The complementizer que introduces a finite clause that completes the meaning of another expression: Diu que arribarà tard (“She says that she will arrive late”). Unlike a relative pronoun, complementizer que does not stand for a person or thing inside its clause. Its structural job is to mark the following proposition as dependent on a verb, noun, adjective, or impersonal evaluation.
English often omits “that” after say, think, or know. Neutral Catalan normally keeps que, so translating by deleting every English “that” produces an incomplete or telegraphic structure. The matrix expression—not que itself—determines whether the complement is presented as asserted, desired, doubted, felt, or evaluated.
Decide what relation introduces the clause
| Matrix meaning | Typical frame | Usual mood tendency | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| speech or report | dir/explicar que... | indicative when reported as information | Explica que ja ho sap. |
| thought, belief, knowledge | pensar/creure/saber que... | indicative when affirmed | Crec que funcionarà. |
| direct perception or inference | veure/sentir/notar que... | usually indicative for perceived fact | Veig que plou. |
| emotion or reaction | alegrar-se/lamentar que... | often subjunctive | M'alegra que hi siguis. |
| evaluation or necessity | és clar/és important que... | indicative for asserted evidence; subjunctive for evaluation or necessity | És important que vinguis. |
The table gives tendencies rather than a complete mood course. Mood expresses the matrix speaker's stance toward the embedded proposition; the word que remains the same. See indicative versus subjunctive for the full decision system.
Speech and thought: Catalan keeps que
After verbs of saying and reporting, que opens the content of what was said. The reported clause has its own subject, tense, clitics, and possible negation.
La directora ha dit que demà obriran una hora abans.
The director has said that tomorrow they will open an hour earlier.
En Pol em va explicar que encara no havia rebut la confirmació.
Pol explained to me that he still hadn't received the confirmation.
Els tècnics asseguren que ja han resolt l'avaria que afectava el servidor principal.
The technicians say that they have already fixed the fault that was affecting the main server.
The last sentence contains two forms of que. The first is a complementizer: asseguren [que ja han resolt...]. The second is a relative pronoun: l'avaria [que afectava...]; it represents the subject of afectava and refers back to l'avaria. Complementizer que has no such antecedent or clause-internal role.
English permits “The director said they would open earlier.” Catalan does not normally mirror that omission as La directora ha dit demà obriran... Use La directora ha dit *que demà obriran...*.
With an addressee, Catalan expresses the recipient separately: dir una cosa a algú, often with an indirect-object clitic.
Li vaig dir que no m'esperés desperta, perquè sortiríem tard de la reunió.
I told her not to wait up for me because we would leave the meeting late.
The clitics li and m' remain attached to their respective verbs. Que marks the boundary between the matrix act of telling and the reported directive.
Thought predicates behave similarly:
Penso que aquesta vegada ens convé reservar amb antelació.
I think that this time it is best for us to book in advance.
No sabia que la biblioteca tancava tan d'hora durant l'agost.
I didn't know that the library closed so early during August.
The indicative tancava presents the schedule as a fact that the speaker has now discovered. Negation in the matrix clause does not mechanically force a subjunctive; mood can vary with lexical meaning, factivity, and whether the speaker commits to the complement. There is no honest rule saying “negation always causes subjunctive.”
Perception: a proposition is seen, heard, or noticed
With veure, sentir, and notar, the que-clause presents what the experiencer takes to be the case. This differs from an infinitive or small-clause perception construction, which depicts an event more directly.
Des del passadís sento que algú mou cadires a la sala gran.
From the corridor I can hear that someone is moving chairs in the large room.
Quan he obert l'arxiu, he vist que hi faltaven les dues últimes pàgines.
When I opened the file, I saw that the last two pages were missing.
The complementizer turns the entire proposition into the object of perception: not merely pages, but “that two pages were missing.” It does not translate every English use of “feel”: emotional sentir-se and opinion phrases may require other structures.
Emotion and evaluation: que stays, mood changes
Expressions of emotion usually presuppose or react to a proposition rather than simply asserting it. Catalan commonly places the subjunctive inside the complement.
Ens alegra que hàgiu trobat un pis a prop de la feina.
We're glad that you've found an apartment close to work.
Lamento que no pugueu assistir a la cerimònia de dissabte.
I'm sorry that you can't attend Saturday's ceremony.
Impersonal evaluations show why que itself cannot choose mood:
És evident que el calendari actual no deixa prou marge.
It is clear that the current schedule does not leave enough leeway.
És important que el calendari deixi prou marge per revisar les proves.
It is important that the schedule leave enough time to review the proofs.
És evident que presents the proposition as established, so deixa is indicative. És important que evaluates a desirable state, so deixi is subjunctive. The complementizer is identical in both minimal pairs.
Negation and scope
Moving negation across the que boundary changes which proposition is denied. Compare:
Crec que la Berta no vindrà a la presentació.
I think Berta won't come to the presentation. — The belief is affirmative; non-arrival is embedded.
No crec que la Berta vingui a la presentació.
I don't think Berta will come to the presentation. — The belief itself is negated.
English can blur these readings in conversation. Catalan makes their syntactic scope visible through the position of no and often through mood. The second pattern commonly selects subjunctive because the speaker withholds assertion of the embedded event.
Clitics also reveal the clause boundary: Crec que *l'hi enviaran demà places the cluster with the embedded verb *enviaran. Nothing can insert que between a clitic and its verb.
Prepositions normally fall before complementizer que
Many Catalan predicates select a, de, en, or amb before a noun or infinitive, but the standard language normally drops that preposition before a finite complement clause introduced by que. This is the caiguda de preposició.
La Mireia s'ha adonat que havia enviat l'esborrany a una adreça antiga.
Mireia realized that she had sent the draft to an old address.
Confio que trobareu una solució abans que s'acabi el termini.
I trust that you will find a solution before the deadline expires.
Compare adonar-se *de l'error and adonar-se **que hi ha un error; confiar **en la seva experiència and confiar **que ho resoldrà. Do not preserve the preposition mechanically as *adonar-se de que or confiar en que. This is a major difference both from English prepositional patterns and from common Spanish-influenced usage.
Some established conjunctions genuinely contain a preposition, such as abans que and des que. They are not cases of a predicate retaining its government. The preposition drop before que page treats the boundary and current normative variation in detail.
Punctuation and coordinated complements
Do not put a comma between a verb and the complement clause it selects. The clause completes the verb in the same way an object phrase would.
La portaveu ha confirmat que el servei es reprendrà dilluns al matí.
The spokesperson has confirmed that service will resume on Monday morning.
Writing ha confirmat, que... wrongly separates the predicate from its required content. A comma is possible only for an independent parenthetical or other structure, not simply because the clause is long.
When two complements are coordinated, repeating que is often clearest, especially if the clauses are long, have different polarity, or could be misgrouped.
El comunicat afirma que les obres acabaran al juny i que no caldrà interrompre el servei.
The statement says that the work will finish in June and that the service will not need to be interrupted.
Omitting the second que can be natural in short, tightly linked clauses, but repetition makes the parallel dependency explicit. (formal) administrative and academic writing often benefits from that clarity.
Reordered and embedded material
A complement clause may contain fronted or dislocated material without changing the role of the introductory que.
La responsable ens ha advertit que, els documents originals, els haurem de presentar presencialment encara que ja n'hàgim enviat una còpia.
The person in charge has warned us that, as for the original documents, we will have to submit them in person even though we have already sent a copy.
The embedded topic els documents originals is resumed by the clitic els inside the que-clause. The commas mark dislocation; they do not separate the matrix verb ha advertit from its complementizer.
Natural dialogue
—La Jana diu que arribarà cap a les vuit. —Creia que avui treballava fins tard. —Sí, però m'ha explicat que han acabat abans. —M'alegra que pugui venir. Li has dit que porti les fotos del viatge? —Sí, i també li he recordat que no cal que dugui res per sopar.
Jana says she'll arrive around eight. —I thought she was working late today. —Yes, but she explained that they finished early. —I'm glad she can come. Did you tell her to bring the travel photos? —Yes, and I also reminded her that she doesn't need to bring anything for dinner.
Speech, belief, emotion, request, and necessity all use que. Their different moods come from dir, creure, alegrar-se, dir as a directive, and caldre, not from different complementizers.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting que because English can omit “that.”
❌ La Sílvia diu arribarà després de sopar.
Incorrect—Catalan normally requires que before the finite reported clause.
✅ La Sílvia diu que arribarà després de sopar.
Sílvia says she'll arrive after dinner.
2. Keeping a Spanish-influenced preposition before que.
❌ M'alegro de que hagis pogut canviar el bitllet.
Nonstandard in careful Catalan—the de selected before a noun or infinitive falls before a finite que-clause.
✅ M'alegro que hagis pogut canviar el bitllet.
I'm glad you were able to change the ticket.
3. Putting a comma between the selecting verb and its complement.
❌ Han anunciat, que el museu tancarà una setmana.
Incorrect—the complement directly supplies what has been announced.
✅ Han anunciat que el museu tancarà una setmana per obres.
They have announced that the museum will close for a week for building work.
4. Assuming every que-clause takes the same mood.
❌ És evident que el termini sigui massa curt.
Wrong for a straightforward assertion—és evident que normally presents the claim as established.
✅ És evident que el termini és massa curt, però convé que el revisem igualment.
It is clear that the deadline is too short, but it is advisable that we review it anyway.
Short correction task
Correct Crec arribaran demà i confio en que portin el contracte, que l'advocada diu, és imprescindible. A clear version is: Crec que arribaran demà i confio que portin el contracte, que l'advocada diu que és imprescindible. The first que introduces belief, the preposition drops after confio, the relative que refers to el contracte, and the final complementizer introduces what the lawyer says.
Key Takeaways
Complementizer que marks a finite proposition as dependent, and neutral Catalan normally keeps it where English can omit “that.” It has no antecedent and no role inside its clause, unlike relative que. The matrix expression controls assertion, mood, tense, and interpretation; que only opens the dependency. Keep clitics inside their own clause, avoid a comma between the selecting verb and its complement, and drop a predicate's a, de, en, or amb before standard finite que-clauses unless you are dealing with a genuine conjunction such as abans que.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Complement ClausesB1 — Embed statements and events with finite que clauses or infinitives, choosing mood, control, and clause order by meaning.
- Reported SpeechB2 — Report Catalan statements, questions, and commands while managing viewpoint, pronouns, time expressions, and optional tense backshifting.
- Preposition Drop before QueB2 — Learn when Catalan drops a governed preposition before a finite que-clause, how formal and informal usage differ, and how to avoid dequeisme and queisme.
- What the Subjunctive ContributesB1 — Understand the Catalan subjunctive as a mood of dependent, nonasserted situations—not simply uncertainty.
- Indicative or Subjunctive?B1 — Choose Catalan indicative or subjunctive by deciding whether a clause is asserted or placed inside desire, evaluation, nonidentification, or another nonassertive frame.
- Relative QueB1 — Use invariant unstressed que to build Catalan subject and direct-object relative clauses without omission, agreement, or stranded prepositions.