Li or Els? | Catalan Grammar

The standard third-person indirect-object choice is based on number, not gender: use li for one recipient, addressee, beneficiary, or experiencer, and els for more than one. Li escric can mean “I write to him” or “to her”; els escric can refer to men, women, or a mixed group.

Two facts make the choice look harder than it is. First, els is also the masculine plural direct-object form, so syntax—not spelling alone—reveals its job. Second, informal speech has leveling forms such as els hi and regional lis. The formal cross-regional baseline remains singular li, plural els.

The decision workflow

Reconstruct the full phrase introduced by a: who receives, hears, experiences, or benefits?
Decide whether that indirect object is singular or plural.
Choose li for one and els for several; ignore the referent's gender.
If another weak pronoun is present, derive both roles before building the cluster.
Apply preverbal or postverbal spelling last.

Indirect object	Before a finite verb	Typical postverbal form
to him, her, it, or singular vostè	li	-li: explicar-li
to them or plural vostès	els	-los / 'ls: explicar-los, dona'ls

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Do not ask “him or her?” Ask “one or more than one?” Gender matters for direct el/la/els/les, but third-person indirect objects collapse gender and preserve only number.

One recipient or several: the core contrast

Transfer and communication verbs make the number distinction easy to see because the thing transferred remains as a direct object.

A la nova coordinadora, demà li enviaré l'enllaç.

Tomorrow I'll send the link to the new coordinator. (One topicalized recipient → li.)

A les noves coordinadores, demà els enviaré l'enllaç.

Tomorrow I'll send the link to the new coordinators. (Several topicalized recipients → els.)

Al meu germà, li he explicat el canvi de porta d'embarcament.

I explained the gate change to my brother. (Masculine singular → li.)

A les meves germanes, els he explicat el canvi de porta d'embarcament.

I explained the gate change to my sisters. (Feminine plural → els.)

These minimal pairs hold the verb and transferred information constant. Only the number of the recipient changes. The second pair also proves that feminine plural indirect objects take els, never direct-object les.

The pronoun li does not elide before a vowel: li agrada, li envio, li obriré. Writing l'agrada changes the visible structure and is not the standard singular dative form.

A l'avi, li agrada escoltar la ràdio mentre cuina.

Grandad likes listening to the radio while he cooks. (Li remains intact before agrada.)

Als avis, els agrada escoltar la ràdio mentre cuinen.

Grandad and Grandma like listening to the radio while they cook. (Plural experiencer → els.)

Experiencers: do not let English choose the subject

With agradar, semblar, interessar, fer por, and fer mal, the person experiencing the reaction is indirect. The stimulus controls the verb's singular or plural agreement.

A la clienta, li sembla massa llarg el termini de devolució.

The customer thinks the return period seems too long. (One experiencer; singular subject el termini.)

Als clients, els sembla massa llarg el termini de devolució.

The customers think the return period seems too long. (Several experiencers; the subject is still el termini.)

A la nena, li fan por els trons, però no la pluja.

The girl is afraid of thunder, but not rain. (Li marks one experiencer; plural trons triggers fan.)

Als nens, els fa por aquella màscara del passadís.

The children are afraid of that mask in the hallway. (Els marks several experiencers; singular màscara triggers fa.)

English makes “the customer” or “the children” the subject of think/are afraid. Catalan organizes the event around what seems or causes fear and marks the experiencer with a dative. The verb's number and the pronoun's number therefore answer different questions.

Els can be indirect or masculine plural direct

The string els has two possible functions. In Els aviso, it may mean “I notify them” as a masculine or mixed direct object. In Els aviso el canvi, the overt direct object el canvi makes els the plural addressee: “I notify them of the change.”

Els assessors? Els veuré després de dinar.

The advisers? I'll see them after lunch. (Els is a masculine plural direct object.)

Els assessors? Els donaré una resposta després de dinar.

The advisers? I'll give them an answer after lunch. (Els is a plural indirect object; una resposta is direct.)

Do not decide from form alone. Reconstruct the verb's arguments: what is seen, what is given, and to whom?

Spoken leveling: els hi and lis

In (informal; regional: much of the Central area), els hi is widely used for a simple plural indirect object: Els hi diré demà for formal Els diré demà. In this colloquial use, hi does not add a location; the two-word sequence has become a reinforced plural dative for many speakers.

Els hi portaré les claus després de sopar.

I'll bring them the keys after dinner. (informal, Central; simple plural recipient.)

Els portaré les claus després de sopar.

I'll bring them the keys after dinner. (formal, general standard.)

(informal; regional: Valencian and other western speech) lis can also be heard as a transparent plural built from li. In formal IEC and AVL writing, use els: Els enviarem l'avís, not lis enviarem l'avís.

There is a genuine ambiguity around els hi. In the Central standard two-clitic system, it can represent masculine plural direct object els plus one singular recipient expressed by dative hi: Els documents, els hi donaré “I'll give the documents to him/her.” In colloquial leveling, it may simply mean “to them.” Clear context usually resolves speech; formal writing preserves the distinctions.

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Use speech forms when representing the relevant variety, but do not let them erase the analysis. Before writing els hi, decide whether you mean one plural indirect object or a two-pronoun cluster.

Clitic combinations: derive each object first

When the direct object is ho or en, the formal combinations transparently preserve singular versus plural dative.

A la directora li ho explicaré abans de la roda de premsa.

I'll explain it to the director before the press conference. (One recipient + neutral ho.)

Als periodistes els ho explicaré després de la roda de premsa.

I'll explain it to the journalists after the press conference. (Several recipients + neutral ho.)

Si la veïna vol tomàquets, li'n guardarem una bossa.

If the neighbor wants tomatoes, we'll save her a bag. (One recipient + partitive en.)

Si els veïns volen tomàquets, els en guardarem dues bosses.

If the neighbors want tomatoes, we'll save them two bags. (Several recipients + partitive en.)

With a definite third-person direct object, regional systems differ. Central standard changes singular li to hi after the direct clitic: l'hi, la hi, els hi, les hi. (regional: Valencian) keeps dative-first li'l, li la, li'ls, li les. For plural recipients, careful writing retains els plus the direct object: els el, els la, els els, els les.

El mapa és per a la guia: l'hi donaré quan arribi.

The map is for the guide: I'll give it to her when she arrives. (Central standard: one recipient.)

El mapa és per als excursionistes: els el donaré abans de sortir.

The map is for the hikers: I'll give it to them before setting out. (Plural recipients.)

These are genuinely difficult clusters, and spoken Catalan often neutralizes distinctions. There is no reliable shortcut based on English word order; use the complete tables on Li Plus El, La, Els, or Les.

Position changes the shape, not the number

Before an ordinary finite verb, write li or els: li telefonaré, els respondré. Attach the pronoun after an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative imperative. After a consonant-ending infinitive, plural els appears as -los; after a vowel-ending imperative it can appear as 'ls.

Hem de comunicar-li la decisió avui, però als proveïdors podem comunicar-los-la demà.

We must tell her the decision today, but we can tell it to the suppliers tomorrow. (Singular -li; plural -los inside a cluster.)

Dona-li una còpia a la secretària i dona'ls-en dues als tècnics.

Give one copy to the secretary and give two to the technicians. (One -li; several 'ls plus partitive en.)

A dialogue where number changes the audience

—La directora ja coneix la incidència? —No; li telefonaré ara mateix.

—Does the director know about the incident? —No; I'll phone her right now. (One addressee.)

—I els caps de torn, ja la coneixen? —No; els telefonaré després de parlar amb ella.

—And do the shift managers know about it? —No; I'll phone them after speaking with her. (Several addressees.)

—Els enviaràs el mateix informe? —Sí, els el faré arribar abans del migdia.

—Will you send them the same report? —Yes, I'll get it to them before noon. (Plural indirect els + masculine singular direct el.)

The last sentence is not repetition: the first els marks the recipients and the second clitic el marks the report.

Regional and register guidance

Formal IEC and AVL usage shares the basic li/els number opposition. (regional: Valencian) standard combinations with one recipient may retain li where Central Catalan uses hi: li'l donaré beside Central l'hi donaré. (regional: Balearic) has its own robust clitic system and often patterns with the Central order in these combinations. Keep one regional system coherent rather than mixing forms within a cluster.

In (formal) prose, prefer simple plural els over colloquial dative els hi and nonstandard lis. In dialogue or informal writing, those forms can accurately represent a speaker. Register labels describe appropriateness, not intelligence or grammatical ability.

Common Mistakes

❌ A les jugadores, les explicarem el nou reglament demà.

Incorrect: the players are recipients, not feminine direct objects.

✅ A les jugadores, els explicarem el nou reglament demà.

We'll explain the new rules to the players tomorrow.

❌ Als meus pares, li agrada molt aquesta exposició.

Incorrect number: the experiencer phrase als meus pares is plural.

✅ Als meus pares, els agrada molt aquesta exposició.

My parents really like this exhibition.

❌ L'interessa la plaça perquè és a prop de casa.

Incorrect: li does not elide before a vowel.

✅ Li interessa la plaça perquè és a prop de casa.

He or she is interested in the position because it is close to home.

❌ Lis comunicarem el resultat per correu electrònic.

Nonstandard in formal writing; the standard plural indirect form is els.

✅ Els comunicarem el resultat per correu electrònic.

We'll notify them of the result by email.

Correction task

Correct A la tutora els donaré els originals, però als alumnes li donaré una còpia. The recipients have been assigned the wrong number:

A la tutora, li donaré els originals, però als alumnes, els donaré una còpia.

I'll give the originals to the tutor, but I'll give the students a copy.

The final test is number: one third-person indirect object gives li; more than one gives els. Only after that decision should you handle placement, regional realization, or a multi-pronoun cluster.

Key Takeaways

Use li for one third-person indirect object and els for several, whatever their gender.
Els can also be a masculine plural direct-object form, so reconstruct the verb's arguments rather than judging from spelling alone.
Formal general usage prefers simple plural dative els; colloquial Central els hi and regional lis must be labeled and used deliberately.
In a cluster, derive recipient and transferred object separately before applying the Central, Valencian, or other coherent regional order.

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