Catalan
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Que gent! = Quanta (de) gent! What a lot of people!
Another exclamatory expression with the same sense is quina (mà) de:
Quants (d’) espectadors! = Quina (mà) d’espectadors!
What a lot of spectators!
Quanta pluja! = Quina (mà) de pluja!
How it’s raining!/How it rained!
(ii) Quality
Objects or persons
Exclamations stressing the quality of objects or persons are introduced by quin. The quality emphasized follows més or tan:
Quin home més fort! = Quin home tan fort! What a strong man!
Quina casa més neta! = Quina casa tan neta! What a clean house!
Quality exclamations are possible, as in English, with no mention of the stressed quality: Quin home! ‘What a man!’, Quines flors! ‘What flowers!’, Quina casa! ‘What a house!’ Where a main verb follows it is optionally introduced by que:
Quines flors més boniques (que) han trobat! = Quines flors tan boniques (que) han trobat!
What pretty flowers they have found!
Adverbs and adjectives
The object of exclamation may be not a thing or a person but the quality or state expressed by an adjective or adverb: Que interessant! ‘How interesting!’ As with nouns que optionally introduces a following main clause when present.
Adjectives:
Que blanca (que) t’ha quedat la roba!
How white your washing has turned out!
Que malalt (que) em trobo!
How ill I feel!
Adverbs:
Que barroerament (que) parla aquell! How coarsely that man talks!
Que lluny (que) ha arribat la notícia! How far the news has travelled!
Observe that in all these sentences the subject, when it appears, is placed after the verb and never before it:
*Que lluny (que) la notícia ha arribat!
Note an alternative structure for an adjective, with ‘be’:
Que n’era, de dolent! How bad it was!/It was awful, wasn’t it?
Que n’és, de pesat, aquest! What a bore that guy is!
Que en som, de llestos! How clever we are!
Another way to stress qualities is with com … de ‘so’, still using examples from the set above:
Que blanca (que) t’ha quedat la roba! = Com t’ha quedat de blanca la roba! = Com t’ha quedat la roba de blanca!
Que malalt (que) em trobo! = Com em trobo de malalt!
Que barroerament (que) parla! = Com parla de barroerament!
Notice, though, that in this new structure word order is different: now it is verb + de + adverb/adjective + subject. Note also that the com de construction (but not que) can be used to form an indirect exclamation (see 27.1.3.8 above):
T’admiraràs com és d’interessant aquest llibre.
You’ll be amazed how interesting this book is.
Fixa’t com és d’espavilat aquest noi.
Just see how clever this boy is.
27.2.3 INTENSIFYING’ ARTICLE IN EXCLAMATIONS
The same intensifying use of the definite article used in the idiomatic alternative to indirect wh-questions (27.1.3.9) can be found in exclamative sentences completed with a relative clause. English allows a similar alternative in many instances, but the Catalan alternative without the wh-word is more frequent and more idiomatic than the English equivalent.
Quanta (de) llum que hi ha aquí dins! = La llum que hi ha aquí dins!
How bright it is in here!
Quin pànic que va causar! = El pànic que va causar!
What panic it caused! = The panic it caused!
Quina cara que feia! = La cara que feia!
What a face she put on! = The face she put on!
Són d’admirar les vegades que ha superat una derrota.
What’s remarkable is the (number of) times she has overcome a setback.
Ningú no creu els dies que ha estat treballant en això.
No one can believe how many days he has been working on this.
Use of the neuter article el before an adjective or adverb in similar exclamations is, however, a different matter. Colloquial usage resorts to an intensifying use of (non-standard) lo in utterances like:
(non-standard) M’admira lo grosses que són aquestes flors.
I’m amazed at how big these flowers are.
(non-standard) Amb lo petita que és i ja parla dues llengües!
So young and yet she already speaks two languages!
(non-standard) Lo bé que anava el nostre primer cotxe!
How well our first car used to go!
The only standard means of achieving this intensification of an adjective/ adverb is with the formula com + verb + de + adjective/adverb:
M’admira com són de grosses aquestes flors.
Com és de petita i ja parla dues llengües!
Com anava de bé el nostre primer cotxe!
27.2.4 DESIDERATIVE SENTENCES
(i) Expressing positive wishes
Tant de bo que is used to express wishes in exclamatory form. The verb will be in the present subjunctive if the wish can be achieved and in the imperfect subjunctive if the wish is completely impossible (see 19.6):
Tant de bo que vinguis a dinar demà.
How nice it would be if you could come to lunch tomorrow.
Tant de bo que la primavera durés tot l’any.
I wish springtime lasted all year.
To express not a wish but satisfaction for something that has already come about, (tanta) sort que, or gràcies a Déu que, forms the exclamation (with the verb in the indicative):
(Tanta) sort que m’ho vares dir. It’s a good job you told me!
Gràcies a Déu que no us heu fet mal! What a relief that you weren’t injured!
(ii) Expressing negative wishes (curses)
Expressions of negative wish have the verb in the subjunctive, with the tense (as for tant de bo … above) also depending on the possibilities of realization. The structure here is with mal directly introducing a clause without que:
Mal trobis el càstig de les teves accions. You ought to get your just desserts.
Mal estiguéssiu tan malament com jo. You ought to suffer like I do.
27.2.5 OTHER RELATED AND MISCELLANEOUS EXCLAMATIONS
Ja t’està bé! It serves you right!
S’ho ha ben buscat! It serves him right! (He had it coming to him.)
Ja els està bé per ser tan golafres! It serves them right for being so greedy!
Ja me la pagaràs, aquesta! I’ll get you for that!
Ja me les pagaràs! I’ll get you for that!
Exclamations, naturally, are frequently associated with interjections (see Chapter 24):
Home! Quina sorpresa! Gosh! What a surprise!
Carai, tu! Que pesat que t’estàs posant! Christ! How annoying you’re getting!
Exclamations may take the form of set expressions or popular sayings:
Hem begut oli!
We’ve done it now! (said when a difficult situation becomes worse)
Embolica que fa fort!
Would you believe it! (said when yet another complication is added to an already seemingly impossible situation)
28 IMPERATIVE UTTERANCES
This chapter deals with the expression, in main clauses, of instructions, offers, and requests, addressed to the hearer/recipient. That is, we are essentially concerned here with second-person requests. However, not only morphological second-person verb forms are involved. The first-person plural may include the hearer also, as in Vegem-ho ‘Let’s see’. And as mentioned in 11.3, the polite second-person pronouns vostè ‘you (sg.)’ and vostès ‘you (pl.)’ are always associated with morphologically third-person verb forms. In a sense, imperative utterances can be seen as a special case of wishes; these are covered in 19.6.
28.1 POSITIVE IMPERATIVE
For direct utterances, only the second-person singular (tu), positive imperative, has a special form (for details of the forms
, see 16.5.11). All other imperative forms (first-person plural, and vostè(s) third-person singular and third-person plural), and all negative imperatives, make use of the corresponding present subjunctive verb form.
Vine demà i ho veuràs.
Come (second-person singular) tomorrow and you’ll see.
Fica les més antigues al calaix de baix.
Put (second-person singular) the older/oldest ones in the bottom drawer.
Calleu!
Be quiet! (second-person plural)
Mantinguem aquesta distinció.
Let us retain this distinction.
Fes-te cap allà.
Go (second-person singular) over there.
Enviïn-nos-el de seguida.
Send (third-person plural vostès) us it straightaway.
Deixem-ho correr.
Let’s leave it be.
The imperative of polite vós (11.3 and 29.2. li(c)) appears in formal contexts and in instructions:
Consulteu l’índex. Refer to the index.
Empenyeu. Push. (on door)
28.2 NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE
Negative imperative constructions are always built with the subjunctive rather than the imperative form. Observe the following pairs:
Fes aquest exercici.
Do this exercise.
No facis aquest exercici.
Don’t do this exercise.
Digues què t’ha passat.
Say what has happened to you.
No diguis què t’ha passat.
Don’t say what has happened to you.
Pensa les conseqüències dels teus actes.
Think about the consequences of your actions.
No pensis les conseqüències dels teus actes.
Don’t think about the consequences of your actions.
For some verbs the forms of the second-person plural imperative and subjunctive coincide:
Pagueu el que deveu. Pay what you owe.
No pagueu el que deveu. Don’t pay what you owe.
Aneu a saludar aquella senyora. Go and say hello to that lady.
No aneu a saludar aquella senyora. Don’t go and say hello to that lady.
The underlying modal difference in these cases is made clear in Balearic Catalan, where, for example, Conjugation I produces distinct imperative (= indicative) second-person plurals in -au:
Pagueu el que deveu. Pay what you owe.
No pagueu el que deveu. Don’t pay what you owe.
On pas in negative imperatives, see 26.1.8.
28.3 PRONOUN POSITION
Clitic pronouns follow positive imperative verb forms of all types (12.2.2), but precede verb forms in the negative.
Fes-li un petó. Give her a kiss.
Intentem-ho. Let’s try it.
Diguin-los-ho de seguida. Tell them (it) straightaway.
No li facis un petó. Don’t give her a kiss.
No ho intentem. Let’s not try it.
No els ho diguin de seguida. Don’t tell them (it) straightaway.
Subject pronouns, if present, normally follow a positive imperative verb form with its complements:
Carrega les cerveses tu. You load the beers.
Les cartes, escrigui-les vostè. As for the letters, you write them.
In some varieties, such as Balearic, and in the region of Girona, clitic pronouns precede morphologically third-person imperatives, as follows:
Els ho diguin de seguida. Tell them (it) straightaway.
Ses cartes, les escrigui vostè. As for the letters, you write them.
Els me faci vostè. (You) make them for me.
28.4 OTHER EXPRESSIONS FOR ORDERS AND REQUESTS
A positive request may be expressed by a followed by an infinitive; the phrase A veure ‘Let’s see’ is extremely common (as is Veiam–an archaic subjunctive form–with the same meaning).
Tots vosaltres, a recollir la taula. You all clear the table.
A jeure. Time for bed. (lit. to lie)
A polite request is often constructed as a question in the present tense (see 17.1.1):
Em deixes un boli? Will you lend me a biro?
Ens porta un cendrer, si us plau? Will you bring an ashtray, please?
This present tense question is generally the commonest form of request which expresses politeness without self-abasement. One may also use a conditional form in a question, but this is nothing like so common as the English version:
Em deixaries un boli? Would you lend me a biro?
On toned-down requests using que + subjunctive, see 19.6 and 32.2. A yet more deferential request may include a phrase such as fer el favor de ‘do the favour of’/‘be kind enough to’ or tenir la bondat de ‘have the goodness to’:
Em faries el favor de deixar la porta oberta?
Would you be kind enough to leave the door open?
Voleu fer el favor de deixar de fumar?
Would you please stop smoking?
Tingues la bondat de tirar la cortina.
Be so good as to draw the curtain.
However, the use of an imperative verb form in the expression fer el favor itself has the connotation of sarcastic politeness, suggesting irritation:
Fes el favor de callar! Will you shut up?
A request can always be softened by ‘please’: si us plau (lit. if it pleases you) or per favor. Si us plau is often pronounced sisplau; some writers prefer to write sisplau on the grounds that, lacking the original us element, it is more fitting when neither vós nor vosaltres is being used. One may also hear si et plau for second-person singular tu address. These ‘please’ phrases are used somewhat less than their English counterpart. A Catalan request without ‘please’ is not regarded as rude.
29 PASSIVE AND IMPERSONAL SENTENCES
A passive construction is one in which a transitive verb is made to function so that its underlying (logical) object appears as its surface subject, its underlying subject being either absent – in the short passive: La proposta fou rebutjada The proposal was rejected’ or expressed as the agent of the action – in the long passive: La proposta fou rebutjada per les autoritats The proposal was rejected by the authorities’. Compare the active form: Les autoritats rebutjaren la proposta The authorities rejected the proposal’.
Impersonal utterances are those in which the identity of the agent is indeterminate or irrelevant. The short passive has this impersonal function in Catalan as it does in English: Ha estat identificat un dels responsables One of those responsible has been identified’. Then there are various other types of impersonal constructions in Catalan analogous with English: ‘They say that music soothes the soul’, ‘One has to admit that …’, ‘You don’t get much change out of a pound’, as described in 29.3 below. In addition the Catalan reflexive passive or impersonal es (introduced in 23.4) makes impersonal constructions where an English passive would probably be used (No s’ha concedit l’autorització ‘Permission has not been granted’) or, less frequently, where English resorts to some other construction (Es lloguen barques ‘Rowing boats for hire’).
Catalan can be considered, then, to have two options, more or less synonymous and equally valid in principle, for conveying a passive meaning:
Aquesta estàtua fou inaugurada l’any 1900.
approx. = Aquesta estàtua es va inaugurar l’any 1900.
This statue was unveiled in 1900.
In practice, both in the written and in the spoken language, there is a tendency for the construction with impersonal es to be preferred, and this accounts in large measure for the simple observation that the passive with ‘be’ occurs in Catalan with considerably less frequency than it does in English. From the perspective of the foreign learner, the phenomenon can be treated as ‘avoidance of the passive’, stratagems for which are explained in 29.1.4.
29.1 PASSIVE WITH SER/ÉSSER ‘BE’
29.1.1 PASSIVE MORPHOLOGY
The passive is formed from the appropriate tense and person of ser/ésser ‘be’ and the past participle, which agrees
in number and gender with the subject of ser:
Active Passive
Van firmar els comprovants.They signed the receipts. Els comprovants van ser firmats.The receipts were signed.
El secretari ha convocat una elecció.The secretary has called an election. Una elecció ha estat convocada pel secretari.An election has been called by the secretary.
29.1.2 THE PASSIVE AGENT
As in examples given so far, the passive agent is introduced by per ‘by’: Fou educada per les monges ‘She was brought up by the nuns’, etc. Verbs of acquaintance, affective attitude, and accompaniment, however, together with fer ‘do’, ‘make’ and other verbs denoting literal ‘making’ allow optional introduction of the agent by de:
És conegut de tothom.
He is known to/by everybody.
Era respectada i estimada de tots nosaltres.
She was respected and loved by all of us.
Vindrà acompanyada del marit.
She will be accompanied by her husband.
De + a third-person pronoun (e.g. fet d’ell) can optionally be fused as possessive seu, etc. (see 7.5).
Això és fet d’ells/fet seu. This was done by them.
No sé si és pintat d’ella/pintat seu. I don’t know if it was painted by her.
With first- and second-person agents in this context, the possessive is preferred: