Pronominal adverbs

NOTE: In the Catalan grammars en and hi are usually referred adverbial pronouns.
 
 
The pronominal adverb en

It has four distinct forms:

• full: ne
• reduced: ’n
• reinforced: en
• elided (before vowels or h-): n’.

• replacing direct object of a verb (the direct object must not be preceded by a determiner):


Has comprat llet? Have you bought milk?
N’has comprat? Have you bought (of) it [milk]?
 

• replacing a phrase introduced by the preposition de:


Ara que és morta, tothom parla bé de la Carme. Since she’s dead, everyone speaks well about Carmen.
Ara que és morta, tothom en parla bé. Since she’s dead, everyone speaks well [about her].

The pronominal adverb hi has three main functions:

• replacing a phrase beginning with a preposition other than de:


He quedat amb la Marta. I have a date with Marta.
Hi he quedat. I have a date [with Marta].
 

• replacing a predicate:


No té la ràdio encesa. He doesn’t have the radio on.
No la hi té. He doesn’t have it [on].
 

NOTE: The noun group, la ràdio, is replaced by the pronoun la it (feminine form), while the predicate, encesa, (i.e., the state of the radio being on), is replaced by the adverbial pronoun hi. The two pronouns combine yielding the pronoun grouping la hi.
 
• replacing the pronoun li in combinations with other pronouns involving the consonant l-, so as to avoid cacophony. For instance in the phrase:


Vaig donar la rosa a la Clàudia. I gave the rose to Claudia.

the direct object la rosa can be replaced with the pronoun la, while the indirect object, a la Clàudia can be replaced with the pronoun li to her. The resulting pronoun combination would be li la, which in fact is not incorrect and is still used in the Valencian dialect. However, elsewhere in Catalan-speaking areas hi is substituted for li and, further, put after la, the resulting combination being la hi. Thus, the following two are correct:

Li la vaig donar (València) / La hi vaig donar (Barcelona and elsewhere) I gave it to her.

The pronominal adverbs en and hi may occur also in many idiomatic expressions:

• Me’n vaig. I’m leaving.
• No hi sento bé. I can’t hear properly.
• Hi ha un noi aquí. There is a boy here.

 

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