by Max Wheeler
Què passa al carrer? What’s going on in the street?
Què llegeixes? What are you reading?
Observe that qui and què are pronouns and never adjectives. For this reason què? translates English ‘what?’ only when no noun follows. Adjectival ‘what?’ involves a construction with quin (see 27.1.3.4):
De quin color és la teva jaqueta ?*De què color és la teva jaqueta? What colour is your jacket?
Α quina edat vas acabar els estudis? At what age did you complete your education?
27.1.3.2 Adverbial interrogatives
The adverbial interrogative words in Catalan are quan? ‘when?’, on? ‘where?’ (frequently reinforced with a ‘to’ or de ‘from’: a on? ‘where?’/‘whither?’, d’on? ‘where?’/‘whence?’), com? ‘how?’ and per què? ‘why?’:
Quan has arribat? When did you arrive?
On és en Miquel? Where is Miquel?
D’on venim i a on anem? Where have we come from and where are we going?
Com pot ser això? How can this be?
Per què la gent s’avorreix tant? Why do people get so bored?
Per què? ‘why?’ must not be confused with perquè ‘because’:
-Per què. has vingut? –Perquè volia veure’t.
‘Why did you come?’ ‘Because I wanted to see you.‘
27.1.3.3 Quant?
Quantitative quant? can function as an interrogative adjective, pronoun, or adverb. In the former case agreement with the noun covers the English distinction between count and non-count nouns ‘how much?’/‘how many?’; as an adverb it is invariable:
Quants (de) socis han vingut? How many members have turned up?
Quanta (d’)aigua hi ha dins l’aljub? How much water is there in the cistern?
Quant (de) formatge ens resta? How much cheese do we have left?
Quant han treballat avui? How much have they worked today?
(On optional de with quant as an adjective, see 8.2.1.)
Quant is frequently a pronoun (invariable) in questions like:
Quant val?/Quant costa? What does it cost?/How much is it?
Quant fa que m’esperes? How long have you been waiting for me for?
Quant hi ha d’aquí a Manresa? How far is it from here to Manresa?
(Note that què can also be used with this meaning; thus, as alternatives to the preceding three examples: Què val?, Què fa que m’esperes?, Què hi ha d’aquí a Manresa?) If the noun governed by quant is known and unexpressed, it can be referred to by pronominal en (see 12.6v) in a partitive function. When this occurs quant remains an adjective and, thus, agrees in gender and number with the underlying noun:
Quants (de) pans hi ha?How many loaves are there? → Quants n’hi ha?How many are there?
Quanta (de) ginebra has begut?How much gin did you drink? → Quanta n’has beguda?How much did you drink?
27.1.3.4 Quin? ‘which?’ and ‘what?’
The adjective quin has the basic meaning of ‘which?’ or ‘which one(s)?’ It translates both ‘which?’ and the adjectival uses of ‘what?’, with gender and number agreement always necessary:
Quin col·lega t’ha dit això? Which colleague told you that?
Quins colors t’agraden més? Which colours do you like best?
Quina impressió t’ha fet? What impression did it make on you?
Quins són els passos que ara hauríem de prendre? What are the steps we ought to take now?
As in the last example, quin may be separated from the noun to which it refers; it may refer to a noun already present in the speaker’s/hearer’s mind:
De tots els llibres que has llegit, quin em recomanaries?
Of all the books you have read, which would you recommend to me?
Té: quina vols? (e.g. d’aquestes flors)
Here you are: which one (e.g. of these flowers) do you want?
Té: quin vols? (e.g. d’aquests gelats)
Here you are: which one (e.g. of these ice creams) do you want?
Note how ‘what time?’ is translated in Quina hora és? ‘What time is it?’ (lit. Which hour is it?). For ‘What is your name?’ and ‘What date is it?’ Quin és el teu nom? and Quina data és? are possible, but the colloquial preference is for Com et dius? and A quants som? respectively. Observe also the behaviour of quin? ‘what?’ = ‘which of a set?’ and què? ‘what (is the nature of)?’ contrasted in Quin és el teu problema? ‘What’s your problem?’ and Què és aquesta vida? ‘What is this life?’
27.1.3.5 Prepositions with wh-words
The introductory question words covered in 27.1.3.1–4 above can be preceded by a preposition to form an an interrogative prepositional phrase. English equivalents of such constructions frequently involve positioning the preposition at the end of the clause (an important aspect of word order in questions like that covered in 27.1.1). In Catalan a preposition and the wh-word it governs can never be separated in this way.
A favor de qui penses votar? Who do you intend to vote for?
Α quina plana et refereixes? Which page are you referring to?
Amb què l’hauríem d’adobar? What ought we to mend it with?
Contra quanta gent us heu barallat? How many people have you fallen out with?
Damunt què s’aguanten les columnes? What do the columns stand upon?
De què tracta aquest programa? What is this programme about?
De qui paries? Who are you talking about?
De quantes persones estem parlant? How many people are we talking about?
De quina mida és aquesta camisa? What size is this shirt?
Des de quan saps conduir? How long have you been able to drive? (lit. Since when do you know how to drive?)
Des d’on vénen els corredors? Where are the runners coming from? (i.e. Where did they set out from?)
Fins on arriba el tren de les dotze? How far does the 12 o’clock train go? (lit. Up to where …?)
Per quant m’ho vens? How much will you sell it me for?
Per a quan espera el nen? When is she expecting her baby?
Observe that per què? ‘why’ (already a prepositional phrase) is never preceded by a preposition, nor is com? ‘how’, except in the (non-standard) phrase A com va? ‘What price is it (by weight)?’: A com va el peix? = A quant va el peix? ‘How much (by weight) is the fish?’
27.1.3.6 Word order in wh-questions
In wh- (partial) questions the wh-phrase is always placed before the verb. Except when the wh-phrase is itself the subject of the sentence (qui or a noun phrase beginning with quin or quant), the subject has to come after the verb phrase (see Chapter 36). That is, in wh-questions, the word order template is wh-word + Verb + (Object) + (Subject).
Quan ha vingut en Pere? *Quan en Pere ha vingut? When did Pere come?
Com ha fet la paret el paleta? *Com el paleta ha fet la paret? How did the bricklayer build the wall?
On ha anat la mare? *On la mare ha anat? Where has mother gone?
(In these cases the subject is often separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma: Quan ha vingut, en Pere? etc.) But compare the following where the wh-phrase is the sentence subject:
Qui ha vingut avui? *Ha vingut qui avui? Who has come today?
(The inversion Ha vingut qui? is possible in an echo question, when the question echoes directly a previous sentence; in the above example, this would have the sense of ‘Who did you say has come?’ In this case the comma seems to be compulsory: Ha vingut qui, avui?)
Quin equip ha jugat més partits? *Ha jugat més partits quin equip?
Which team has played more games?
Quants policies han calgut per arrestar-lo? *Han calgut quants policies per Arrestar-lo?
How many policemen did it take to arrest him?
(Han calgut quants policies per arrestar-lo? is quite all right, of course, as an echo question: ‘How many policemen did you say it took to arrest him?’)
In a left-detachment construction (36.4), naturally, a phrase, including a subject, may appear
to the left of a wh-word.
En Pere i la Maria fa temps que no vénen. En Pere, quan va venir per darrera vegada?
Pere and Maria haven’t been here for a while. When was the last time Pere came?
Note that, as in English, if there is more than one wh-word in the same sentence, only one appears before the verb:
Qui va dir què? Who said what?
27.1.3.7 Emphasis in questions
Equivalent to English ‘who the devil/hell … ?’, ‘what the devil/hell … ?’ is Catalan use of diables and diantre in similar contexts:
Què diantre passa aquí? What the devil is going on here?
Qui diables ha escrit això? Who the hell has written this?
At a more vulgar level altogether is the reinforcement of wh-question words by impolite or taboo words like collons, cony, punyetes, putes, all of which have English approximate equivalents in the ripest swearwords:
Què punyetes mires? What the flaming hell are you looking at?
On putes és en Miquel? Where the fuck is Miquel?
Per quiè collons això sempre em passa a mi? Why does this always happen to me, for fuck’s sake?
Corn cony ha passat I’accident? How the bloody hell did the accident happen?
27.1.3.8 Indirect wh- (partial) questions
Indirect wh-questions display the same structure as the corresponding direct questions, with the introductory question word linking the subordinate clause to the main one. Some examples below show in parentheses the notionally related direct question.
No sabia qui havia vingut, (cf. Qui ha vingut?)
I didn’t know who had come.
Pregunta-li què passa. (cf. Què passa?)
Ask her what is going on.
Digues quin dia em vindràs a veure. (cf. Quin dia em vindràs a veure?)
Say which day you will come to see me.
El cartell posava a quant anaven els productes diversos. (cf. A quant anaven els productes diversos?)
The poster showed the selling prices of the various products.
Ens hauries d’explicar com s’arregla i per a quan ha d’estar arreglat.
You ought to tell us how it can be sorted out and when it is to be sorted out by.
No et dirà pas de què es queixa.
He won’t tell you what he isdid that man say complaining about.
Saps amb quines eines treballaven?
Do you know what tools they used to work with?
Que + interrogative word
After the verbs dir ‘say’, ‘tell’ and preguntar/demanar ‘ask’, a question word may optionally (and informally) be preceded by que:
I llavors li vaig dir (que) què es pensava. And then I asked him what the idea was.
M’han preguntat (que) si ho farem. They’ve asked me if we’ll do it.
The presence of que is required when the indirect question is given as a discrete unit referring back to something previously said:
–Què t’ha dit aquell? –Doncs, que si li faríem un descompte.
‘What did that man say to you?’ (He asked) ‘Whether we would give him a discount.’
I vinga empipar-me amb preguntes estúpides: que en quin idioma s’havia de redactar el treball, que si s’havia d’escriure a màquina, que quan s’havia d’entregar.
And then he came out with all these stupid questions: what language did the essay have to be written in, did it have to be typed, when did it have to be handed in.
M’intrigava la pregunta que m’havia fet, que si coneixia un tal Gutiérrez.
I was intrigued by the question she had asked me, (about) whether I knew a certain Gutiérrez.
27.1.3.9 Pseudo-relatives as indirect questions
Other formulations of indirect questions involve pseudo-relative constructions (31.10iii). In cases like the following where there is not literally an indirect question, that is, no speech act of questioning is reported, Catalan prefers the pseudo-relative:
No creuràs els maldecaps que (= quants maldecaps) això ens ha provocat.
You won’t believe the headaches this has caused us./… how many headaches …
Α veure si pots descobrir el dia que (= quin dia) va passar.
I wonder if you can discover on which day it happened.
Et faré una llista dels llibres que (= de quins llibres) has de consultar.
I’ll make you a list of which books you need to consult.
Relative clauses with the neuter article el as antecedent (see 9.2.2) are common in this type of construction:
Volia saber el que deia (= què deia).
I wanted to know what she was saying.
No recordo el que (= què) em van dir.
I don’t remember what they told me.
Imagina’t el que (= si, com) deu patir.
Just imagine how much she must be suffering.
Vejam si endevines el que (= quant) val.
Let’s see if you can guess what it’s worth.
Poc et penses el que estaran contents (= com estaran de contents) els seus pares.
You just don’t know how pleased her parents will be.
(See below on com … de and 27.2.3 on the intensifying article.)
The same pattern is, in fact, found very widely when an indirect question is literally involved. So one might say that idiomatic Catalan tends to avoid wh-words in indirect questions as far as possible, and to seek an alternative construction involving a relative clause. The Catalan alternatives have typically only a single idiomatic English equivalent:
Digue’m quina part de la història trobes menys versemblant. = Digue’m la part de la història que trobes menys versemblant.
Tell me which part of the story you find least plausible.
The structure with que is not a true relative, but rather a particular type of clause which is the outcome of an intensifying use of the article, conveying now one of the functions of the interrogative adjective:
Pregunta’ls quins llibres han llegit. = Pregunta’ls els llibres que han llegit.
Ask them which books they have read.
Ignor a quines ciutats d’Europa tenen agències. = Ignor les ciutats d’Europa en què tenen agències.
I don’t know which European cities they have agencies in.
Sempre contava quanta de fam va passar durant la guerra. = Sempre contava la fam que va passar durant la guerra.
She always used to relate how hungry she was during the war.
When the interrogative adjective is introduced by a preposition, this preposition will go before the relative pronoun in the idiomatic alternative structure.
Ignoro per quines raons va absentar-se de la reunió. = Ignoro les raons per les quals va absentar-se de la reunió.
I don’t know the reasons why she failed to attend the meeting.
Confessa de quants companys has abusat. = Confessa els companys dels quals has abusat.
Own up to how many friends you have abused.
In less careful expression, however, this formally correct order is not respected:
(non-standard) Confessa dels companys que has abusat.
Com… de
Indirect questions involving ‘how?’ as a degree modifier clearly show the relationship between interrogative and exclamative constructions (see 27.2.2). An alternative to com (de) introducing an adjective is the periphrasis fins a quin punt (or fins on) ‘to what extent’:
Ningú no sap com és (de) malèvola aquella dona.
Nobody knows how malicious that woman is.
Cal reconèixer fins a quin punt és delicada la situació.
It must be recognised how delicate the situation is.
Colloquially the neuter article el (non-standard lo, see 9.2) occurs directly before the adjective in this construction (non-standard Poc et penses el/lo complicat que és aquest tema ‘You don’t appreciate how complicated this matter is’), but normative grammarians prefer a construction with com … de.
Ningú no comprèn com és de perillosa aquella ruta.
<
br /> Nobody understands how dangerous that route is.
27.2 EXCLAMATION
27.2.1 EXCLAMATORY INTONATION
The simplest form of exclamation is through intonation, where use of the exclamation mark indicates this oral feature and expressive function:
Els nostres han guanyat el partit! Our side has won the game!
Demà no hi ha escola! There’s no school tomorrow!
As with the inverted question mark (see 27.1.1.1), the Institut d’Estudis Catalans also repudiates use of inverted ¡ to mark the beginning of an exclamation. This punctuation mark is still found with some frequency in printed texts.
27.2.2 EXCLAMATIONS USING WH-WORDS
27.2.2.1 Whole sentence exclamations
Exclamations can be introduced by an interrogative word (especially que, com, and quant):
Com m’agraden els canelons!
How I love cannelloni!
Quantes paredetes (que) hi ha avui al mercat!
What a lot of stalls there are in the market today!
Que bé (que) cantes!
How well you sing!
Note the optional use of que to introduce the second part of this type of exclamation.
27.2.2.2 Exclamatory phrases
(i) Quantity
For these exclamations, where no main verb is present, que and quant are used, the latter followed optionally by de:
Que flors! = Quantes (de) flors! What a lot of flowers!
