Infinitival Clauses and Control

An infinitival clause has a nonfinite verb but still has a subject, arguments, aspect, negation, and internal word order. In La Mireia promet arribar d'hora, the infinitive arribar is understood to have Mireia as its subject. In La Mireia anima en Biel a arribar d'hora, Biel is the understood arriver. The dependency that identifies this unspoken subject is called control.

English has control too, but Catalan omits subjects more freely, attaches object clitics to the infinitive, and permits a postverbal overt subject in certain nonfinite adjuncts. Reading only from linear order therefore fails: the selecting predicate and the semantic roles determine who performs the infinitive.

Subject control

With subject-control predicates, the matrix subject supplies the understood subject of the infinitive.

The analysis is La Mireiaᵢ promet [Øᵢ arribar...]. The understood subject cannot normally switch to another salient person: the promise commits Mireia to arriving. Plural els veïns similarly controls the understood agent of presentar.

Some predicates take a preposition before the infinitive, and that preposition belongs to the predicate's lexical pattern:

There is no completely reliable semantic shortcut for a, de, or zero marking after every verb. Learn the infinitival frame with the verb: decidir fer, atrevir-se a fer, oblidar-se de fer. The verb complements page organizes the major sets.

Object control

With object-control predicates, an object or oblique argument of the matrix verb supplies the understood subject of the infinitive.

The structures are la tutora anima [la Carla]ᵢ [Øᵢ a presentar-se] and convencem [en Biel]ᵢ [Øᵢ de quedar-se]. Carla applies; Biel stays. The matrix subject remains the encourager or persuader.

An English speaker may wrongly assign the infinitive to the nearest preceding noun in every sentence. That heuristic happens to work here, but it is not the rule. Compare subject-control La Carla va prometre a la tutora presentar-s'hi: despite adjacent la tutora, Carla is the one who promised to apply.

Raising is not control

In semblar + infinitive, the surface subject is interpreted only inside the infinitival proposition; semblar does not assign it the role of a thinker or actor.

Compare subject control:

L'equip is an intentional participant selected by intenta. La proposta merely belongs semantically to resoldre; it is “raised” into the matrix subject position of sembla. This explains why a weather expression can follow sembla—Sembla ploure cap a muntanya (literary)—but cannot “try” to rain.

Generic and arbitrary subjects

An infinitive used as a subject often has a generic understood subject, roughly “people in general” or English generic “you.”

English uses an -ing form as a noun-like subject; Catalan uses the infinitive, not the gerund. The whole infinitival clause is singular for matrix agreement: Treballar... no et fa, not plural agreement inferred from the people involved.

Overt subjects in temporal infinitival clauses

Catalan can state an infinitive's subject overtly, especially when it differs from the matrix subject. The subject usually follows the infinitive.

In the first sentence, nosaltres belongs inside the abans de clause; the omitted subject of havien tancat is someone else. In the second, la directora is not a displaced matrix subject. The bracketed structure is [En entrar la directora] [tothom va abaixar la veu].

Both temporal en + infinitive and al + infinitive occur in contemporary standard Catalan, though frequency varies by region and register. En entrar la directora... is (formal) in much Central prose and especially productive in (regional: Valencian) usage, where it can carry a clear immediate-anterior meaning close to “as soon as.” Al sortir de la reunió... is widespread in conversation. The finite alternative Quan va entrar la directora... is neutral and explicit everywhere.

Purpose infinitives and ambiguous control

A purpose clause with per normally shares its understood subject with the matrix subject when no other controller is grammatically licensed:

The omitted “I” is agent of both he vingut and consultar. Another plausible participant can nevertheless make the intended control hard to process:

Standard same-subject control makes Júlia the checker, but world knowledge may tempt a reader to misassign the action to the technician. If the technician is intended, a finite purpose clause is required and identifies that agent:

For Júlia as reviewer, write La Júlia, per poder revisar el servidor, va trucar al tècnic i li va demanar la contrasenya. The reordered purpose phrase is a framed intention; its subject is tied clearly to la Júlia.

Clitics remain inside the infinitival clause

An infinitive can select objects and prepositional complements just like a finite verb. Its unstressed pronouns normally attach to its right edge with the required apostrophes and hyphens.

In explicar-t'ho, t' is the indirect object and ho the direct object. In parlar-ne, en resumes a de-complement such as del pressupost. Omitting these clitics because English can leave a complement implicit often produces an incomplete Catalan clause.

With a tight verbal periphrasis, clitic climbing may create an alternative: Ho vull explicar beside Vull explicar-ho. Purpose adjuncts do not allow arbitrary climbing into the main clause: Hem vingut per parlar-ne keeps en with parlar.

Scope, negation, and information structure

Negation immediately before an infinitive belongs to that clause:

The recommendation exists; its content is not-driving. La metgessa no li va recomanar conduir instead negates the recommendation and leaves open what advice she gave.

A fronted infinitival clause can serve as topic:

The initial phrase is not the subject of atrevia. Ningú is that subject, and hi resumes the a + infinitive complement of atrevir-se. This is a marked discourse construction; neutral prose prefers Ningú no s'atrevia a demanar una pròrroga.

A natural dialogue

Salma controls recollir, passar and anar. The locative clitic hi resumes the place where the keys are, while the subject remains unspoken because every control relation is recoverable.

Regional and register guidance

The major control relations are shared across Catalan varieties. (regional: Valencian) en + infinitive is especially alive as a temporal construction; Central conversation often prefers quan + finite clause. Purpose per and per a show normative and regional variation, so do not infer control from that choice alone. (formal) prose should rewrite a purpose infinitive whenever its agent could be confused with a nearby object. (literary) postverbal overt subjects occur more freely than in casual speech.

Common Mistakes

1. Assigning object control to a subject-control verb.

2. Copying an English gerund into subject position.

3. Putting an overt nonfinite subject before the infinitive.

4. Dropping a required clitic from the infinitive.

Correction task

In standard syntax, La Jana va escriure al gestor per enviar els documents makes Jana the sender: the purpose infinitive is controlled by the matrix subject. Because the nearby manager is also a pragmatically plausible sender, however, the sentence is easy to misread. If the manager must send the documents, use a finite clause and preserve the direct-object clitic:

If Jana will send them, the original control relation is grammatical; La Jana va escriure al gestor per avisar-lo que enviaria els documents makes her intention especially explicit. Clause structure distinguishes genuine subject control from a merely plausible alternative reading.

Key Takeaways

• Subject-control predicates link the infinitive's understood subject to the matrix subject; object-control predicates link it to an object.
• Raising with semblar does not assign a semantic role to the raised subject.
• Generic activities use an infinitive, while certain temporal adjuncts allow an overt postverbal subject.
• A purpose infinitive is risky when more than one participant could perform it; a finite perquè clause disambiguates.
• Infinitival clauses keep their selected clitics, prepositions, negation, and internal argument structure.