Pronouns

Personal and Reflexive Pronouns

See also Forms of Address, Reflexive verbs.

The stressed forms

• Jo t’estimo. (T’estimo.) I love you.
• Aquest regal és per a ella. This present is for her.

• Dóna-m’ho a mi. Give it to me.

The unstressed forms

The unstressed pronouns may be of full, reduced, reinforced and elided form, although not all of them are available for all pronouns.

The full form is used after a verb ending in a consonant or dipthongal -u; some full forms are also used as the initial element of a pronoun combination, regardless of position relative to the verb:

• Pots deixar-me tranquil·la? Can you leave me in peace?
• Creieu-me. Believe me.
• Volen comprar-nos un pis. They want to buy an apartment from us.

• Deixa’m tranquil·la, vols? Leave me in peace, will you?
• Porta’ns el diari. Bring us the newspaper.

• Em van donar un premi. They gave me an award.
• El convencerem d’alguna manera. We will somehow convince him.
• El gat es renta. The cat is washing itself.
• Els observes de lluny. You are watching them from a distance.

• M’obligaran a fer-ho. They will force me to do so.
• S’escridassen tota l’estona. They yell at each other all the time.

And also, where there is no reduced form, the full form is used after a verb ending in a vowel. Where there is no elided form, the reinforced form is used before a verb beginning with a vowel. Where there is no reinforced form, the full form is used instead, except for vos in which the reduced form us is used.

Pronominal combinations

• em + el => me'l
• es + te => se't etc.

• li + el => l'hi
• li + la => la hi
• li + els => los hi etc.

• Dóna-l’hi. Give it to him.
• Treguem-li-ho. Let us take it away from him.

The Neuter pronoun

This pronoun has no other form than ho, i.e., it does not have the complete set of full, reduced, reinforced and elided forms other pronouns have.

Example:

• Saps que la Marta s’ha comprat un cotxe? Ho sé.

Do you know Martha has bought a car? I know this.

Possessive Pronouns (Pronoms Possessius)

Demonstrative Pronouns (Pronoms Demonstratius)

As happens with the corresponding (and identical) adjectives, the demonstrative pronouns aquest, aqueix and aquell express three degrees of proximity, but in actual usage aqueix has been dropped in favor of aquest. Something similar happens with açò, això and allò, only in this case the survivor has been the pronoun corresponding to the second degree of proximity; namely, això combines the meaning of older-usage açò and això.

Examples:

• Dona’m aquest, el que és al teu escriptori. Give me that one, the one on your desk.
• Aquest és el polític més intel·ligent del país. This is the most intelligent politician in this country.
• Aqueix és el vestit que tenies posat ahir? Is that the dress you were wearing yesterday?
• Vindran aqueixos? Will those ones come?
• En Pere és aquell. Peter is that one over there.
• Quines noies? Aquelles que em vas presentar?

Which girls? Those ones you introduced me to?
• Açò no és tan simple. This is not so simple.
• Això és cert. That’s true.
• Això és per a tu. This is for you.
• Allò va ser una aventura passatgera. That was a short-lived affair.

Relative Pronouns (Pronoms Relatius)

The relative pronouns always refer to an antecedent, which must have already been mentioned, either explicitly or implicitly, in another part of the same sentence or in a preceding sentence.

The stressed relative què is used only after a preposition. The compound relative el qual, as well as its other inflected forms, can be substituted for both que, què and qui, but its use is restricted to the written language.

Examples:

• He llegit aquest llarg llibre, la meitat del qual és absurda. I have read this long book, half of which is nonsense.
• La noia que vingué ahir. The girl who came yesterday.
• Hi ha tres colors primaris, que poden ser combinats per obtenir-ne d’altres. There are three primary colors, which can be combined to obtain others.
• És l’única farmàcia que mai no tanca a la vila. It is the only pharmacy that never closes in town.
• Un barri en què no hi ha cap escola. A neighbourhood in which there is no school.
• Un xitxarel·lo de qui ella n’estava enamorada. A boy with whom she was in love.
• La casa on visc. The house where I live.

Interrogative Pronouns (Pronoms Interrogatius)

The interrogative pronouns are used either in direct questions or in interrogative subordinate clauses, cf.:

• Quins vols? Which ones do you want?
• Qui ve? Who’s coming?
• Què vols? What do you want?

Indefinite Pronouns (Pronoms Indefinits)

The indefinite pronouns do not refer to any specific thing or person, and are used when not enough information is available, or when vagueness is intended. There are eleven simple indefinite pronouns, and two compound ones.

The pronoun quelcom and the compound pronoun alguna cosa are, in theory, synonyms, but the first one is rare in common speech. In actual usage, the hispanism algo is more often than not substituted for both genuine pronouns. Hom and un hom are only roughly synonymous with the English one or you as in ‘one can only imagine it’ or ‘what you see is what you get’. The actual equivalents would be the French ‘on’ or the German ‘man’, which represent an indefinite agent, with no other meaning. However, both hom and un hom are restricted to formal usage. In everyday speech, constructions involving the reflexive passive voice with the unstressed pronoun se are the preferred way of omitting the subject of a sentence.

Examples:

• Algú ha trucat. Someone has telephoned.
• Ha trucat algú? Has anyone telephoned?
• Cadascú cantarà una cançó. Each one will sing a song.
• Això ho sap tothom. Everyone knows that.
• Tot s’ha dit. All has been said.
• Hi ha quelcom estrany. There’s something strange.
• Hi ha alguna cosa estranya. There’s something strange.
• Necessites alguna cosa? Do you need anything?
• Un ho pot veure des d’aquí. One can see it from here.
• Hom veu molta misèria aquests dies. One sees a lot of poverty these days.
• Un hom veu molta misèria aquests dies. One sees a lot of poverty these days.

Negative Pronouns (Pronoms Negatius)

Examples:

• No ha vingut ningú. No one has come.
• No he vist res. I have seen nothing.
• Necessites res? Do you need anything?