Many Catalan verbs and adjectives require a complement introduced by a, en, amb, or per. When that complement is already known, the weak pronoun hi can occupy its place: Confies en aquest proveïdor? —Sí, hi confio “Do you trust this supplier? —Yes, I trust it.” English normally leaves the preposition beside a stressed pronoun (trust it, count on it) or omits the complement, so there is no word-for-word cue for hi.
The governing expression, not the English translation, determines the Catalan pronoun. Hi packages both the recoverable referent and its grammatical relation to the verb or adjective. This page uses neutral contemporary standard Catalan; unlabeled examples follow the Central Catalan baseline.
The replacement pattern
Start from the complete Catalan construction. If the governing word selects a, en, amb, or per, replace the whole prepositional phrase with hi.
| Full complement | Pronominal form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| renunciar a la beca | renunciar-hi | give up the grant |
| pensar en el trasllat | pensar-hi | think about the move |
| comptar amb el vostre suport | comptar-hi | count on your support |
| interessar-se per l'arqueologia | interessar-s'hi | be interested in archaeology |
T'has acostumat al nou horari? —Sí, ja m'hi he acostumat.
Have you got used to the new schedule? —Yes, I've already got used to it.
Comptàvem amb la subvenció, però ara ja no hi podem comptar.
We were counting on the grant, but now we can no longer count on it.
La proposta no s'ajusta a les bases; de fet, no s'hi ajusta gens.
The proposal does not comply with the rules; in fact, it does not comply with them at all.
The arrow must be made in Catalan: confiar en una cosa → confiar-hi. It is unreliable to start from English “trust something” and classify something as a direct object. Catalan lexicalizes the relationship with en, and hi preserves that relationship even though the preposition disappears from view.
The preposition is selected by the governing word
The same English preposition can correspond to different Catalan structures, and a single Catalan verb may change meaning when its frame changes. Compare pensar una resposta “devise an answer,” with a direct object, and pensar en una resposta “think about an answer,” with an en-complement.
Ja he pensat una solució i la comentaré demà; hi he pensat tot el matí.
I've already devised a solution and I'll discuss it tomorrow; I've been thinking about it all morning.
In the first clause, una solució is a direct object and becomes la. In the second, en la solució is a governed complement and becomes hi. The referent is identical, but its syntactic function is not.
Frequent frames include accedir a, contribuir a, oposar-se a, renunciar a, acostumar-se a; confiar en, insistir en, pensar en, fixar-se en; comptar amb, conformar-se amb, col·laborar amb; interessar-se per, optar per, and preocupar-se per. A complement of an adjective follows the same logic when a copular verb hosts the weak pronoun.
La versió nova és compatible amb el sistema antic? —Sí, hi és compatible, però cal actualitzar els controladors.
Is the new version compatible with the old system? —Yes, it is compatible with it, but the drivers need updating.
No estic acostumada a treballar de nit, però m'hi hauré d'acostumar.
I'm not used to working at night, but I'll have to get used to it.
Van optar pel tren nocturn i nosaltres també hi vam optar per estalviar una nit d'hotel.
They chose the night train, and we chose it too to save the cost of a night in a hotel.
There is no completely logical way to predict every governed preposition. You must learn the common frames. What is systematic is the next step: de normally points to en, whereas these non-de frames normally point to hi. See en for de-complements for the other half of that contrast.
Things, propositions, and people
The easiest antecedents are things, topics, activities, and propositions. An infinitive can therefore be the full antecedent of hi.
Han renunciat a presentar recurs? —Sí, hi han renunciat perquè el termini ja havia vençut.
Have they given up appealing? —Yes, they have given it up because the deadline had already expired.
La Berta insisteix a pagar ella el sopar, però jo no vull que hi insisteixi.
Berta insists on paying for dinner herself, but I don't want her to insist on it.
Human antecedents require judgment, not a blanket ban. An unstressed, topical person can be resumed by hi with many genuine governed complements: Penses en la Mercè? —Sí, hi penso sovint. A full prepositional phrase is preferable when the person is new, stressed, or contrasted: Penso en ella, no en ell. The strong pronoun carries person and contrast; invariable hi does not.
—Encara confies en l'Èric? —Hi confio per a la part tècnica, però per a la gestió prefereixo confiar en ella.
Do you still trust Èric? —I trust him for the technical side, but for management I prefer to trust her.
This does not make hi a general pronoun for people. A direct object uses el, la, els, or les, and a personal indirect object uses li or els: Veig la directora → La veig; Escric a la directora → Li escric. The form a la directora in the second example marks a recipient, not the governed complement of renunciar a or acostumar-se a.
Placement, hyphenation, and clusters
Before a finite verb, hi is a separate word: hi penso, hi confiem, no hi renunciaran. It never elides before a vowel or silent h: hi insisteixo, hi accedeixen, never h'insisteixo. After an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative imperative, attach it with a hyphen: pensar-hi, insistint-hi, pensa-hi. A negative imperative places it before the verb: no hi pensis ara.
No hi insisteixis ara; ja tindràs temps de tornar-hi demà.
Don't insist on it now; you'll have time to return to it tomorrow.
Abans d'oposar-t'hi, llegeix l'informe sencer i mira si realment et perjudica.
Before opposing it, read the whole report and see whether it really harms you.
When a verb already has a reflexive or personal weak pronoun, that pronoun precedes hi: m'hi acostumo, t'hi fixes, s'hi interessa, ens hi oposem, us hi conformeu, s'hi avenen. In writing, the apostrophe belongs in the licensed combination; do not invent an elided form of hi.
Al principi ens oposàvem al canvi, però després ens hi vam avenir.
At first we opposed the change, but later we agreed to it.
Full two-pronoun paradigms belong on combining hi with other pronouns. The useful principle here is that hi comes after the personal or reflexive pronoun.
A dialogue with one clear antecedent
—Què fem amb la proposta de teletreball? —Jo hi estic d'acord. Si direcció no s'hi oposa, hi podem donar suport avui mateix.
What shall we do about the remote-work proposal? —I agree with it. If management does not oppose it, we can support it today.
All three occurrences of hi refer to la proposta de teletreball. The governing expressions differ—estar d'acord amb, oposar-se a, and donar suport a—but each establishes a non-de prepositional relation. In donar suport a, hi refers to an inanimate target; a human recipient in an ordinary dative construction would instead select li or els.
Regional and register perspective
Productive prepositional hi belongs to both the IEC and AVL standards. It is especially audible in Central and Balearic usage. (regional: Valencian, informal) some speakers repeat the full phrase or leave a readily recoverable complement unexpressed in environments where Central speech readily uses hi; careful Valencian writing retains the standard pronoun where the complement must be resumed. Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese usage has its own lexical preferences, but there is no pan-regional rule changing a/en/amb/per into en. For formal writing across the domain, preserve the governed-preposition contrast.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting hi because English has no corresponding word.
❌ Si ara renuncies a la tarifa flexible, l'any que ve no podràs tornar a optar.
Incorrect for the intended 'choose it again' — the known per-complement of optar has been left without hi.
✅ Si ara renuncies a la tarifa flexible, l'any que ve no hi podràs tornar a optar.
If you give up the flexible rate now, you won't be able to choose it again next year.
2. Choosing the pronoun from English word order.
❌ Confio aquest sistema i el confio des de fa anys.
Incorrect — Catalan confiar selects en here; the complement is not a direct object.
✅ Confio en aquest sistema i hi confio des de fa anys.
I trust this system and have trusted it for years.
3. Treating Spanish-style personal a as a reason to use hi.
❌ Veig a la Marta cada matí i hi saludo.
Incorrect — neutral Catalan has an unprepositionalized direct object here, resumed by la.
✅ Veig la Marta cada matí i la saludo.
I see Marta every morning and greet her.
4. Putting hi before a reflexive pronoun.
❌ Hi m'he acostumat de seguida.
Incorrect — the first-person weak pronoun precedes hi.
✅ M'hi he acostumat de seguida.
I got used to it straight away.
5. Mixing full and elided spellings.
❌ H'insisteixo perquè no vull renunciar hi.
Incorrect — hi never elides, and it attaches to an infinitive with a hyphen.
✅ Hi insisteixo perquè no vull renunciar-hi.
I insist on it because I don't want to give it up.
Key Takeaways
Use hi to resume a known complement governed by a, en, amb, or per. Identify the Catalan frame before choosing the pronoun; do not translate the English object pattern. Keep a full strong phrase for human contrast, and distinguish governed complements from direct and indirect objects. Write hi unchanged before finite verbs, -hi after infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives, and place personal or reflexive weak pronouns before it.
Related Topics
- Hi for LocationsB1 — Use hi for static places, destinations, and paths, and keep obligatory hi in the existential verb haver-hi.
- En for De-ComplementsB1 — Use en to replace complements selected by de after verbs, adjectives, and nouns, while respecting focus and extraction limits.
- Choosing En or HiB1 — Choose en for de-relations, sources, and partitives, and hi for other governed complements, destinations, locations, and paths.
- Strong Pronouns after PrepositionsA1 — Use mi, tu, ell, ella, nosaltres, vosaltres, ells, elles, and reflexive si as stressed complements of Catalan prepositions.
- Combining Hi with Other PronounsB1 — Build and interpret clusters such as m'hi, s'hi, l'hi, and la hi while keeping each pronoun's function distinct.
- Prepositions Selected by VerbsB1 — Learn high-frequency Catalan verb–preposition patterns, the meaning contrasts they encode, and how to read and remember dictionary government.