Pronouns: Indirect Object — Catalan Grammar

An indirect object is the recipient of the action in a sentence. It answers the question "to whom?" or "for whom?" the action is done. In English, this is often marked by the prepositions "to" or "for".

Jo dono un llibre a la Maria.
I give a book to Maria.
Ell compra flors per a la seva mare.
He buys flowers for his mother.

Like direct objects, indirect objects can be replaced by a pronoun. These pronouns are unstressed and are known as "weak pronouns" ().

The Indirect Object Pronouns

The set of indirect object pronouns is mostly the same as the direct object pronouns, with key differences in the third person.

or → to me
or → to you (singular, informal)
→ to him / to her / to you (singular, formal)
→ to us
→ to you (plural)
→ to them (masculine or mixed group) / to them (feminine group)

The most significant difference is in the third person.

- Singular: is used for both "to him" and "to her". It is gender-neutral.

- Plural: is used for both "to them" (masculine) and "to them" (feminine).

Què li has dit?
What did you say to him/her?
Els vaig enviar un correu electrònic.
I sent them an email.

In colloquial speech, especially in and around Barcelona, you will often hear instead of for the plural indirect object. This helps to avoid confusion with the masculine plural direct object pronoun .

Lis vaig portar un regal. (colloquial)
I brought them a gift.

The Redundant Pronoun

A key feature of Catalan is that the indirect object pronoun is almost always used, even when the full indirect object is also present in the sentence. This is often called the "redundant pronoun" because it might seem repetitive to English speakers.

This duplication is mandatory when the indirect object noun phrase comes after the verb.

Li vaig donar el llibre al teu germà.
I gave the book to your brother.
Els compraré un gelat als nens.
I will buy an ice cream for the children.
No em diguis mentides a mi.
Don't tell lies to me.

The pronoun is not used if the indirect object is placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis.

A la meva germana, no li agrada el peix.
My sister doesn't like fish. (Literally: To my sister, fish is not pleasing.)

Pronoun Placement

The placement rules for indirect object pronouns are the same as for direct object pronouns.

1. Before a conjugated verb

T'explico un secret.
I'll tell you a secret.
Sempre ens porta records dels seus viatges.
He always brings us souvenirs from his trips.

2. Attached to the end of an infinitive

Vull comprar-li un regal.
I want to buy a gift for him/her.
Pots passar-me la sal?
Can you pass me the salt?

3. Attached to the end of a gerund (-ant, -ent, -int)

Estic escrivint-los una postal.
I am writing them a postcard.

4. Attached to the end of a positive command

Dona'm això!
Give me that!
Explica'ns què ha passat.
Tell us what happened.

Combining with Direct Object Pronouns

When an indirect object pronoun () is immediately followed by a direct object pronoun (), the indirect object pronoun changes to to avoid a difficult sound combination.

The order is always: Indirect Object + Direct Object + Verb.

The rule is: + → +

Dono el llibre al noi. → L'hi dono.
I give the book to the boy. → I give it to him.
Portaré les flors a la teva mare. → Les hi portaré.
I'll bring the flowers to your mother. → I'll bring them to her.
Vaig ensenyar les fotos als meus amics. → Les hi vaig ensenyar.
I showed the photos to my friends. → I showed them to them.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Catalan course

64 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 2. A few of them, with the words “Pronouns: Indirect Object” is about in bold:

Et presento a la meva amiga Anna. És estudiant.
This is my friend, Anna. She is a student.
Lesson 2
El meu pare li va comprar un regal a la meva mare.
My father bought a present for my mother.
Lesson 225
M'encanta el fred. M'encanta la neu i el gel.
I love cold weather. I love snow and ice.
Lesson 295

Comments

Loading comments…