Pronominal adverbs

Catalan uses the adverbs en and hi in pronominal functions. This phenomenon

occurs in many other contemporary Romance languages.

NOTE: In the Catalan grammars en and hi are usually referred adverbial pronouns.


The pronominal adverb en

It has four distinct forms: [ne, 'n, en, n']

full: ne
reduced: n
reinforced: en
elided (before vowels or h-): n.


The pronominal adverb en has two main functions:
replacing direct object of a verb (the direct object must not be preceded by a
determiner):

Has comprat llet? Have you bought milk?
Nhas comprat? Have you bought (of) it [milk]?

replacing a phrase introduced by the preposition de:

Ara que s morta, tothom parla b de la Carme. Since shes dead, everyone
speaks well about Carmen.
Ara que s morta, tothom en parla b. Since shes dead, everyone speaks
well [about her].

The pronominal adverb hi


The pronominal adverb hi has three main functions:

replacing a phrase beginning with a preposition other than de:

He quedat amb la Marta. I have a date with Marta.
Hi he quedat. I have a date [with Marta].

replacing a predicate:

No t la rdio encesa. He doesnt have the radio on.
No la hi t. He doesnt have it [on].

NOTE: The noun group, la rdio, is replaced by the
pronoun la it (feminine form), while the predicate, encesa, (i.e., the state
of the radio being on), is replaced by the adverbial pronoun hi. The two
pronouns combine yielding the pronoun grouping la hi.

replacing the pronoun li in combinations with other pronouns involving the
consonant l-, so as to avoid cacophony.

Vaig donar la rosa a la Cludia. (I gave the rose to Claudia)

The direct object la rosa can be replaced with the pronoun la, while the
indirect object, a la Cludia can be replaced with the pronoun li to her.

The resulting pronoun combination would be li la, which in fact is not incorrect
and is still used in the Valencian dialect.



However, elsewhere in Catalan-speaking areas hi is substituted for li and,
further, put after la, the resulting combination being la hi. Thus, the following
two are correct:

Li la vaig donar (Valncia) / La hi vaig donar (Barcelona and elsewhere) I
gave it to her.


Idiomatic uses

The pronominal adverbs en and hi may occur also in many idiomatic expressions:

Men vaig. (Im leaving)
No hi sento b. (I cant hear properly)
Hi ha un noi aqu. (There is a boy here)