Catalan Pronouns
Learning the Catalan Pronouns is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you practice the subject, the closer you get to mastering the Catalan language. But first we need to know what the role of Pronouns is in the structure of the grammar in Catalan.
Catalan pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb's subject).
Grammar Tips:
In
English personal pronouns are (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they), and (me,
you, him, her, it, us, you, them), In Catalan, the personal pronouns are:
Jo… (I), tu… (you), ell… (he), ella… (she),
Nosaltres… (we), vosaltres… (you, plural)…, ells (they masc.), elles… (they fem.).
Examples:
jo aprenc (I learn), tu aprens (you learn), ell aprèn (he learns), ella aprèn (she learns), vostè aprèn (you learn
[polite]), nosaltres
aprenem (we
learn), vosaltres
apreneu (you
learn [plural]), ells aprenen (they learn), elles aprenen (they learn), vostès aprenen (you learn [plural, polite]).
Indirect
Object Pronouns:
Indirect
object pronouns are words that replace the indirect object, which is usually a
person.
Em/m'/me (me), et/t’/te(you), li (him, her, you [formal]), ens/nos (us), us/vos (you), els (them):
Examples:
Dóna’m el llibre (give me the book). T’estimo (I love you). Els agrada el gelat? (Do they
like icecream?). Vull dir-vos que em caso (I would like to let you [plural] know that I am
getting married).
As
you can see, they change in contact with vowels and depending on their role in
the sentence.
Here are some examples:
| English Pronouns | Catalan Pronouns |
| Pronouns | Pronoms |
| I | Jo |
| you | tu/vostè/vosaltres |
| he | ell |
| she | ella |
| we | nosaltres |
| they | ells |
| |
| me | mi |
| you | tu/vostè/vosaltres |
| him | ell |
| her | ella |
| us | nosaltres |
| them | ells |
| |
| my | el(s) meu(s)/la (les) meva (meves) |
| your | el(s) teu(s)/la (les) teva (teves)/el(s) seu(s)/la (les) seva (seves)/ el(s) vostre(s)/ la (les) vostra (vostres) |
| his | el(s)seu(s)/ la (les) seva (seves) |
| her | el(s) seu(s)/la (les)seva (seves) |
| our | el (la) nostre/els (les) nostres |
| their | el(s) seu(s)/la (les)seva (seves) |
| |
| mine | meu(s)/meva(meves) |
| yours | teu(s)/teva(teves) |
| his | seu(s)/seva(seves) |
| hers | seu(s)/seva(seves) |
| ours | nostre(s) |
| theirs | seu(s)/seva(seves) |
As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Pronouns in Catalan has a logical pattern. Locate the Pronouns above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Català.
List of Pronouns in Catalan
Below is a list of the Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns in Catalan placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Catalan vocabulary.
| English Pronouns | Catalan Pronouns |
| I speak | Jo parlo |
| you speak | tu parles/vostè parla/vosaltres parleu |
| he speaks | ell parla |
| she speaks | ella parla |
| we speak | nosaltres parlem |
| they speak | ells parlen |
| |
| give me | donar-me/dóna'm/doneu-me/ |
| | donar-te/dóna't/donar-vos/doneu-vos |
| give him | donar-li/dóna-li/doneu-li |
| give her | donar-li/dóna-li/doneu-li |
| give us | donar-nos/dóna'ns/doneu-nos |
| give them | donar-los/dóna'ls/doneu-los |
| |
| my book | el meu llibre |
| your book | el teu/seu/vostre llibre |
| his book | el seu llibre |
| her book | el seu llibre |
| our book | el nostre llibre |
| their book | el seu llibre |
Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns have a very important role in Catalan, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with the Català Pronouns, you might want to check the rest of our Catalan lessons here: Learn Catalan. Don't forget to bookmark this page.