by Max Wheeler
IIIb verbs:
acudir IIIa or IIIb (esp. IIIb as an impersonal pronominal verb ‘occur’; IIIa in the sense ‘turn up’, ‘be present’)
afegir (Val. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
ajupir
arrupir-se IIIa or IIIb
brunzir IIIa or IIIb
bullir (with its compound in re-)
cenyir (Bal. IIIb or IIIa, elsewhere IIIa)
collir (with its compounds in a-, es-, re-)
consumir (with its compounds resumir, presumir) IIIa or IIIb
cosir (with its compounds in des-, re-)
cruixir (not escruixir which is IIIa)
dormir (with its compound in a-)
eixir (with its compounds in des-, re-, sobre-; mixed conjugation in Val.; 16.6.3)
engolir (Val. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
escopir
esmunyir-se
ferir (Bal. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
fregir (Val. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
fugir (with its compounds in de-, en-)
grunyir
llegir (with its compound in re-) (Val., Minorcan IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
lluir (with its compound in re-) (IIIb ‘shine’ literally (of lights, stars, etc.); in figurative senses ‘display’, ‘shine’: IIIa)
mentir (with its compound in des-) IIIa or IIIb
morir (with its compound in pre-)
munyir
obrir (with its compounds in entre-, re-)
oir (with its compounds in des-, entre-) IIIa or IIIb (IIIb in Valencian)
omplir (with its compound in re-)
penedir-se (Bal. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
percudir IIIa or IIIb
pruir
pudir
punyir
renyir (Val. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
retrunyir
sentir (with its compounds in con-, pres-, ress-, but not assentir, dissentir which are IIIa)
sortir (with its compounds in re-, sobre-)
teixir (Val. IIIb, elsewhere IIIa)
tenir (mixed II/IIIb, see 16.6.3)
tenyir (Val. IIIb, with its compound in des-, but retenyir IIIa or IIIb; elsewhere IIIa)
tossir (Bal. optionally Illa)
venir (mixed II/IIIb, see 16.6.3)
vestir (Bal. IIIa or IIIb, Val. IIIb, with its compounds in des-, re-, but not envestir, investir IIIa; elsewhere IIIa)
16.2.4 VERBS OF MIXED CONJUGATION
A few irregular verbs have forms from more than one conjugation: anar, which is basically a Conjugation I verb, has some irregular present indicative and subjunctive forms from Conjugation II, on the stems vaj-, va-, and future and conditional forms from Conjugation III, on the future stem anir-. Estar, also mostly of Conjugation I (‘star’ with epenthetic e-), has Conjugation II forms in the present indicative on the stem sta-, and Conjugation II forms on the stem (e)stig- in the present subjunctive, preterite, and past subjunctive. Tenir, venir, escriure, and viure (with their compounds) have certain forms from each of Conjugations II and IIIb; eixir may have certain forms from II as well as IIIb. The conjugation of these verbs is set out in 16.6.3. In Balearic and Valencian prendre has, in certain styles, 1pl. and 2pl. present indicative from III, viz. prenim, preniu.
16.3 SYNCRETISMS
Not all of the verb inflections are formally distinct from each other; some forms display inflectional homonymy or syncretism, that is, they are ambiguous.
Except in a few verbs which have an irregular imperative, the 2sg. imperative has the same form as the3sg. present indicative (e.g. compra, ven), and the 2pl. imperative has the same form as the 2pl. present indicative (e.g. compreu (Bal. comprau), veneu). The 3sg. and the 1 pl. and 3pl. imperatives are always identical with the corresponding persons of the present subjunctive.
In North Catalan, in verbs of Conjugation I, the lsg. present indicative has the same form as the 1 sg./3sg. present subjunctive, e.g. compri.
In Valencian verbs of Conjugation I the present subjunctive is identical with the present indicative except in the 3sg.:1sg. compre, 2sg. compres, 3sg. present indicative compra, 3sg. present subjunctive compre, 1pl. comprem,2pl. compreu, 3pl. compren.
In Valencian, where both the simple preterite and the past subjunctive in -r- are used, their forms for the 2sg. and all the plural are identical for all verbs, e.g. comprares, compràrem, compràreu, compraren.
In the General variety and Valencian, in regular verbs of Conjugations I and II, and nearly all verbs of Conjugation III, the 1pl. and 2pl. present subjunctive is identical with the present indicative, e.g. comprem, compreu; trametem, trameteu; servim, serviu. In Balearic, however, the 1pl. and 2pl. present indicative and present subjunctive are always distinct in Conjugations I and III and optional in Conjugation II. In the other varieties the distinction between present indicative and present subjunctive in 1–2pl. is found only in cases of stem alternation.
In the imperfect, conditional, and present and past subjunctive of all literary dialects the 1sg. is identical with the 3sg. (e.g. imperfect 1sg. = 3sg. comprava, conditional 1sg. = 3sg. compraria, present subjunctive 1sg. = 3sg. compri (Val. compre), past subjunctive 1sg. = 3sg. comprés (Bal./Val. compràs, Val. comprara).
16.4 IRREGULARITY IN VERBAL INFLECTION
We have mentioned so far in passing several irregular verbs or irregular forms; here we give an outline of what irregularity consists of. First, though, we should specify what a regular verb is; it is one whose stem is the same in all forms (setting aside regular alternations of phonology or spelling which affect all words in the appropriate conditions, see 16.1). Its endings are those established for the majority of words of its class. (Stem alternation in Conjugation IIIa is not regarded as an irregularity since the alternation is always of the same kind, and affects the vast majority of verbs in Conjugation III.)
Most of the irregularity in Catalan verbs arises in the form of unpredictable stem alternation. (And no verb has irregular inflectional endings without having some stem alternation as well.) Most irregular verbs have two alternating stems, several have three, and only a few have more; ésser, the most irregular verb, has eleven stem alternants. Stem alternation will be explained fully in 16.6.
Irregularity of inflectional endings is not widespread. We have already considered (16.2) alternation in the endings of the infinitive of Conjugation II. The gerund has no irregularities except concerning the pronunciation of -ent (see 16.5.2). Irregularity in the participle (16.5.3) can perhaps best be seen as a matter of irregular stems, though some generalizations can be drawn. Stem alternation is also the source of nearly all the irregularity in the present indicative (16.5.5), though in Balearic some verbs have forms with an irregular 1 pl. and 2pl. ending, e.g. deim, deis corresponding to General diem, dieu, from dir, while Valencian has special forms for obrir and omplir (IIIb). A small group of Conjugation II verbs have anomalous endings and stem variants in the imperative (16.5.11). Apart from the unusual present subjunctive of cabre and saber in the General variety, linked with unusual stem alternants, there are no irregularities in the endings of the present subjunctive (16.5.9) or the past subjunctive (16.5.10), though there are some important dialect differences. A few verbs of Conjugation II have an irregular imperfect (16.5.6.1), lacking the characteristic stressed -i- element, and therefore stressed on the stem. Three verbs only (ser, fer, and veure) have irregular endings in the preterite1sg.and3sg., or more accurately, they have special stems with no endings (16.5.6.2), These irregularities in inflectional endings will be discussed in detail in the relevant subsections of 16.5.
16.5 INFLECTIONAL CATEGORIES OF THE VERB
The non-finite verb categories are infinitive (16.5.1), gerund (16.5.2), and (past) participle (16.5.3); by definition these lack expression of person (agreement with subject of the verb). The (past) participle takes adjectivetype inflections of number and gender (agreeing with the surface subject of a passive verb, and in certain contexts with the object of a verb in the perfect, see 21.1.2). The use of the infinitive is d
iscussed in Chapter 20, the use of the gerund in Chapter 22, and the use of the participle in Chapter 21. The socalled present participle is also dealt with in Chapter 21.
Finite verbs agree with the subject in person (1, 2, 3) and number (singular or plural) (16.5.4).
Tense categories are present, past, future. The expression of present and past overlaps with the expression of mood and aspect. (For usage, see Chapter 17.)
The mood categories are indicative, imperative, and subjunctive. The indicative combines with all tenses (present: 16.5.5, past: 16.5.6, future: 16.5.7), but the imperative (16.5.11) is found only allied with present tense, and the subjunctive only with present (16.5.9) and past tense (16.5.10). (For the use of the subjunctive, see Chapter 19; for the use of the imperative, see Chapter 28.)
The aspect categories are perfective and imperfective; they are distinguished only in the past tense (16.5.6), and only marginally in the subjunctive mood (16.5.10). Preterite is the conventional name for the past perfective indicative, while imperfect is the conventional name for the past imperfective indicative. (For the use of the aspectually marked categories, see 17.1.3.1)
Perfect and conditional do not fit neatly into the framework of tense, aspect, and mood. Perfect in Catalan (16.5.12) is expressed periphrastically via the auxiliary verb haver (sometimes ser in North Catalan and esser in Balearic) with the participle of the verb in question. Perfect combines with all of the categories of tense, aspect, and mood (also with conditional) except that there is no perfect imperative. (For the use of the perfect, see 17.2.2.) The conditional (16.5.8) is morphologically related to both the future and the (past) imperfect, and one of its uses is as a relative tense ‘future in the past’. (For the use of the conditional, see 17.1.5 and Chapter 34.)
16.5.1 INFINITIVE
The forms of the infinitive have been illustrated above in the presentation of Conjugation classes (16.2 and see 20.1). The infinitive is the citation form of a verb in Catalan; for example it provides the heading for dictionary entries. This practice has one unfortunate consequence for the learner, as in nearly all cases (all of Conjugation I and III) the stem of a verb is unstressed in the infinitive form. Due to the reorganization of the vowel system in unstressed syllables (38.1.2), it is thus usually not possible to identify from a phonetic transcription of the dictionary entry of a verb (the infinitive), whether the quality of a stem -e- or -o- is open or closed. A few dictionaries, such as the Diccionari català-francès francès-català published by Enciclopèdia Catalana, SA, do provide this information.
Corresponding to Conjugation II infinitives in stressed -er (16.2.2iv), colloquial speech often uses variants in -guer, which are not admitted in writing, for example volguer (non-standard) corresponding to standard voler.
In varieties other than Valencian, the final -r of an infinitive is not pronounced except when a clitic pronoun is attached, as in e.g. cobrar-ho, cobraries, cobrar-nos, cobrar-ne. In the informal styles of some regions, the final -r of the unstressed -er ending of certain class II verbs is not pronounced even before clitic pronouns, and this is admitted in less formal writing. The clitic takes the form it would have after a -re infinitive (see 12.1.3). Thus:
Formal Informal
conèixer-me coneixe’m
convèncer-te convence’t
convèncer-se convence’s
conèixer-la coneixe-la
convèncer-lo convence’l
conèixer-ho coneixe-ho
convèncer-hi convence-hi
conèixer-ne coneixe’n
convèncer-nos convence’ns
conèixer-vos coneixe-us
conèixer-los coneixe’ls
Similarly, then, convence-te’n, coneixe-us-hi, convence’ls-en, and so on. Note that, with suppression of the final -r, the written accent is no longer required on the infinitive.
16.5.2 GERUND
The form of the gerund is straightforward: following the stem, we have -ant for Conjugation I, -ent for Conjugation II, and -int for Conjugation III. In the case of irregular verbs, which have more than one stem, the stem of the gerund is that of the 1pl. and 2pl. present indicative, which is also generally that of the imperfect. In the case of those verbs that have a stem variant in /-g-/, colloquial speech often extends this stem to the gerund, to give nonstandard volguent, sapiguent, duguent, etc. These forms are not accepted in writing (standard volent, sabent, duent, etc.). (For usage see Chapter 22.)
16.5.3 PARTICIPLE
The regular (past) participle consists of the addition of /+d/ after the stem + thematic vowel. The final /d/ by regular process becomes voiceless in final position or before -s, and is written -t (see 38.2.1iii). All participles, regular and irregular, have regular inflection for number and gender. Thus we have, for example:
Conj I: from pagar, m.sg. pagat f.sg. pagada, m.pl. pagats, f.pl. pagades
Conj II: from perdre, m.sg. perdut, f.sg. perduda, m.pl. perduts, f.pl. perdudes
Conj III: from llegir, m.sg. llegit, f.sg. llegida, m.pl. llegits, f.pl, llegides
In addition to their strictly verbal use, participles also have the function of verbal adjectives, which are passive in meaning from transitive verbs, active from intransitive ones. (For usage of the participle, see Chapter 21.)
If an irregular Conjugation II verb has a regular participle, this will be formed on the stem variant that ends in -g or -sc if there is one: thus creure, cregut; córrer, corregut; créixer, crescut; pertànyer, pertangut (also pertanyut). But vendre more usually has as participle venut (though vengut is also acceptable).
A large proportion of Conjugation II verbs, and a very small number of Conjugation III verbs have irregular participles. Nearly all the verbs which have irregular participles are irregular in other ways also. Irregular participles are ‘athematic’, that is, they display no vowel after the verb stem. Irregular participles do not add /+d/, but rather one of three alternatives: /+st/ (-st), /+z/ (-s), or /+t/ (-t). Of these, -st is restricted to just three verbs, with their compounds (see below). Which of the remaining two occurs is largely (though not completely) predictable, depending on the final phoneme of the stem. A consonant other than -l- or -r- is deleted before these suffixes, and there is sometimes a change of the stem vowel also.
Participles in -st:
(i) participles in -st occur for pondre and its compounds (compondre, respondre, correspondre, etc.): post, posta, post(o)s, postes;
(ii) for veure and its compounds (entreveure, preveure, reveure): vist, vista, vist(o)s, vistes;
(iii) and in Valencian for riure (and its compound somriure): rist, rista, rist(o)s, ristes. (Elsewhere riure has a regular participle rigut.)
Irregular participles in /+z/ (-s) occur for:
(i) verb stems ending in -n (other than pondre, just mentioned): thus from atendre: atès, atesa, atesos, ateses; defendre: defès, defesa, defesos, defeses; and likewise for dependre, despendre, encendre, entendre, estendre, fendre, ofendre, prendre (with aprendre, comprendre, etc.), pretendre, romandre, suspendre; fondre(with confondre, difondre): fos, fosa, fosos, foses; likewise tondre. (Fondre also has an alternative irregular participle fus.);
(ii) verb stems ending in -t, all the examples being compounds of -metre (admetre, cometre, emetre, ometre, permetre, prometre, trametre, etc.): admès, admesa, admesos, admeses, etc.;
(iii) verb stems ending in -m: imprimir (sole example, and imprimir is otherwise regular IIIa): imprès, impresa, impresos, impreses;
(iv) two verbs only with alternating stems in vowel/[w]/[g]: cloure (with compounds concloure, descloure, incloure, etc.): clos, closa, closos, closes; raure: ras, rasa, rasos, rases (alongside regular participle ragut);
(v) two only of the verb stems ending in -ny: atènyer: atès, atesa, atesos, ateses; empènyer: empès, empesa, empesos, empeses.
In the remaining cases, irregular participles have /+t/ (-t):
(vi) after vowel-final stems: coure (co-/cou-/cog-): cuit, cuita, cuits, cuites (also regular cogut); fer: fet, feta, e
tc.; dir: dit, dita, etc.; dur: dut, duta, etc. (in Bal. duit, duita, etc.); traure/treure: tret, treta, etc.;
(vii) after -r (all examples are from Conjugation III): if -r is preceded by a consonant (C), then -Cr + t becomes -Cert; otherwise -t follows the -r of the stem. Thus from cobrir: cobert, coberta, etc.; obrir: obert, oberta, etc.; sofrir: sofert, soferta, etc. (also regular sofrit, sofrida etc.); from oferir: ofert, oferta, etc. (also regular oferit, oferida etc.); morir: mort, morta, etc.;
(viii) after -l: if -l is preceded by a consonant, then -Cl + t becomes -Clert (all examples are from Conjugation III); otherwise -t follows the -l of the stem. Thus from complir: complert, complerta, etc.; establir: establert, establerta, etc.; omplir: omplert, omplerta, etc.; reblir: reblert, reblerta, etc.; suplir: suplert, suplerta, etc.(for all of these five verbs,regular participles in -it, -ida are also in use).From resoldre (likewise absoldre, dissoldre, etc.): resolt, resolta, etc.; moldre: mòlt, mòlta, etc.;
(ix) stems in -ny in verbs not previously mentioned: estrènyer (similarly constrènyer, restrènyer): estret, estreta, etc.;
(x) stems in -v: escriure (with compounds inscriure, prescriure, transcriure, etc.): escrit, escrita, etc.;
(xi) stems in -j-: from fregir and fugir Balearic has participles frit, frita, and fuit, fuita, respectively. In other varieties these verbs have regular participles fregit, fregida, and fugit, fugida.
16.5.4 PERSON/NUMBER ENDINGS
The polite 2sg. pronoun vostè is always associated with 3sg. verb forms (likewise the 2pl. vostès with 3pl. verb forms). The polite 2sg. vós is associated with 2pl. forms (see 11.1–3).
Person/number endings are always the last element of a verbal inflection. Except in the 2sg. imperative, the 2sg. is marked with -s; the 1pl. is always marked with -m, the 2pl. with consonantal -u (except for a small group of irregular verbs which, in Balearic only, have a form in -is), and the 3pl. with -n.
