Weak pronouns in Catalan

The weak pronouns in Catalan (known in Catalan as "clítics" or "pronoms febles") are proforms that, as the name indicates, are never emphasized vocally. All are monosyllables, and all must always fall immediately before or after a verb: they cannot be used on their own or attached to a different element of the sentence. The construct of the verb plus the weak pronoun or pronouns that follow always has a single emphasized vowel, that of the verb. The weak pronoun or pronouns that precede a verb form a similar "block" with the word that precedes the verb or with the verb itself.

The weak pronouns in Catalan include pronouns:
*"em"
*"et"
*"es"
*"el"
*"la"
*"els"
*"les"
*"ho"
*"li"
*"ens"
*"us"

And non-nominal proforms, namely:
*"hi"
*"en"

The majority of these weak pronouns may have four different forms, depending on their position in a sentence. "Aspects of this issue are discussed in and in Combination of weak pronouns in Catalan."

*Full form ("forma plena"): This is the canonical form. The weak pronoun consists of a consonant followed by a vowel (some also have an s suffixed to that).
*Reinforced form ("forma reforçada"): The weak pronoun consists of a vowel followed by a consonant (some also have an s suffixed to that).
*Elided form ("forma elidida"): The weak pronoun consists of a consonant followed by an apostrophe.
*Reduced form ("forma reduïda"): The weak pronoun consists of an apostrophe followed by a consonant or consonants (some also have an s suffixed to that).

Forma plena	Forma reforçada	Forma elidida	Forma reduïda
me	em	m'	'm
te	et	t'	't
se	es	s'	's
lo	el	l'	'l
la	-	l'	-
los	els	-	'ls
les	-	-	-
ne	en	n'	'n
ho	-	-	-
li	-	-	-
hi	-	-	-
nos	ens	-	'ns
vos	us	-	-

Dialectal Variations

Use of weak pronouns varies significantly across the Catalan linguistic area.

Northern Catalan (particularly as spoken in North Catalonia) and Balearic Islands does not generally use the reinforced forms (e.g.: "te veig", instead of "et veig").

In the imperative mood in Northern Catalan, the reduced form of the pronoun is replaced by a "tonic" form (thus, not strictly being a "weak" pronoun anymore). For example, "mira'm!" (en: "look at me!") in Northern Catalan is rendered as "mira-mé".

Combination of weak pronouns in Catalan

"This diagram describing the combination of weak pronouns in Catalan provides further detail for the discussion of weak pronouns in the article Catalan grammar."

Catalan has a complex pattern for combining weak pronouns. The following diagram displays this pattern in detail. In each box of the diagram, forms are given in the following order:

#Form used before a verb that begins with a vowel.
#Form used before a verb that begins with a consonant.
#Form used after a verb that ends with a vowel except "u".
#Form used after a verb that ends with a consonant and "u".

References

*cite journal| title=Feature Structure of Romance Clitics| first=Eulàlia| last=Bonet| journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory| volume=13| issue=4| year=1995| pages=607–647| doi=10.1007/BF00992853