LANGUAGE FEATURES

The periphrastic preterite

Catalan has some distinctive linguistics features. Probably the most remarkable is the use of the periphrastic preterite. Thus, we find expressions such as ahir (jo) vaig comprar el llibre (yesterday I bought the book). One may think that vaig comprar may mean (I am going to buy), due to the structural resemblance to other Romance languages. However, that is not the case. The Catalan periphrastic preterit is formed with an auxiliar form that is very similar to the conjugation of the present tense indicative of anar (to go), but not exactly the same, since the forms of the first- and second-persons plural (“we” and “you all”) are different. The auxiliar verb is followed by the infinitive of the main verb.

Preterite of the verb llegir (to read)

Jo vaig escriure   (I wrote)                                                                    

Tu vas escriure    (You wrote)                                                                                                         

Ell, ella, vostè (or vosté) va escriure   (He, she, you (formal) wrote)

Nosaltres vam escriure.   (We wrote)

Vosaltres vau escriure    (You all wrote)

Ells, ells, vostès (or vostés) van escriure    (They, you all (formal) wrote)

Present indicative of the verb anar (to go)

Jo vaig    (I go)

Tu vas    (You go)

Ell, ella, vostè (or vosté) va    (He, she, you (formal) goes)

Nosaltres anem    (We go)

Vosaltres aneu.   (You all go)

Ells, elles, vostès (or vostés) van.   (They, you all (formal) go)

Certainly, Catalan uses a similar expression for the periphrastic future: jo vaig a escriure (I am going to write), which is quite similar to the periphrastic preterite (jo vaig escriure (I wrote)). However, while it may be used, Catalan speakers tend to avoid this periphrastic future and prefer the simple future form: Jo escriuré (I will write). We must also bear in mind that the simple preterite does exist in Catalan:

Jo escriví / escriguí

Tu escrivires / escrigueres

El, ella, vostè (or vosté) escriví / escrigué

Nosaltres escrivírem / escriguérem

Vosaltres escrivíreu / escriguéreu

Ells, ells, vostès (vostés) escriviren / escrigueren

In most of the Catalan-speaking area, the simple preterite is mainly a literary form, except in the subvariety of Central Valencia that includes the cities of Valencia, Sagunt, Alzira, and Llíria. It is also common in Eivissa, except for the first-person singular jo with which the periphrastic form is used: jo vaig escriure.

 The weak pronouns

One striking linguistic feature of the Catalan language is the use of the pronoms febles or weak pronouns. While these unstressed pronouns exist in the other Romance languages, Catalan is remarkable because of the number of weak pronouns that it has as well as their variation. Thus, an important number of the weak pronouns in Catalan have four different forms: plena, reduïda, reforçada, and elidida (full, reduced, reinforced, and with the final vowel dropped). Here are some examples. The weak pronoun me may function as a first-person singular masculine or feminine direct or indirect object. Here are some of the possible forms that this weak pronoun may adopt:

Plena: vull comprar-me una taula     (I want to buy myself a table)

Reduïda: compra’m la taula demà si pots     (Buy me the table tomorrow, if you can)

Reforçada: em compraré una taula aviat      (I will buy myself a table soon)

Elidida: m’has comprat una taula massa gran          (You bought me a table that is too big)

Among the weak pronouns, Catalan uses ho for the neuter direct object pronoun. This pronoun derives from the Latin demonstrative neuter pronoun hoc and constitutes an exception in the Romance World.

T’ho vaig dir (I told you so)

 Use of the personal article

In Catalan is quite common to use a personal article before singular personal names in informal contexts. This use is not considered vulgar. The personal articles are: el, la, l’, en, na. n’. For example: el Joan, la Neus, l’Elena, en Pere, na Maria, n’Amparo, na Isabel. These articles, and the definite articles in general, are transformed into l’ or n’ before a word that starts with vowel or “h”, except when the feminine articles la and na appear before a word that starts with unstressed i, u, hi, or hu. For example: na Isabel. Personal articles are used mainly in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia, except for Tortosa. It is less frequently used in the other Catalan-speaking areas.

 Varieties of Catalan

Catalan has two main varieties: the eastern and the western. There are about fifteen differences between them (Veny and Massanell 97) but traditionally two phonetic traits have been considered as the main criteria to distinguish them. First, the western variety distinguishes between unstressed e and a: Pere (Peter) vs pera (pear): [‘pere] vs [‘pera]. However, the eastern variety does not differentiate them and pronounces them as [ə], which means that the name “Peter” and the fruit “pear” are pronounced the same: [‘perə]. Second, the western variety distinguishes between unstressed o and u: posar (to put) is pronounced as [po’zar] or [po’za] in the western variety versus [pu’za] in the eastern variety. The western variety is used in Andorra, the western part of Catalonia, and all the Catalan-speaking area of the Region of Valencia. The eastern variety is typical of Northern Catalonia, eastern Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the city of l’Alguer. Western Catalan may be divided into two subgroups: Northwestern and Valencian. Eastern Catalan may be divided into Northern Catalan, Central Catalan, Balearic, and alguerès.