Catalan commands change pronoun position when their polarity changes. An affirmative command attaches its weak pronouns after the verb—Porta-me'l “Bring it to me”—but a negative command puts them before a present-subjunctive form—No me'l portis “Don't bring it to me.” You cannot form the negative by placing no in front of the complete affirmative expression.
English hides both changes: “bring it” and “don't bring it” keep it after the verb, and the lexical verb has the same visible form. Catalan changes the verb form, the side on which the pronouns stand, and often their written shapes.
The verb paradigms themselves are developed on the affirmative imperative and negative imperative pages; this page concentrates on pronoun behavior.
The polarity rule
The core contrast is:
| Command | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| affirmative | imperative + attached pronoun(s) | explica-m'ho |
| negative | no
| no m'ho expliquis |
Tanca-la amb clau, però no la tanquis fins que hagi sortit tothom.
Lock it, but don't lock it until everyone has left.
Digues-m'ho ara; no m'ho diguis quan ja sigui massa tard.
Tell me now; don't tell me when it's already too late.
In tanca-la, -la is enclitic: it forms one written unit with the affirmative imperative. In no la tanquis, la is proclitic: it stands before the negative command form tanquis. With two pronouns, the entire cluster moves: m'ho remains internally ordered as dative me plus neutral direct object ho.
The negative verb is a subjunctive form
Negative commands use the present subjunctive for every person. This matters most with irregular verbs, because simply negating the affirmative form produces the wrong verb as well as the wrong placement.
| Addressee | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | porta'l | no el portis |
| vostè (formal) | porti'l | no el porti |
| nosaltres | portem-lo | no el portem |
| vosaltres | porteu-lo | no el porteu |
| vostès (formal/plural) | portin-lo | no el portin |
The nosaltres and vosaltres verb forms may look identical on both sides, but the placement still distinguishes the constructions. For vostè and vostès, the affirmative form is morphologically related to the subjunctive; nevertheless, affirmative polarity requires attachment and negative polarity requires preverbal placement.
Faci-ho avui, senyora Puig, però no ho faci sense llegir les condicions.
Do it today, Ms. Puig, but don't do it without reading the terms.
Seieu aquí i no us aixequeu fins que us cridin.
Sit here and don't get up until they call you.
Subject pronouns are normally omitted because the verb and context identify the addressee. They can be added contrastively—Tu no t'hi fiquis “You stay out of it”—but that stressed tu is separate from weak t'.
Deriving the pronoun from a full complement
Pronoun choice is independent of polarity. Reconstruct the complete Catalan complement, choose the weak form that represents its grammatical relation, and then place it according to the command.
No parlis del retard davant dels clients. → No en parlis davant dels clients.
Don't talk about the delay in front of the clients. → Don't talk about it in front of the clients.
Here parlar de selects a de-complement, so the replacement is en. The affirmative counterpart is Parla'n amb la directora “Talk to the director about it.” English may say simply “talk about it,” but Catalan preserves the governing relation inside the weak pronoun.
No vagis a l'oficina aquesta tarda. → No hi vagis aquesta tarda.
Don't go to the office this afternoon. → Don't go there this afternoon.
The destination selected by anar a is replaced by hi. Its affirmative counterpart is Ves-hi demà al matí. Neither en nor hi marks gender or number; they encode the kind of complement.
No compris galetes. → No en compris cap; ja en tenim prou.
Don't buy cookies. → Don't buy any; we already have enough.
Partitive en replaces the omitted indefinite noun galetes, while cap supplies the negative quantity. Omitting en would leave cap without the noun it quantifies.
Clusters: preserve order, change position and spelling
Pronoun order is established before placement. An affirmative imperative attaches the ordered cluster; the negative places that same sequence between no and the verb.
Dona'm les claus. → Dona-me-les. / No me les donis encara.
Give me the keys. → Give them to me. / Don't give them to me yet.
Posa el pastís a la nevera. → Posa-l'hi. / No l'hi posis fins que sigui fred.
Put the cake in the refrigerator. → Put it there. / Don't put it there until it is cool.
In Central Catalan l'hi combines masculine singular el with locative hi. The cluster order does not reverse in the negative. What changes is its relationship to the verb: postverbal posa-l'hi, preverbal no l'hi posis.
Before the verb, use the normal preverbal forms and elision: no em truquis, no l'obris, no m'ho prenguis malament, no te'n descuidis. After an affirmative imperative, use hyphens and postverbal forms: truca'm, obre'l, pren-t'ho, recorda-te'n. Apostrophes cannot be replaced by spaces, and hyphens do not occur between no and a preverbal pronoun.
Strong phrases and antecedent limits
A weak pronoun must have a recoverable syntactic function. It cannot replace a stressed contrast by itself. Compare No hi parlis “Don't speak to him/her/there” in a context where the complement is active with No parlis amb ella; parla amb mi “Don't speak with her; speak with me,” where the contrast requires strong prepositional forms.
A strong phrase may coexist with a weak pronoun when it is dislocated or emphatic: A mi, no m'ho diguis. That does not allow arbitrary doubling. The weak pronoun still has to match the complement selected by the verb.
—Què faig amb l'informe confidencial? —No l'hi enviïs, a la Júlia; envia'l només al director.
What should I do with the confidential report? —Don't send it to Júlia; send it only to the director.
The dialogue supplies both antecedents: Central l' retrieves l'informe confidencial, and dative hi retrieves a la Júlia. The final -l in envia'l again refers to the report, while al director remains an overt recipient.
Negative infinitives are a different construction
Public notices, recipes, and impersonal instructions often use no + infinitive: No tocar, No obrir fins demà. This is a nonfinite prohibition, not a personalized negative imperative, so a weak pronoun stays attached to the infinitive.
No tocar-la fins que s'hagi refredat.
Do not touch it until it has cooled down. (impersonal written instruction)
No la toqueu fins que s'hagi refredat.
Don't touch it until it has cooled down. (command addressed to you all)
The first is typical of signs or written instructions (formal/impersonal). In ordinary conversation, address the listener with a finite negative command: no la toquis or no la toqueu.
Regional and register notes
The polarity contrast is pan-regional: affirmative commands take postverbal pronouns, while negative finite commands take preverbal pronouns. The subjunctive endings themselves vary. The Central baseline has no el portis and no el porti; (regional: Valencian) standard usage has no el portes and no el porte. The placement rule is identical.
Regional weak forms may also differ—vos is vigorous in Valencian and Balearic, and (informal, regional: Northwestern, Valencian, Balearic, Alguerese) mos occurs where the general formal standard uses ens. Use one regional system coherently. Northern and Alguerese varieties have additional contact-shaped patterns, but a learner writing broad formal Catalan should retain the shared order and standard spellings presented here.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping the affirmative pronoun position after adding no.
❌ No porta-me'l avui.
Incorrect—a negative finite command requires a preverbal cluster and a subjunctive form.
✅ No me'l portis avui.
Don't bring it to me today.
2. Omitting en or hi because English does not pronounce an equivalent.
❌ No parlis del contracte ara; parla demà.
Incorrect for the intended meaning ‘don't talk about it now; talk about it tomorrow.’
✅ No parlis del contracte ara; parla'n demà.
Don't talk about the contract now; talk about it tomorrow.
3. Importing an automatic Spanish-style personal a.
❌ No fotografiïs a la directora durant la reunió.
Nonneutral as an automatic transfer—the ordinary human direct object does not require a merely because it denotes a person.
✅ No fotografiïs la directora durant la reunió; no la fotografiïs sense permís.
Don't photograph the director during the meeting; don't photograph her without permission.
4. Reversing the cluster to imitate English ‘it to me.’
❌ No el me donis encara.
Incorrect—the person clitic precedes the third-person direct object.
✅ No me'l donis encara.
Don't give it to me yet.
5. Mixing full, elided, and attached forms.
❌ No te en vagis; queda te aquí.
Incorrect—te + en becomes te'n, and an attached affirmative pronoun requires a hyphen.
✅ No te'n vagis; queda't aquí.
Don't leave; stay here.
Key Takeaways
Affirmative imperatives attach weak pronouns after the verb; negative imperatives use no + pronoun(s) + present subjunctive. Choose el/la/els/les, ho, en, hi, and person forms from their Catalan grammatical functions, keep clusters in their normal order, and then apply the spelling required by their position. A negative infinitive on a sign is a separate nonfinite construction and keeps its pronoun attached.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Pronoun Placement Across Verb FormsB1 — Place weak pronouns before finite verbs, after infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives, and correctly across verb phrases.
- Postverbal Pronouns with Infinitives, Gerunds, and ImperativesA2 — Attach weak pronouns after infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives with the correct full or reduced form.
- Ordering Two Weak PronounsB1 — Build two-pronoun clusters by grammatical role, with the standard Central order, spelling, and placement before and after the verb.
- Choosing En or HiB1 — Choose en for de-relations, sources, and partitives, and hi for other governed complements, destinations, locations, and paths.
- Affirmative ImperativesA2 — Form affirmative Catalan commands for tu, vostè, nosaltres, vosaltres, and vostès, with correct agreement and weak-pronoun placement.
- Negative ImperativesA2 — Build Catalan prohibitions with no plus the present subjunctive, placing weak pronouns correctly for every command person.