This article discusses the forms and functions of the personal pronouns in Catalan grammar.
Strong pronouns
The "strong" pronouns () in Catalan have the following forms:
These forms are used as subject pronouns (with the exception of si), and also as disjunctive pronouns, for example, after a preposition. Jo encara no en sé gaire. ("I still don't know much about it.") Ell, no crec que vingui. ("Him, I don't think he's coming.") Han preguntat per vosaltres. ("They asked about you.")
The first person singular pronoun has a special form mi after most prepositions. Queda't amb mi. ("Stay with me.") However, the form jo is used with some prepositions, for example, in segons jo ("according to me"), and in coordinated structures with another noun or pronoun: contra tu i jo ("against you and me").
The third person reflexive pronoun si (both singular and plural) cannot be used as a subject. It most commonly appears after a preposition, often reinforced by mateix: Ho va comprar per a si mateix. ("He bought it for himself.") Ho va comprar per a si mateixa. ("She bought it for herself.") Ho van comprar per a si mateixos. ("They bought it for themselves (masculine).") Ho van comprar per a si mateixes. ("They bought it for themselves (feminine).")
The 2nd person polite pronouns are vostè (singular) and vostès (plural). They combine with 3rd person verbs. Vostè em faria un favor? ("Would you do me a favor?") The older form vós (with 2nd person plural verb agreement) can be found in some varieties of Catalan, and in contexts like administrative texts.
The 1st person majestic plural is expressed with the pronoun Nós (in place of nosaltres).
There exists as well an impersonal subject pronoun hom (unmarked for either gender or number), always used with 3rd person singular verbs, nowadays archaic and only used in writing: Hom no es fa monja perquè sí ("One does not become a nun because of nothing.")
Weak pronouns
The weak pronouns () are proforms that, as the name indicates, do not carry stress. All are monosyllabic clitics, and all must always appear immediately before or after a verb: they cannot be used on their own or attached to a different element of the sentence. The combination of the verb plus the weak pronoun or pronouns always has a single stressed vowel, that of the verb.
Forms
Weak pronouns in Catalan vary according to: the person, number, and gender of the antecedent its syntactic function (direct or indirect object or adverbial complement).
The form of a given pronoun is determined by its position with respect to the verb, and whether it is adjacent to a vowel or a consonant in the verb. There are four possible configurations: reinforced form (forma reforçada): used before a verb that begins with a consonant, separated from the verb by a space Em veieu. ("You see me.") elided form (forma elidida): used before a verb that begins with a vowel (or h-), and separated from it by an apostrophe Això m'agrada ("I like that."; lit. "That pleases me") full form (forma plena): used after a verb that ends in a consonant (or a diphthong ending in -u), connected to the verb with a hyphen En Joan no vol seguir-me. ("John doesn't want to follow me.") reduced form (forma reduïda): used after a verb that ends in a vowel, separated from it by an apostrophe (except in the case of -us) Dóna'm un llibre. ("Give me a book.")
Not all pronouns have four distinct forms. The following table shows the complete inventory.
Uses
The weak pronouns primarily express complements of the verb.
Direct objects
Ahir el vaig veure. ("Yesterday I saw him.") Ahir la vaig veure. ("Yesterday I saw her.")
Indirect objects
Li donaràs el llibre? ("Will you give him/her the book?")
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive – La nena es renta. ("The girl is washing herself.") Pronominal – Tots es van penedir d'això. ("Everyone was sorry about that.")
The neuter proform ho replaces pronouns such as açò ("this"), això, allò ("that"), or tot ("everything"), or even an entire clause. No ho sé. ("I don't know [the thing you just asked about].") -T'agrada mirar la televisió? -No, ho trobo avorrit. ("Do you like to watch TV?" "No, I think it's boring.") Cal netejar-ho tot. ("We have to clean it all up.")