Fer is conventionally translated as “do” or “make,” but neither English verb predicts its Catalan range. Catalan uses fer for weather, elapsed time, dimensions, activities, caused events, appearances, and many stored noun combinations. The productive core is “bring about or realize a situation,” but the exact noun, article, preposition, and clitic still have to be learned with each expression.
This page treats the major systems rather than listing every idiom. The patterns are common across Catalan varieties unless noted; feina is the Central form for “work,” while faena is the ordinary normative Valencian form (regional: Valencian).
For the verb's complete inflection, use the fer reference page; for the choice between the two major light verbs, see donar or fer.
The pattern grid
| Domain | Pattern | Example unit | What varies |
|---|---|---|---|
| weather | fer + weather noun/adjective | fer fred, fer bo | tense; weather complement |
| elapsed time | fa + duration (+ que + clause) | fa tres mesos que... | duration; tense in the other clause |
| activity/collocation | fer + (article) + noun | fer cua, fer una foto | person, tense; sometimes determiner |
| causation | fer + infinitive | fer riure, fer esperar | person, tense, caused participant |
| appearance | fer cara de / fer goig | fer cara de cansat | possessor; agreeing adjective |
| measurement | subject + fer + quantity | fer dos metres | dimension and quantity |
Frame 1: impersonal weather and elapsed time
Substitutable frame: Fa [fred / calor / vent / sol / bo / mal temps].
Weather fer is impersonal: it appears in the third-person singular, with no referential subject. The noun normally has no article in basic statements. Intensifiers belong inside the weather phrase: fa molta calor, fa un fred intens. Rain and snow have their own verbs, ploure and nevar; Catalan does not normally manufacture fer pluja from English “make rain.”
Avui fa sol, però al vespre farà força vent.
It's sunny today, but it will be quite windy in the evening. (neutral)
A l'ombra fa un fred que pela; seu una estona al sol.
It's bitterly cold in the shade; sit in the sun for a while. (informal; un fred que pela is emphatic)
Aquest cap de setmana farà bo a la costa, segons la previsió.
The weather will be good on the coast this weekend, according to the forecast. (neutral)
Elapsed-time fer is likewise impersonal and singular. With a present-tense clause, fa dos anys que... measures a situation that continues now. With a completed event, fa dos anys means “two years ago.”
Substitutable frame: Fa [duration] que [present-tense ongoing situation].
Fa sis mesos que treballo en aquesta cooperativa.
I've been working at this cooperative for six months. (neutral; the situation continues)
Fa tres setmanes vam trobar una fuita darrere l'armari.
Three weeks ago we found a leak behind the wardrobe. (neutral; completed event)
The English perfect in “have worked for six months” does not map mechanically onto a Catalan compound past. Catalan commonly combines fa + duration with the present because the working is still true now.
Activities: where articles are lexical knowledge
Many everyday activities use fer, but their determiners are not freely interchangeable.
| Stored combination | Natural English equivalent | Article pattern |
|---|---|---|
| fer esport / exercici | exercise / play sport | normally no article generically |
| fer cua | queue / stand in line | no article in the activity phrase |
| fer la compra | do the shopping | definite article |
| fer una foto | take a photo | indefinite or other variable determiner |
| fer una pregunta | ask a question | variable determiner |
| fer un petó / una abraçada | give a kiss / hug | variable determiner |
| fer cas a algú | pay attention to / heed someone | no article; dative person |
| fer feina | work / get work done | normally no article |
Hem fet cua quaranta minuts per recollir les entrades.
We queued for forty minutes to collect the tickets. (neutral)
Em pots fer una foto amb el mural de fons?
Can you take a photo of me with the mural in the background? (informal)
La nena no em fa cas quan està mirant dibuixos.
The girl doesn't listen to me when she's watching cartoons. (neutral; em marks the person not heeded)
The article can vary when it carries real reference: fer una foto introduces one photo; fer la foto del grup identifies a particular one; fer tres fotos counts them. By contrast, inserting an article into lexical fer cua changes or disrupts the activity reading. A partitive clitic can replace a counted noun: N'hem fet tres, de fotos “We took three of them/photos.”
In Valencian, Hui hem fet molta faena (regional: Valencian) corresponds to Central Avui hem fet molta feina. The light-verb pattern remains fer; only the noun and, here, hui/avui vary.
Frame 2: causing an event with fer + infinitive
Substitutable frame: [Subject] + fer + [infinitive] + [caused participant].
Here fer does not describe a separate act of making an object. It packages one event as the cause of another: someone causes another person to laugh, wait, read, or leave. The infinitive stays infinitive; only fer carries tense and person.
Aquell missatge de veu em va fer riure enmig del metro.
That voice message made me laugh in the middle of the metro. (neutral)
La coordinadora ens farà esperar al passadís fins que acabi la visita.
The coordinator will make us wait in the corridor until the visit ends. (neutral)
El professor li va fer repetir l'exercici sencer.
The teacher made him/her repeat the whole exercise. (neutral)
With an intransitive infinitive, the caused participant is commonly a direct object (em va fer riure, els va fer sortir). When the infinitive already has its own direct object, the caused participant is commonly indirect (li va fer repetir l'exercici). This clitic contrast is real grammar, not merely style, though spontaneous speech and dialects show some variation.
Frame 3: appearance and impression
Substitutable frame: [Person/thing] + fer cara de [noun/adjective] / fer [bona or mala] cara.
Fer cara de reports visible appearance, often as an inference rather than a fact. If an adjective describes the person, it agrees with that person. Fer bona cara can mean look well or receive something favorably depending on context. Fer goig means “look impressive/attractive” and is warm, everyday Catalan.
La Berta fa cara de cansada; potser no ha dormit gaire.
Berta looks tired; perhaps she hasn't slept much. (neutral; cansada agrees with Berta)
El jardí fa molt de goig després de la pluja.
The garden looks wonderful after the rain. (neutral, appreciative)
El director no va fer gaire bona cara quan va veure la factura.
The director didn't look very pleased when he saw the bill. (neutral idiom)
Sembla cansada is a fully grammatical, comprehensible alternative to fa cara de cansada. It is less visually specific: semblar can be based on any evidence, while fer cara de points to appearance, especially the face.
Measurements: a thing “does” a size
Catalan commonly uses fer where English uses be for dimensions. The measured object is the subject, and fer agrees with it. A dimension phrase such as de llarg, d'ample, or d'alt resolves what is being measured.
La prestatgeria fa dos metres de llarg i vuitanta centímetres d'alt.
The shelving unit is two meters long and eighty centimeters high. (neutral)
Quant fa, d'ample, la porta del balcó?
How wide is the balcony door? (neutral)
Aquestes caixes fan trenta centímetres de fondària cadascuna.
These boxes are thirty centimeters deep each. (neutral)
Literal versus idiomatic choices
| Catalan | Word-for-word image | Idiomatic English |
|---|---|---|
| fer una foto | make a photo | take a photo |
| fer una pregunta | make a question | ask a question |
| fer un petó | make a kiss | give a kiss |
| fer dos metres | do two meters | be two meters long/high |
| fer cara de son | make a face of sleep | look sleepy |
—Què fas aquesta tarda? —Primer faig la compra i després aniré a córrer.
—What are you doing this afternoon? —First I'm doing the shopping and then I'll go running. (informal mini-dialogue)
The general question Què fas? is productive, while the answer contains stored fer la compra. Do not force a colorful idiom into every setting: replying faig mans i mànigues (“I'm moving heaven and earth”) to a simple question about afternoon plans sounds exaggerated unless real effort is at issue.
Common Mistakes
❌ Avui fa pluja des de primera hora.
Incorrect light-verb choice for ordinary rain: Catalan uses the verb ploure.
✅ Avui plou des de primera hora i fa força vent.
It has been raining since early morning and it's quite windy.
❌ Agafaré una foto del cartell abans que el retirin.
Incorrect for photographing the poster: agafar una foto means taking hold of an existing picture; the established photography collocation is fer una foto.
✅ Faré una foto del cartell abans que el retirin.
I'll take a photo of the poster before they remove it.
❌ Fa sis mesos que he treballat aquí.
Wrong for a situation that still continues: Catalan normally uses the present after fa... que.
✅ Fa sis mesos que treballo aquí i ja conec tothom.
I've worked here for six months and I already know everyone.
❌ Vaig donar un petó al meu nebot per acomiadar-me.
Spanish-influenced light verb: standard Catalan uses fer un petó.
✅ Vaig fer un petó al meu nebot abans de pujar al tren.
I gave my nephew a kiss before getting on the train.
❌ La taula és dos metres de llarg.
Comprehensible but nonidiomatic measurement structure: use fer for dimensions.
✅ La taula fa dos metres de llarg, però només seixanta centímetres d'ample.
The table is two meters long but only sixty centimeters wide.
Key Takeaways
- Impersonal fer expresses weather (fa fred, fa bo) and elapsed time (fa dos anys que...).
- Activity collocations store their articles: fer cua, fer la compra, fer una foto, fer un petó.
- In fer + infinitive, only fer is conjugated; clitic choice depends partly on the infinitive's own objects.
- Fer cara de points to visible appearance, while fer goig expresses appreciative appearance.
- Dimensions use fer: La paret fa tres metres d'alt.
- English and Spanish analogies do not choose the Catalan light verb reliably. Learn the entire collocation.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Conjugation of ferA1 — Complete contemporary conjugation of fer for doing, making, weather, elapsed time, causatives, idioms, and pronominal fer-se.
- Fer plus InfinitiveB1 — Build Catalan causatives with fer plus a bare infinitive, marking the person made to act as a direct or indirect object according to the infinitive's transitivity.
- Time and Weather ExpressionsA1 — Tell the time, give dates, and describe weather with Catalan's stored impersonal frames: és la, són les, fa, plou, and hi ha.
- Expressions with DonarB1 — Distinguish literal and idiomatic donar from Catalan fer, including transfer, permission, results, reactions, clitics, and Spanish calques.
- Donar or Fer in Common CollocationsB2 — Choose donar or fer as part of a complete Catalan collocation, especially where English or Spanish suggests the wrong light verb.
- Dates, Years, and Clock TimeA1 — State Catalan dates, years, and clock times with day-first order, correct articles, and regional hour systems.