When en occurs with a person or pronominal clitic, it normally comes second: me'n, te'n, se'n, ens en, us en, li'n, els en. The first pronoun identifies a participant or agrees with the subject of a pronominal verb; en separately resumes a quantity, a phrase introduced by de, or part of a lexicalized verb such as anar-se'n.
English often expresses none of this structure overtly: Me'n dona dues is simply “She gives me two,” and Se'n recorda is “He remembers it.” The absence of an English word for en never licenses dropping it from the Catalan cluster. Review partitive en and en for de-complements if those two functions are not yet familiar.
Two pronouns, two functions
Start from the full Catalan phrases. In the first derivation, em is the recipient and en replaces the quantified noun dues entrades while leaving the numeral behind:
La taquillera em dona dues entrades. → La taquillera me'n dona dues.
The ticket clerk gives me two tickets. → The ticket clerk gives me two.
In the next derivation, es belongs to the pronominal verb recordar-se and en replaces its de-complement:
En Pol es recorda de la contrasenya. → En Pol se'n recorda.
Pol remembers the password. → Pol remembers it.
The surface sequence is similar, but the first pronoun has a different job. In me'n dona, me is dative “to me”; in me'n recordo, me agrees with the first-person subject of recordar-se.
No me'n recordo, del número del portal; me'l pots tornar a dir?
I don't remember the building number; can you tell it to me again?
The basic combinations
Before a consonant-initial finite verb, the usual forms are:
| First pronoun |
| Example |
|---|---|---|
| em | me'n | me'n dona dos |
| et | te'n | te'n porta una |
| es | se'n | se'n recorda |
| ens | ens en | ens en guarda tres |
| us | us en | us en deixa quatre |
| li | li'n | li'n compra mig quilo |
| els | els en | els en porta una capsa |
Si les pomes són bones, te'n porto un quilo quan torni.
If the apples are good, I'll bring you a kilo when I return.
A nosaltres ens en guarden tres, de places, fins a les sis.
They're holding three places for us until six.
Els avis volen préssecs; els en portarem una caixa diumenge.
The grandparents want peaches; we'll bring them a box on Sunday.
The quantity remains overt because en does not encode it: dues, un quilo, tres, una caixa. With a de-complement rather than a quantity, en replaces the whole recoverable phrase: es recorda de la contrasenya → se'n recorda.
What happens before a vowel or silent h
The apostrophe moves as far to the right as possible. Compare a consonant-initial verb with a vowel-initial verb or auxiliary:
| Before a consonant | Before a vowel or silent h |
|---|---|
| me'n dona | me n'ha donat |
| te'n porta | te n'envia |
| se'n recorda | se n'ha recordat |
| ens en guarda | ens n'ha guardat |
| us en deixa | us n'ha deixat |
| li'n compra | li n'ha comprat |
| els en porta | els n'ha portat |
De croissants, me n'han guardat dos perquè avui he arribat tard.
They've saved two croissants for me because I arrived late today.
Never write me'n ha guardat: the elided n' must stand immediately before ha. After a first pronoun ending in s, both ens n'anem / ens en anem and us n'han tret / us en han tret are standard. The reduced forms with n' are preferred in general usage and serve as the primary Central baseline here.
Pronominal verbs and lexicalized en
With verbs governing de, en replaces that complement after the person-matched pronominal clitic: me'n penedeixo, te'n queixes, se'n burla, ens en recordem, us en fieu. The subject determines the first clitic; the antecedent of the de-phrase determines en.
No us en fieu, d'aquell missatge: l'adreça del remitent és falsa.
Don't trust that message; the sender's address is fake.
With anar-se'n, en is lexicalized rather than a transparent replacement for one particular de-phrase. The full cluster is part of the verb “leave/go away.”
La pel·lícula no s'ha acabat, però nosaltres ens n'hem d'anar.
The film isn't over, but we have to leave.
The finite and infinitival placements are both possible in this verb phrase: ens n'hem d'anar / hem d'anar-nos-en. What is impossible is dropping en: ens hem d'anar does not express the same standard lexical verb.
Li'n and the Central alternative n'hi
For singular third-person dative plus en, li'n is the transparent combination and is more usual in (formal) registers:
La Maria necessita quatre còpies; li'n faré quatre aquesta tarda.
Maria needs four copies; I'll make four for her this afternoon.
(regional: much of the Central and other non-Valencian area) n'hi is also accepted because those varieties use dative hi in this combination: N'hi faré quatre. (regional: Valencian) li'n is the characteristic solution. Both are standard, but do not interpret the hi of n'hi automatically as a place: here it represents the recipient.
For a plural recipient, careful usage has els en: Els en faré quatre. (informal, regional: much of the Central area) generalized els hi is frequent for this and several other plural-dative clusters, but (formal) writing keeps els en so that partitive en remains visible.
Placement after the verb
The whole cluster attaches after an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative imperative. The table shows the full postverbal forms after a consonant-final infinitive: -me'n, -te'n, -se'n, -nos-en, -vos-en, -li'n, and -los-en. After other hosts, the first clitic may take its reduced form, as in dona-me'n.
| Preverbal | Postverbal example |
|---|---|
| me'n dona | donar-me'n / dona-me'n |
| te'n portes | endur-te'n |
| se'n va | anar-se'n |
| ens en dona | donar-nos-en |
| us en dona | donar-vos-en |
| li'n dona | donar-li'n |
| els en dona | donar-los-en |
Aquest formatge és boníssim: tasta'n un tros i compra-me'n mig quilo.
This cheese is delicious: taste a piece and buy me half a kilo.
Affirmative and negative commands contrast cleanly: Dona-me'n dues but No me'n donis cap. In a cluster, apostrophes and hyphens follow the written forms; they are not optional punctuation.
Strong forms and substitution limits
A strong pronoun can contrast the participant—A mi, dona-me'n dues—but does not replace the weak cluster in that dislocated structure. Conversely, en cannot replace an entire definite direct object: el pastís → me'l porta, not me'n porta, unless the meaning is partitive (“she brings me some of it”).
—Quantes invitacions necessita la directora? —Li'n calen sis, i ja n'hi hem reservat dues.
How many invitations does the director need? —She needs six, and we've already reserved two for her.
The dialogue keeps invitacions as the unambiguous antecedent. Li'n calen sis uses formal li'n; n'hi hem reservat dues uses the accepted dative-hi alternative and illustrates why the cluster must be interpreted from function and context.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting en because English leaves the noun unspoken.
❌ Em dones dues, d'entrades?
Incorrect in the neutral pronominal pattern—the omitted quantified noun must be resumed by en.
✅ Me'n dones dues, d'entrades?
Will you give me two tickets?
2. Copying English pronoun order.
❌ En me guardes una, de cadira?
Incorrect—the person clitic precedes en.
✅ Me'n guardes una, de cadira?
Will you save me a chair?
3. Leaving the apostrophe on the wrong side of an auxiliary.
❌ Me'n han portat tres.
Incorrect—the apostrophe moves to n' immediately before han.
✅ Me n'han portat tres.
They've brought me three.
4. Using en for a whole definite object.
❌ El pastís? La Joana me'n portarà demà.
Incorrect for the whole identified cake—use the definite direct-object pronoun el.
✅ El pastís? La Joana me'l portarà demà.
The cake? Joana will bring it to me tomorrow.
5. Copying Spanish personal a with a quantified direct object.
❌ He entrevistat a tres candidates aquest matí.
Incorrect in the neutral standard pattern—the quantified direct object takes no Spanish-style personal a.
✅ N'he entrevistat tres aquest matí.
I've interviewed three candidates this morning.
Key Takeaways
Put the person or pronominal clitic before en: me'n, te'n, se'n, ens en, us en, li'n, els en. Let en elide next to a vowel-initial verb—me n'ha donat—and keep the entire cluster together after nonfinite verbs and affirmative imperatives. Above all, preserve the Catalan function encoded by en, even when English expresses no corresponding word.
Related Topics
- En as a Partitive PronounB1 — Use partitive en to resume indefinite nouns, mass nouns, and counted sets while keeping quantities and agreement visible.
- En for De-ComplementsB1 — Use en to replace complements selected by de after verbs, adjectives, and nouns, while respecting focus and extraction limits.
- Inherently Pronominal VerbsA2 — Recognize Catalan verbs whose weak reflexive pronoun is part of the verb itself, and use them with the right person, complement, and placement.
- Ordering Two Weak PronounsB1 — Build two-pronoun clusters by grammatical role, with the standard Central order, spelling, and placement before and after the verb.
- Apostrophes and Hyphens in Pronoun ClustersB2 — Spell preverbal and postverbal pronoun clusters by choosing full, reinforced, elided, and reduced forms in the right order.
- Postverbal Pronouns with Infinitives, Gerunds, and ImperativesA2 — Attach weak pronouns after infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives with the correct full or reduced form.