rr-: córrer(with its compounds in a-, con-, de-, des-, dis-, en-, es-, in-, o-, re-, so-) (irregular)

  /-s-/: tòrcer (with its compound in des-), vèncer (with its compounds in con-, re-) (both regular), ésser (highly irregular)

  (iii) Infinitive in -r, after vowel-final stem: dir (with its compounds in a-, contra-, des-, inter-, mal-, pre-, re-), dur (with its compound in en-), fer (with its compounds in contra-, des-, estra-, per-, re-, satis-); from one point of view estar could be said to belong here, with stressed -a- in the stem and epenthetic e- before initial s + a consonant.

  (iv) Infinitive in stressed -er: a few verbs only, all of them irregular, many having alternative infinitive forms in -re. In all cases the -e- of the infinitive is deleted in the future and conditional. The verbs are: cabre/caber, caldre/caler, doldre/doler, esser (Bal. form of ser/ésser), haver, poder, saber, soler, valer/valdre (with its compounds
in equi-, pre-), voler.

  Conjugation II verbs have thematic -e- in the 1pl./2pl. present indicative, the gerund, the preterite, and the past subjunctive, thematic -i- in the imperfect, and thematic -u- in the regular participle.

  16.2.3 CONJUGATION III

  Conjugation III verbs have infinitives in -ir. There are two major subgroups. Conjugation IIIa, also known, for historical reasons as ‘inchoative’, manifests stem alternation: an extended form of the stem occurs in the singular and the 3pl. of the present indicative and of the present subjunctive. In the General variety this extension is -eix-; in NW Catalan it is -ix-; in Balearic and formal Valencian it is -esc- in the lsg. present indicative and in the present subjunctive, -eix- in the rest of the present indicative. In less formal Valencian it is -isc- in the 1sg. present indicative and in the present subjunctive, -ix- in the rest of the present indicative. There is a considerable number of verbs of this type. Apart from the stem alternation just mentioned they are regular, though a few have irregular participles.

  Conjugation IIIb verbs lack the inchoative stem extension. There are relatively few of them, and most of these are irregular in some respect.

  Some verbs, as indicated below, may be conjugated either as IIIa or as IIIb; the IIIb forms are more usual. There is a handful of verbs conjugated according to IIIb in Valencian and Balearic (as indicated below) which are IIIa in other varieties.