Catalan
Page 69
Per + (més/molt) + noun, adjective or adverb + que is a concessive formula expressing ‘however much/many’:
Per (més/molt) rica que sigui hi ha luxes que no es pot permetre.
However rich she may be there are certain luxuries she can’t afford.
Per molts avantatges que els ofereixis encara te’n demanaran més.
However many advantages you offer them they’ll still ask for more.
Per molt que is used as an independent adverbial subordinator:
Per molt que el renyis, encara continuarà fent el burro.
However much you scold him he’ll still go on acting the goat.
Other principal conditional subordinators are the compound conjunctions:
amb que provided that
sols que just provided that, as long as
posat que supposing that
mentre que as long as, while
a condició que on condition that
sempre que només que as long as if only, if…just
en cas que in case
All these require use of the subjunctive:
Vindria tot seguit amb que li proporcionessin un vehicle.
He would come straight away, provided he were supplied with a vehicle.
Posat que n’hi hagi, us en donarem a tots.
Provided there is any, we’ll give you all some.
No em sap greu que et diverteixis, mentre que no abandonis els estudis.
I don’t mind you having fun, as long as you don’t give up studying.
Que facin el que vulguin, sols que/només que em deixin en pau.
Let them do as they please, as long as they don’t bother me.
Absolute constructions with a gerund, especially if preceded by (fins) i tot, tot i ‘even’, or followed by i tot, can convey a concessive meaning, as discussed more fully at 22.2.4.1:
Captant els vots dels immigrants no va poder guanyar les eleccions.
Even by chasing the immigrants’ votes she still was not able to win the elections.
Tot essent parent nostre, sempre ens posa traves.
Although he’s a relative of ours, he’s always creating difficulties for us.
(For tot i + infinitive, see 20.4.1.)
Other concessive expressions
Concessive expressions are also formed with:
(i) Però, and colloquially per’xò (see 15.1.5.1), at the end of an independent clause:
No ho farà pas, però. He won’t do it, even so.
Canta bé, per’xò. He’s a good singer, though.
(ii) Additive fins i tot, and ni (tan sols), translating ‘even’:
M’agraden les prunes, fins i tot quan són verdes.
I like plums, even when they’re unripe.
No compleix mai, ni tan sols si el renyen.
He never does as he is told, (not) even if they scold him.
(iii) Tanmateix ‘still’, ‘even so’, ‘however’ is an adverb used with the sense of a whole (implicit) concessive clause:
Hem tingut molts de problemes. Tanmateix, hem reeixit.
We have had many problems. Even so, we have succeeded.
(cf. Encara que hem tingut molts de problemes, hem reeixit.
Although we’ve had many problems we have succeeded)
Tens els diners que vols i tanmateix no te’n serveixes.
You’ve all the money you want and still you don’t use it.
33.3.3.2 Position of concessive clauses
A concessive clause is normally placed before the main clause. When it follows the main clause it is generally with the verb in the indicative, where concession overlaps with an adversative function.
No s’engreixen gaire, encara que mengen prou.
They aren’t putting much weight on, even though they eat plenty.
(cf. No s’engreixen gaire, però mengen prou.)
Se n’havia anat a viure tot sol, encara que dinava a casa dels pares cada dia.
He’d gone away to live on his own, although he still lunched every day at his parents’.
(cf. Se n’havia anat a viure tot sol, però dinava a casa dels pares cada dia.)
33.3.4 RESULT CLAUSES
Subordinate clauses of manner can denote either intention (purpose and aim) or result; there is some discussion in 33.3.2. It is use of the indicative after de manera que and de forma que (also occasionally així que) ‘so that’ = ‘in such a way that’ that establishes the meaning of result.
És va commoure de tal manera/fins a tal punt que tots el vam compadir.
He was so moved that we all felt sorry for him.
Result or consecutive clauses introduce the result of a highlighted element in the main clause: ‘so …. that’, ‘such …that’. The highlighting expressions in the main clause are those of degree, like tant (adjective and adverb), tan ‘so’, ‘so much’/’so many’, or of manner, like tal ‘such’. Even un, una can act as an intensifier:
Hi havia tants de cotxes que era impossible aparcar.
There were so many cars it was impossible to park.
Va vestir-se de tal manera que ningú no el va reconèixer.
He dressed in such a way that nobody recognized him.
Treballa tant que algun dia tindrà un atac de cor.
He works so hard that one day he’ll have a heart attack.
Té la cara tan blanca que sembla que estigui malalta.
Her face is so white that it looks as though she’s ill.
Condueixes tan imprudentment que ningú no vol pujar al teu cotxe.
You drive so carelessly that no one wants to get in the car with you.
M’ha fet una tal resposta (una resposta tal) que no mereix que el torni a saludar.
His reply to me was such that I’ll quite rightly ignore him from now on.
Estudia de (tal) forma que és impossible que no aprovi l’examen.
She is studying in such a way that she is bound to pass the exam.
Corren unes xafarderies que basten per fer malbé la seva reputació.
There is (such) gossip going around that could ruin his reputation.
33.3.4.1 Que as subordinator in result clauses
The complementizer que may even carry consecutive force on its own, that is, in the absence of an intensifier. This usage is rather informal, in that the precise relationship of the clauses linked by que is left to be inferred, as in these versions of examples given in 33.3.4:
Té la cara blanca que sembla que estigui malalta.
Condueixes que ningú no vol pujar al teu cotxe.
Estudia que és impossible que no aprovi l’examen.
Corren xafarderies que basten per fer malbé la seva reputació.
While structurally que basten… in the last example might be interpreted as an adjectival relative clause (‘which are sufficient to …’, with que as relative pronoun rather than conjunction), other related instances show that que here is in fact the subordinating conjunction. Compare:
Ha rebut uns cops que és un miracle que no s’hagi mort.
He received such blows it is a miracle he didn’t die. (result clause)
and
Ha rebut uns cops que l’han deixat mig mort.
He received some blows that left him half dead. (relative clause, see 31.1.2, etc.)
Compare also:
És una feina que la faig amb els ulls tancats.
It’s a job I can do with my eyes closed/such that I (can) do it …/It’s the kind of job that I can do …
with the purely relative:
És una feina que faig amb els ulls tancats.
It’s a job I do with my eyes closed.
The first example of this pair might also be seen as an example illustrating a pleonastic object clitic in a relative clause (12.8).
34 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
34.1 GENERAL
34.1.1 TYPES OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCE
Si ‘if’, discussed in 15.3, forms the compounds si de cas, si per cas, per si, all of which convey the idea of �
�in case’ or ‘if by chance’, and si (doncs) no ‘unless’ (34.1.2). Among conditional sentences in Catalan there is a loose basic division according to whether the verb in the ‘if’-clause (condition) is in the indicative (i) or in the (past) subjunctive (ii). This is determined by the nature of the condition expressed in the condition clause, according to a general pattern described as follows:
(i) Indicative verb in the condition clause:
open conditions (34.2)
fulfilled conditions (34.3)
(ii) Subjunctive verb in the condition clause:
unfulfilled conditions (counterfactual, 34.4)
hypothetical conditions (counterfactual, 34.5)
34.1.2 EXCEPTION (NEGATIVE CONDITION)
‘Unless’, ‘if not’ is most frequently rendered by si no:
No ho farem pas, si no ens hi obligues.
We won’t do it unless you oblige us to.
Si doncs no is much more formal:
Serà indultat, si doncs no s’addueix cap altra prova de la seva culpabilitat.
He will be reprieved, unless further evidence of his guilt is adduced.
Other translations of ‘unless’ are taken up in 34.8.
34.2 OPEN CONDITIONS
Clauses in this category express the idea that either fulfilment or nonfulfilment of a condition is equally possible. The subjunctive is not used for open conditions of this kind. The tense pattern is similar to that in English, the main combinations being:
(i) Si + present + (consequence clause) present:
Si el burxes, sempre respon.
If you prod him he always responds.
Es veu molt més bé si es mira des d’aquí.
You can see it much better if you look from here.
(ii) Si + present + (consequence clause) future or present with future sense:
Si no en diem res, aquells no se n’assabentaran.
If we don’t say anything, they won’t find out.
Si empenyeu així, s’obre de seguida.
If you push like this it’ll open straight away.
(iii) Si + past + (consequence clause) past:
Si treballaven de nits, cobraven un plus.
If they worked nights they got a bonus.
Si van cometre aquest error, devia ser per culpa d’una distracció momentània.
If they made this mistake, it must have been because of a momentary distraction.
This last example might be seen as a case of a fulfilled condition, as described in 34.3. As an open condition, the idea is that the speaker is not certain about whether the mistake was made or not.
(iv) Si + past (including present perfect) + (consequence clause) present or future:
In this context the speaker of the main clause verb is not sure about facts referred to in the ‘if’-clause.
Si encara no us heu decidit, ho deixarem córrer.
If you still haven’t made your minds up, we’ll give it a miss.
Α nosaltres ens deurà quedar poc per fer, si ells ja van complir tot el que havien promès.
There can’t be much left for us to do, if they carried out everything they said they would.
(v) Si + present + (consequence clause) imperative:
Si voleu veure un autèntic espectacle, veniu amb mi.
If you want to see a real sight, come with me.
Si crema, no t’ho mengis.
If it’s hot, don’t eat it.
When open conditions are communicated in reported speech referring to the past, the imperfect or pluperfect indicative appears in the condition clause, with the conditional (or colloquially the imperfect indicative) in the consequence clause:
Va dir que podíem plegar d’hora si havíem enllestit aquella comanda.
He said we could finish work early if we had got that order ready.
I la conclusió va ser que l’haurien d’operar, si efectivament tenia el fetge tan destrossat.
And the conclusion was that they would have to operate, if indeed her liver was in such a terrible state.
This type of construction is to be understood as essentially an open condition in past tense frame, and is not to be confused with optional use of the imperfect indicative after si (+ main clause conditional or conditional perfect) in expressing hypothetical or remote conditions (see 34.5).
34.3 FULFILLED CONDITIONS
Fulfilled conditions are not the statement of true ‘conditions’ but rather an indirect (often rhetorical) way of expressing ideas like ‘the reason why’, ‘just because’, ‘whenever’, and so forth. In such constructions the subjunctive is never used in the condition clause:
Si ens han estafat, és perquè hem badat.
If they’ve swindled us it’s because we weren’t paying attention.
Si han tingut sort, també s’ho han merescut.
They may have been lucky, but they deserved it too.
Si s’afanyaven, evitaven els embussos de l’hora punta.
If they got a move on they used to miss the rush-hour traffic jams.
This last example could also be categorized as an open condition of the kind shown in 34.2iii.
34.4 UNFULFILLED CONDITIONS
Here the condition clause refers to a condition in the past which was not fulfilled and is not now fulfillable (past counterfactual). The commonest tense/mood pattern in such cases is si + pluperfect subjunctive (condition clause) with the conditional perfect in the consequence clause:
Si ho haguéssim sabut a temps, us hauriem avisat.
If we had found out in time we would have let you know.
Si no hagués estat per tu, no ho hauríem pogut resoldre mai.
If it hadn’t been for you, we should never have been able to resolve it.
(Here the main clause could alternatively be constructed as No podríem haverho resolt mai ‘We could never have resolved it’; see 34.6.5.)
This type of condition can be expressed with the past subjunctive after si followed by the conditional in the main clause, when the facts referred to are immediately focused from the present moment:
Si no fos pel cinturó de seguretat, ja seria morta.
If it weren’t for her safety belt she’d be dead now.
The majority of Catalan speakers nowadays instinctively and consistently use the subjunctive (imperfect or pluperfect) after si in these failed condition clauses. Normative grammar, however, does admit the pluperfect indicative in the condition clause of this kind of sentence, as in:
Si havien (= haguessin) invertit més diners en aquesta operació, n’haurien tret més beneficis.
If they’d invested more money in this operation, they’d have derived more profit from it.
The use of havien for haguessin here sounded ‘strange’ but not ‘incorrect’ to informants, and the failed condition meaning remains quite clear. It would just not be the construction formed spontaneously by most speakers in the great majority of contexts. There appears to be more doubt about the viability of this alternative when the condition clause has the verb in the negative:
?Si no havien contestat ràpidament, les coses s’haurien complicat.
If they hadn’t replied quickly things would have become complicated.
On alternative forms of the conditional in sentences of this type, see 34.6.
34.5 HYPOTHETICAL AND REMOTE CONDITIONS
The general pattern of construction for hypothetical and remote conditions is si + past subjunctive, with conditional in the consequence clause. (The imperfect indicative option in the consequence clause is shown at various points in what follows and summarized in 34.6.4.)
A distinction can be observed between hypothetical conditions and those which are presented as remote or contrary to fact. The two types are illustrated in English by contrasting ‘If you went to the first session you’d be sure to get a seat’ and ‘If I knew I’d tell you’. The first expresses a fulfillable condition, presented as a more hypothetical variant of the equivalent open condition ‘If you go to the first session you
’ll be sure to get a seat’. With this type of condition, the alternative use of the imperfect indicative instead of the past subjunctive is commonly resorted to. Catalan, then, can express different degrees of hypothesis or likeliness in the condition:
(i) Si véns d’hora, et podrem atendre.
If you come early we can deal with your enquiry.
(ii) Si venies d’hora, et podríem atendre.
If you came early we could deal with your enquiry.
(iii) Si vinguessis d’hora, et podríem atendre.
If you were to come early, we could deal with your enquiry.
The underlying meaning of all three sentences is virtually the same. Sentences (ii) and (iii), however, are explicitly more hypothetical than the open condition (i), hence the conditional of their main clause verb. The subjunctive after si in (iii) expresses, at least notionally, more uncertainty about fulfilment of the condition than the indicative (venies) in (ii) does.
On the other hand, there are sentences in which the condition, though achievable in principle, is contrary to fact (as in ‘If I knew (but I don’t), I’d tell you’, unlike past counterfactuals as in 34.4). Here the prevalent construction is with the past subjunctive in the condition clause:
Ho farien d’una altra manera si tinguessin a mà totes les eines que necessiten.