A finite negative command addressed to someone in Catalan is built with no + present subjunctive: No obris la finestra “Don’t open the window.” It is not made by putting no before the affirmative imperative: Obre-la becomes No l'obris, not No obre-la. The change affects both the verb form and the position of every weak pronoun.
English uses do not/don’t plus a base verb for every addressee. Catalan marks who is being addressed in the verb and distinguishes a personal prohibition from the compressed infinitives seen on signs. This page brings those choices together; the full paradigms are on negative imperatives.
Decision table
| Situation | Choose | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| One familiar person | no + tu subjunctive | No corris. | Neutral |
| Several familiar people | no + vosaltres subjunctive | No correu. | Neutral |
| Polite singular/plural | no + vostè/vostès subjunctive | No corri / No corrin. | Formal or respectful |
| Speaker-inclusive proposal | no + nosaltres subjunctive | No correm. | Neutral |
| Short public label or sign | no + infinitive or an impersonal prohibition | No fumar / Prohibit fumar | Administrative signage |
| Polite request rather than blunt order | negative command + courtesy marker, or question | No corri, si us plau. | Polite |
The personal pattern: no plus present subjunctive
With Central Catalan parlar, the negative-command series is no parlis, no parli, no parlem, no parleu, no parlin. The subject pronoun is normally omitted because the ending and the social context identify the addressee.
| Addressee | Negative command | Natural use |
|---|---|---|
| tu | no parlis | one familiar person |
| vostè | no parli | one respectfully addressed person |
| nosaltres | no parlem | “let’s not speak” |
| vosaltres | no parleu | several familiar people |
| vostès | no parlin | several respectfully addressed people |
No t'acostis tant a la vora; les pedres rellisquen.
Don’t go so close to the edge; the stones are slippery. (familiar singular)
No entrin encara, si us plau; estem acabant de preparar la sala.
Please don’t come in yet; we’re finishing preparing the room. (polite plural)
The subjunctive presents the prohibited action as a possibility that the speaker wants to prevent. This is why irregular affirmative forms do not carry over: fes but no facis, digues but no diguis, ves but no vagis, sigues but no siguis.
Fes una còpia, però no facis cap canvi al document original.
Make a copy, but don’t make any change to the original document.
Ves-hi amb la Marta; no hi vagis tot sol.
Go there with Marta; don’t go there alone.
These are minimal polarity pairs. English changes only the auxiliary do; Catalan changes the mood and, in these verbs, the stem.
Weak pronouns move before the negative command
An affirmative command attaches weak pronouns after the verb: explica-m'ho, obre-la, aneu-vos-en. A negative command places the whole cluster between no and the subjunctive verb: no m'ho expliquis, no l'obris, no us n'aneu. The internal order of the pronouns remains the same.
Envia-me-les avui, però no me les enviïs per correu ordinari.
Send them to me today, but don’t send them to me by regular mail.
No te n'oblidis quan surtis de casa.
Don’t forget it when you leave home.
The apostrophes and spaces matter. No-m'ho-diguis is wrong because no never joins the pronoun cluster with hyphens. No diguis-m'ho is wrong because negative commands require proclisis. For a systematic treatment, see pronouns with negative imperatives.
What exactly is prohibited?
No normally has scope over the command proposition. Focus, placement, and context can narrow the intended ban. Compare these instructions:
No baixis les persianes aquesta tarda.
Don’t lower the blinds this afternoon. (The action is prohibited then.)
Aquesta tarda, no baixis les persianes del despatx; baixa només les de la sala.
This afternoon, don’t lower the office blinds; lower only the ones in the meeting room.
The second sentence uses a fronted time phrase and a correction to show that the ban concerns one set of blinds, not every lowering action. In speech, stress helps; in writing, a contrast such as sinó or només prevents ambiguity.
An embedded prohibition retains the same verb form when it is quoted directly, but after a reporting verb Catalan normally uses que + subjunctive:
La metgessa ens ha dit que no li donem menjar fins al vespre.
The doctor has told us not to give him food until the evening.
English uses “told us not to give,” an infinitival pattern. Standard Catalan naturally preserves the recipient as the indirect object of dir and introduces the requested action with que. Do not copy Spanish government mechanically by adding a personal a before a direct object; Catalan argument structure must be learned on its own terms.
Politeness is more than choosing vostè
The bare negative command can sound urgent or corrective. Si us plau, a reason, or a conditional question softens it. Vostè and vostès mark respectful address, but an unsoftened No toqui això can still sound severe.
No deixi les maletes aquí, si us plau; pot posar-les al costat de la recepció.
Please don’t leave the suitcases here; you can put them beside reception. (polite singular)
Et faria res no posar música fins que s'adormi la nena?
Would you mind not playing music until the little girl falls asleep? (polite, informal address)
The second is grammatically a question, not an imperative, but pragmatically it makes a softened negative request. (formal) notices may prefer an impersonal construction: Es demana que no es bloquegi la sortida. That avoids selecting an addressee.
Prohibitive infinitives on signs
Short labels and signs commonly use no + infinitive: No fumar, No aparcar, No trepitjar la gespa. This is a compressed, impersonal instruction: no person or number is expressed. Prohibit fumar and Prohibit el pas are also conventional administrative forms.
No obrir la porta mentre el vehicle estigui en marxa.
Do not open the door while the vehicle is moving. (sign/instruction label)
Do not generalize this sign style to ordinary conversation. When speaking to visitors, say No obriu aquesta porta or politely No obrin aquesta porta, si us plau, not bare No obrir aquesta porta. In running instructions addressed to a known audience, the finite imperative is the standard choice. The infinitive works because headings, labels, checklists, and public notices routinely omit material that a full sentence would express.
Punctuation reflects the format. A short sign normally has no final period; a command inside prose does. Exclamation marks add urgency—No toqueu!—and should not be scattered through routine administrative text.
Regional guidance
The construction no + subjunctive is pan-Catalan. The actual subjunctive endings vary. In standard Valencian, for example, familiar singular no parles corresponds to Central no parlis, and polite singular no parle corresponds to no parli. These are valid regional paradigms, not mistakes. Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese speech likewise has local morphology and address preferences. Use one coherent standard in a single document; this guide uses Central forms unless it labels another variety.
A natural dialogue
—Puc obrir les finestres? —La del passadís, sí; però no obris la del menjador, que hi ha el nadó. I no l'obris tampoc quan arribin els convidats. —D'acord. Vols que abaixi la persiana? —Sí, però no la baixis del tot.
—Can I open the windows? —The corridor one, yes; but don’t open the dining-room one, because the baby is there. And don’t open it when the guests arrive either. —All right. Do you want me to lower the blind? —Yes, but don’t lower it completely.
The dialogue contrasts object focus, the preverbal clitic l', and a final degree restriction: lowering is allowed, but lowering completely is not.
Short correction task
Correct each instruction for the context given.
- To one friend: No obre la capsa.
- With a pronoun: No expliqueu-m'ho encara.
- Spoken to two children: No córrer pel passadís.
- A concise sign: No fumeu vostès en aquesta zona.
No obris la capsa.
Don’t open the box. (One familiar addressee: present subjunctive.)
No m'ho expliqueu encara.
Don’t explain it to me yet. (The clitic cluster precedes a negative command.)
No correu pel passadís.
Don’t run in the corridor. (Finite plural command in direct speech.)
No fumar en aquesta zona.
No smoking in this area. (Compressed impersonal sign style.)
Common Mistakes
❌ No fes soroll quan entris.
Incorrect — fes is the affirmative imperative; a prohibition needs the present subjunctive.
✅ No facis soroll quan entris.
Don’t make noise when you come in.
❌ No diguis-me això davant dels nens.
Incorrect — the weak pronoun cannot remain after a negative command.
✅ No em diguis això davant dels nens.
Don’t tell me that in front of the children.
❌ No us aneu sense recollir l'abric.
Incorrect in the intended sense ‘don’t leave’ — anar-se'n requires the en-clitic.
✅ No us n'aneu sense recollir l'abric.
Don’t leave without picking up your coat.
⚠️ No aparcaràs davant del gual.
This future form can sound like a forceful prediction or order, but it is not the neutral Catalan negative imperative.
✅ No aparquis davant del gual.
Don’t park in front of the driveway.
Key Takeaways
- Personal negative commands use no + present subjunctive for every addressee.
- Weak pronouns precede a negative command but attach after an affirmative one: no m'ho diguis / digues-m'ho.
- Bare no + infinitive belongs mainly to signs, labels, and compressed public instructions, not ordinary addressed conversation.
- Courtesy markers, reasons, questions, and impersonal wording can soften a prohibition more effectively than person choice alone.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Negative ImperativesA2 — Build Catalan prohibitions with no plus the present subjunctive, placing weak pronouns correctly for every command person.
- Affirmative ImperativesA2 — Form affirmative Catalan commands for tu, vostè, nosaltres, vosaltres, and vostès, with correct agreement and weak-pronoun placement.
- Weak Pronouns with Affirmative CommandsA2 — Learn where Catalan weak pronouns go in affirmative commands and how hyphens, apostrophes, stress, and pronoun clusters work.
- Commands, Requests, and Pragmatic ForceA2 — Choose among Catalan imperatives, polite questions, conditional requests, and impersonal instructions without sounding abrupt or unnatural.
- Infinitives in Instructions and SignsB1 — Understand directive infinitives on Catalan signs and in procedures, and know when an imperative or impersonal construction is the better choice.
- Pronouns with Negative ImperativesB1 — Place Catalan weak pronouns before a negative subjunctive command and contrast that pattern with attachment after affirmative imperatives.