by Max Wheeler
Un llibre ajuda a triomfar.
A book helps (you) to succeed.
Permet d’atènyer la categoria de sublims.
It allows (you/people) to attain the category of the sublime.
La vam deixar fer.
We allowed it (f.) to be done. (lit. We allowed to do it.)
25.6 OTHER ARGUMENTS
As we have already mentioned, a few verbs take as an argument a nominal or adjectival complement which is not an object. The most important of these, the copular verbs ésser/ser and estar, are treated in Chapter 30. Others are, for example, aparèixer ‘appear’, continuar ‘continue’, creure’s ‘believe oneself’, esdevenir ‘become’, fer-se ‘become’, manifestar-se ‘show oneself’, mostrar-se ‘show oneself’, parèixer ‘seem’, posar-se + adjective ‘become’, quedar(-se) ‘remain’, restar ‘remain’, romandre ‘remain’, seguir ‘continue’, semblar ‘seem’, ‘look’, tornar-se ‘become’.
La maniobra apareixia clara.
The manoeuvre appeared clear.
Tots ells continuen/segueixen decidits a fer-ho.
All of them continue to be determined to do so.
Et creus l’àrbitre?
Do you think you’re the referee? (lit. Do you believe yourself the referee?)
En dos anys es va fer advocat.
In two years he became a lawyer. (lit…. made himself…)
The representation of nominal and adjectival complements by clitic pronouns is a complex matter, with considerable variation between native speakers about which pronoun to choose (see 12.5–12.7).
A few verbs, such as anar ‘go’, venir ‘come’, posar ‘put’, ficar ‘put in’, treure/traure ‘take out/off’, afegir ‘add’, are normally used with a locative complement. When this denotes a source or ‘place from which’ the clitic pronoun used is en; otherwise the locative phrase is represented by hi.
No et fiquis els dits a la boca. Don’t put your fingers in your mouth.
N’han tret tots els préssecs. They have taken all the peaches out.
Anem-hi? Shall we go (there)?
Many verbs require prepositional phrase complements. As with comparable verbs in English, the required preposition has to be specified lexically. Some examples are atenir-se a ‘abide by’, ‘keep to’, fiar-se de ‘trust’, pensar en ‘think about’, ‘keep in mind’, recordar-se de ‘remember’, casar-se amb ‘marry’. The clitic en corresponds to prepositional complements with the preposition de; the clitic hi corresponds to all other types of prepositional complement:
No me’n fio.
I don’t trust him/her/it/them/you.
Se’n recordaran?
Will they remember him/her/it/them/me/us/you?
Va dir que hi pensaria.
He said he would think about him/her/it/them/me/us/you.
Van prometre que s’atindrien a les vostres instruccions, i s’hi van atenir.
They promised they would abide by your instructions, and they did abide by them.
25.7 ADJUNCTS
Adverbial or prepositional phrase adjuncts, expressing place, time, manner, cause, etc., can be part of sentences of any type. Since, by definition, adjuncts are not required elements, and they do not have a special place in the sentence order (though there are more or less normal positions, see Chapter 36), their surface absence from a sentence does not need to be marked by a clitic element. Some types may be represented anaphorically by clitic pronouns, though. Commonly locative expressions are represented in this way (hi for situation or movement towards ‘there’/‘thither’, ‘here’/‘hither’, en for source ‘thence’/‘hence’, 12.6–12.7). Sometimes manner expressions are represented by hi ‘thus’; occasionally time expressions are represented by hi ‘then’; other adjuncts cannot be represented by a clitic pronoun:
Locative
També hem pujat al castell de Begur … S’hi veu tot el Baix Empordà … També hi hem vist magnífiques nuvolades.
We have also been up to Begur castle … You can see (there) all of the Baix Empordà … We have also seen wonderful cloudscapes there.
Va voler pujar al terrat. Hi passava aire i es veien molts terrats.
She wanted to go up to the roof. There was a breeze there and you could see a lot of roofs.
Voltà totes les festes majors per recordar-hi una mica les diades de la seva adolescència, per menjar-hi xocolata i truites …, per beure-hi sidra, per fer juguesques als partits de pilota, per contemplar com la gent ballava.
He went round all the fairs to remind him a little (at them) of the days of his adolescence, to eat chocolate and omelettes (there) …, to drink cider (there), to place bets on the ball games, to observe how people danced.
Manner
On vas, amb aquesta cara tan pintada? Que hi vas sempre?
Where are you going, with your face all painted? (Or) is that how you always go?
Time
Vine sempre abans de dinar; però vine-hi sempre, eh!
Always come before lunch; always come (before) then!
Ahir vam comprar les sabates, però no vam comprar el jersei.
Yesterday we bought the shoes, but we didn’t buy the sweater (then).
Others
Em van regalar una bicicleta per l’èxit dels exàmens; jo volia que em regalessin uns esquís.
They gave me a bicycle for my exam results; I wanted them to give me skis (for the results).
Hi ha fenòmens no documentats; què cal fer?
There are unrecorded phenomena; what should be done (about them)?
26 NEGATION
26.1 FORMS OF NEGATION
26.1.2 NO NOT’
The way to negate a positive sentence in Catalan is with the particle no. No must precede the verb or the pronominal clitics placed immediately before the verb:
La noia baixa les escales. → La noia no baixa les escales.
The girl is coming down the stairs. → The girl is not coming down the stairs.
Li han regalat un cotxe vermell. → No li han regalat un cotxe vermell.
They have given her a red car. → They have not given her a red car.
Observe that no auxiliary verb (corresponding to English ‘do’) is needed in Catalan when turning a positive sentence into a negative one:
M’agrada el futbol, però el tenis no em diu res.
I like football, but tennis does not do anything for me.
26.1.2 NI ‘NOT …EITHER/OR’/‘NEITHER/NOR’
A construction similar to English ones involving ‘not …(either) … or’ occurs in Catalan using ni as a copulative conjunction placed between two elements under negation (15.1.2). This function is explained by the fact that ni is a compound of no + i:
Aquell dia no vaig dinar ni sopar.
That day I didn’t have lunch or dinner.
No m’has instruït ni m’has convençut.
You have not taught me anything, nor have you convinced me.
Ni … ni … corresponds to English ‘neither … nor …’ and links both phrases and clauses:
Ni has escrit ni has telefonat.
You neither wrote nor telephoned.
No cal que vinguin ni demà ni mai.
There’s no need for them to come either tomorrow or ever.
Ni ho he fet jo ni hi ha qui s’ho pugui creure.
Neither did I do it nor is there anyone who could think that I did.
Note how ni replaces no in this construction before the first verb. However, when the element introduced by ni is a sentence (even if elliptical as in the second example below), it is possible to reinforce the negation in formal speech by adding no:
Tu no has vingut ni ells no m’han telefonat.
(or: Ni has vingut tu ni ells m’han telefonat.)
You did not come nor did they phone me, either.
Ni la mare ni el pare no se n’havien adonat.
(or: Ni la mare ni el pare se n’havien adonat.)
Neither mother nor father had realized.
There
is an important restriction to this formal use: ni cannot directly precede no:
Ni he llegit aquell llibre ni m’interessa.
*Ni he llegit aquell llibre ni no m’interessa.
I have neither read that book nor am I interested in it.
For ni and ni tan sols ‘not even’, see 15.1.6 and 26.1.6.
26.1.3 SENSE ’WITHOUT’
Like English ‘without’, sense is the only other particle which can give a (subordinate) clause a negative meaning:
Ho farem sense dir res a ningú. (= Ho farem i no direm res a ningú.)
We’ll do it without saying anything to anybody. (= We’ll do it and will not say anything to anybody.)
Va comprar el cotxe sense demanar quant consumia. (= Va comprar el cotxe i no va demanar quant consumia.)
She bought the car without asking about its fuel consumption. (= She bought the car and did not ask about its fuel consumption.)
Observe that in the examples above sense is followed by an infinitive whose subject is that of the main clause. To introduce a negative subordinate clause with a different subject, sense is followed by que (see Chapter 19 for the use of subjunctive):
Ho farem sense que ningú se n’adoni.
We’ll do it without anyone realizing.
Van comprar el cotxe sense que els diguessin quant consumia.
They bought the car without being told what the fuel consumption was.
Sense is an adverb as well as a preposition and conjunction; see 11.5.2iii, 14.2.1. Sense gives negative force to negative polarity words like res, gens, ningú, mai, enlloc, cap (see 26.1.5).
T’escric sense cap motiu especial.
I am writing to you for no (lit. = without any) special reason.
Sense ningú que guardi la porta és fàcil d’esmunyir-s’hi.
Without anybody guarding the gate it’s easy to slip through.
Sense haver vingut mai a Catalunya, parla molt bé el català.
Without ever having come to Catalonia, she speaks Catalan very well.
Van fer el viatge sense aturar-se enlloc.
They did the journey without stopping anywhere.
Sense conveys the opposite meaning of amb. In informal speech it is possible to hear the curious amb sense as the equivalent of sense:
Vols aigua amb gas o sense?
(informal) Vols aigua amb gas o amb sense?
Do you want sparkling or still mineral water?
26.1.4 SINÓ BUT’
Sinó is an adversative conjunction ‘but’ (for fuller discussion see 15.1.5.2) which is only used after a negative, ‘not A … but B’:
No han triat pernil, sinó formatge.
They didn’t choose ham but cheese.
The contrast between sinó ‘but’ and si no ‘if not’ is discussed at 15.3i.
26.1.5 NEGATIVE POLARITY ITEMS
The central framework of the system of negation in Catalan is more complex and nuanced than, say, Spanish or French. This complexity derives principally from the function of the elements called negative polarity items and their interaction with no. These items are: cap ‘any one’/‘not one’/‘no’, enlloc ‘anywhere’/‘nowhere’, gaire ‘(not) much/many’, gens ‘(not) any (at all)’, mai ‘ever’/‘never’, ningú ‘anybody’/‘nobody’, ningun(a) ‘any’/‘no’ (Val.), pus (used in the Balearic Islands only) ‘any more’/‘no more’, res ‘anything’/‘nothing’. (The use of several of these is covered in Chapter 8 and in 13.6.) The negative sense of these items can be seen in elliptical sentences like the answers in the following question-answer pairs:
–Quants de cotxes tens? –Cap.
‘How many cars have you got?’ ‘None’.
–A on t’agradaria anar de viatge enguany? –Enlloc.
‘Where would you like to go travelling this year?’ ‘Nowhere.’
–T’agraden gaire les ostres? –Gens.
‘Do you like oysters?’ ‘Not at all.’
–Quants de cops has anat a Nova York? –Mai.
‘How many times have you been to New York?’ ‘Never.’
–Qui ha vingut a veure’t avui? –Ningú.
‘Who has been to see you today?’ ‘Nobody.’
–Què regalaràs al teu amic per a Nadal? –Res.
‘What will you give your friend for Christmas?’ ‘Nothing.’
Conventionally the expression en ma/ta/sa vida ‘never in my/your/his/her/their life’ is included in this set:
–Tu has insultat alguna vegada en Joan? –En ma vida.
‘Have you ever insulted Joan?’ ‘Never (in my whole life).’
However, in questions, conditional sentences, and in the standard of comparisons all these items produce a non-negative meaning (just as the generally corresponding English ‘any’ and ‘ever’ do):
M’has comprat cap regal?
Have you bought me any presents?
Que et molesto gens, si fumo?
Do you mind at all if I smoke?
No sé si mai havia vist res de comparable.
I don’t know if I had ever seen anything comparable.
Que ha vingut ningú a demanar per mi?
Has anybody come asking for me?
Volia res?
Were you wanting something? (= Was there anything I can do for you?)
No sé si li agrada gaire la sopa.
I don’t know if he likes the soup (very) much.
Si tens gens de paciència …
If you have any patience at all…
Demana-li si en vol pus, d’aquest pastís.
Ask her if she wants any more of this pie.
M’agradaria de saber si en sa vida ha llegit cap llibre.
I’d like to know if she has (ever) read a (single) book in her life.
Aquells dies patien més fred que mai.
Those days they suffered the cold worse than ever.
Estava més ben preparada que ningú.
She was better qualified than anyone (else).
For the most part, then, these items only have a negative sense when the sentence is negated by other means (no, ni, or sense or a word with an inherently negative sense like dubtar ‘doubt’, negar ‘deny’).
The simple pattern of negation involving negative polarity items can be described as no (ni, sense) + verb + polarity item:
No he vist cap de les seves pel·lícules.
I haven’t seen any film by her.
Ell i jo no havíem coincidit enlloc abans.
He and I had never met anywhere before.
No ens queda gens de pa.
We’ve no bread left at all.
La teva mare no ha vingut mai a veure’t.
Your mother has never come to see you.
No m’agrada res del que diuen.
I don’t like anything of what they say.
Ni ha mirat això ni s’ha pensat veure-ho en sa vida.
He hasn’t looked at that nor does he intend to look at it for as long as he lives.
Van entrar a la sala sense fer gaire soroll.
They went into the room without making much noise.
El nin no vol pus sopa.
The lad doesn’t want any more soup.
Dubto que ens hagin vist junts enlloc.
I doubt whether they have seen us anywhere together.
Observe that more than one negative particle may follow no:
No deien mai res a ningú.
They never said anything to anyone.
Jo encara no he revelat enlloc cap d’aquells secrets.
I still haven’t revealed any of those secrets anywhere.
When the negative polarity item precedes the verb, some vacillation is observed over whether no appears or not. In this context, Catalan has two systems of negation applying: a formal system in which the presence of a complementary no in the sentence is obligatory, and a less formal system in which the preverbal negative polarity item suffices to negate the whole sentence:
Formal system:
Mai no hauria di
t que t’agradés un menjar tan picant.
I would never have said that you would like such spicy food.
Enlloc del món no trobaríeu una terra tan fèrtil com aquesta.
Nowhere on earth would you find soil as fertile as this.
Ningú no diu beneitures d’aquest calibre.
Nobody comes out with idiotic things of that calibre.
Cap idea teva no m’agrada.
None of your ideas appeals to me.
Non-formal system:
Mai hauria dit que t’agradés un menjar tan picant.
Enlloc del món trobaríeu una terra tan fèrtil com aquesta.
Ningú diu beneitures d’aquest calibre.
Cap idea teva m’agrada.
Although normative authorities maintain preference for the first system, everyday usage in most dialects favours the second.
The situation can be related to the optional presence of no in elliptical utterances like:
–Què t’ha dit? –(No) res. ‘What did she say to you?’ ‘Nothing.’
–T’ha agradat? –(No) gens. ‘Did you like it?’ ‘Not at all.’
26.1.6 OTHER OBSERVATIONS ON NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
