The weak pronoun hi can share a verb with a personal, reflexive, or direct-object pronoun: m'hi, t'hi, s'hi, ens hi, us hi, l'hi, la hi, els hi, and les hi. Each member of the cluster must replace a different constituent. In La Joana m'hi porta, m' means “me” and hi means “to that place”; neither is decorative.
This matters because English usually leaves the place or prepositional complement unexpressed once it is understood. Catalan often preserves it with hi. The order and spelling then follow the Catalan clitic system, not English word order.
The basic order: the other pronoun comes before hi
With the combinations covered here, hi normally occupies the final slot. The first pronoun identifies a participant or definite direct object; hi resumes a location or another complement that the verb governs with a, en, or, in some constructions, another non-de preposition.
| First pronoun | Preverbal cluster | Typical interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| em | m'hi | me/myself + there/to it |
| et | t'hi | you/yourself + there/to it |
| es | s'hi | himself/herself/themselves + there/to it |
| ens | ens hi | us/ourselves + there/to it |
| us | us hi | you/yourself/yourselves + there/to it |
| el | l'hi | him/it + there/to it |
| la | la hi | her/it + there/to it |
| els / les | els hi / les hi | them + there/to it |
The first three pronouns elide before vowel-initial hi: em + hi → m'hi, et + hi → t'hi, es + hi → s'hi. By contrast, ens and us have no elided form, so write two words: ens hi, us hi.
La Joana em porta al despatx cada matí. → La Joana m'hi porta cada matí.
Joana takes me to the office every morning. → Joana takes me there every morning.
Ens vam acostumar al soroll de seguida. → Ens hi vam acostumar de seguida.
We got used to the noise straight away. → We got used to it straight away.
The second derivation contains reflexive ens required by acostumar-se and hi for al soroll. Removing either pronoun changes the grammatical structure.
A person plus a location or prepositional complement
Personal and reflexive pronouns combine productively with hi. Compare a full complement with its replacement:
Demà et trobaré a la terrassa. → Demà t'hi trobaré.
Tomorrow I'll find you on the terrace. → Tomorrow I'll find you there.
La Clara es dedica a la restauració de mobles. → La Clara s'hi dedica des de fa deu anys.
Clara works in furniture restoration. → Clara has been working in it for ten years.
No us heu fixat en la data? Doncs fixeu-vos-hi ara.
Didn't you notice the date? Then look at it now.
These examples show three distinct first-pronoun functions: t' is a direct object in t'hi trobaré; s' is part of the pronominal verb dedicar-se; and us/vos belongs to fixar-se. The label “personal pronoun” does not by itself tell you the syntax.
Negation precedes the whole preverbal cluster: no + us + hi + heu fixat. With an affirmative imperative, the cluster follows the verb: fixeu-vos-hi. A finite and a nonfinite host can also alternate in a verbal construction:
No m'hi vull quedar fins tard. / No vull quedar-m'hi fins tard.
I don't want to stay there until late.
The two placements are standard. What cannot change is the internal order m'hi.
A definite object plus a location
The definite direct-object pronouns el, la, els, and les may precede locative hi. This is especially useful with verbs such as posar, deixar, portar, and guardar, which can have both a thing and a destination.
| Full phrase | Replacement | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Posa el contracte a la carpeta. | el + hi | Posa-l'hi. |
| Posa la factura a la carpeta. | la + hi | Posa-la-hi. |
| Posa els contractes a la carpeta. | els + hi | Posa'ls-hi. |
| Posa les factures a la carpeta. | les + hi | Posa-les-hi. |
—Què faig amb el rebut? —Deixa-l'hi, al calaix de dalt; després ja l'arxivaré.
What should I do with the receipt? —Leave it there, in the top drawer; I'll file it later.
The detached phrase al calaix de dalt identifies the antecedent of hi; el rebut supplies masculine singular l'. The dialogue is therefore unambiguous.
The spelling la hi is the careful (formal) form before the verb and inside a cluster: la hi deixaré, posa-la-hi. In much contemporary speech, especially (regional: Central Catalan), la hi is commonly reduced to l'hi. That reduction is accepted, but careful writing preserves la hi when the feminine distinction matters. Similarly, colloquial els hi may conceal several different underlying combinations; formal prose should keep les hi when les is feminine plural.
Why l'hi can be ambiguous
The visible form l'hi does not always have the same analysis. It can transparently be el + hi: El paquet, l'hi deixaré “I'll leave the package there.” In most non-Valencian varieties it is also the standard result of singular dative li plus masculine direct object el: Donaré el paquet a l'Arnau → L'hi donaré. Finally, informal l'hi may represent careful la hi.
El portàtil, l'hi tornaré demà, a l'oficina.
I'll return the laptop there tomorrow, to the office.
El portàtil, l'hi tornaré demà, al tècnic.
I'll return the laptop to him tomorrow, to the technician.
Only the full context tells us whether hi is locative or the dative variant of li. (regional: Valencian) the second sentence normally preserves dative li in the cluster—li'l tornaré—whereas true object-plus-location l'hi remains structurally possible. See Li Plus El, La, Els, or Les for that regional contrast.
Restrictions: two pronouns must mean two things
Do not add hi merely because a verb has a locative meaning. A full, integrated complement and hi normally fill the same slot; either retain the phrase or replace it. A detached phrase may coexist as a topic or clarification, as in the dialogue above, because hi still occupies the clause-internal position.
Nor can two identical hi pronouns stack. If one understood phrase denotes both the only destination and the only a-complement, there is only one hi. The sequence hi hi is impossible.
The neutral pronoun ho also resists a transparent cluster with hi: standard Catalan does not use hi ho. Usually ho alone remains, or l'hi may be used when ho is a direct object and the locative meaning must be retained. This is a genuine irregularity; there is no productive rule that turns every ho + hi combination into one tidy form.
Li vaig demanar que portés això al magatzem, però al final no ho va portar.
I asked him to take that to the storeroom, but in the end he didn't take it.
Li vaig demanar que portés això al magatzem, però al final no l'hi va portar.
I asked him to take that there, but in the end he didn't take it there.
The second option preserves both meanings through accepted l'hi; the first lets the destination remain implicit.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting hi because English can leave “there” unspoken.
❌ La Berta es dedica a la música i jo també em dedico.
Incorrect for ‘I work in it too’—the complement introduced by a needs hi.
✅ La Berta es dedica a la música i jo també m'hi dedico.
Berta works in music, and I work in it too.
2. Copying English order.
❌ Hi m'acostumo a poc a poc.
Incorrect—the personal or reflexive pronoun precedes hi.
✅ M'hi acostumo a poc a poc.
I'm gradually getting used to it.
3. Using Spanish-style personal a before an ordinary human direct object.
❌ Portaré a la Núria al despatx i hi la portaré abans de les nou.
Incorrect—the ordinary direct object la Núria needs no automatic personal a, and the cluster order is la hi.
✅ Portaré la Núria al despatx i la hi portaré abans de les nou.
I'll take Núria to the office and I'll take her there before nine.
4. Mixing full and elided forms.
❌ Em hi quedaré una estona.
Incorrect—em elides before hi.
✅ M'hi quedaré una estona.
I'll stay there for a while.
5. Duplicating the same complement.
❌ Hi hi penso sovint.
Incorrect—the same prepositional complement cannot be represented by two copies of hi.
✅ Hi penso sovint.
I think about it often.
Key Takeaways
In these clusters, put the personal, reflexive, or definite-object pronoun before hi. Write m'hi, t'hi, s'hi, ens hi, and us hi; distinguish careful la hi/les hi from common spoken reductions. Most importantly, verify that the two pronouns replace two distinct constituents. Catalan weak pronouns encode syntactic function and governing preposition, not merely the English words “it” and “there.”
Related Topics
- Hi for LocationsB1 — Use hi for static places, destinations, and paths, and keep obligatory hi in the existential verb haver-hi.
- Hi for Prepositional ComplementsB1 — Use hi to resume known complements governed by a, en, amb, or per without confusing them with direct and indirect objects.
- Ordering Two Weak PronounsB1 — Build two-pronoun clusters by grammatical role, with the standard Central order, spelling, and placement before and after the verb.
- Li Plus El, La, Els, or LesB1 — Combine a singular third-person recipient with a definite direct object in Central and Valencian standard Catalan.
- En and Hi TogetherB1 — Distinguish genuine en-plus-hi clusters from existential and dialectal n'hi, and avoid duplicating a single complement.
- Apostrophes and Hyphens in Pronoun ClustersB2 — Spell preverbal and postverbal pronoun clusters by choosing full, reinforced, elided, and reduced forms in the right order.